She’s been speaking truth to power for years as a radio and TV host, but after losing her mom and seeing Trump elected for a second time, she knew she had to make a change. And now that she’s living full-time in Italy, she’s seeing America more clearly than ever.

She’s still hosting her radio show Mornings with Zerlina and contributing to the hard work of defending American democracy, but it all feels very different now. She’s able to slow down, be more intentional, appreciate time with friends, and escape the hamster wheel of busyness and to-do lists.

She also feels safe for the first time — as a journalist and as a Black woman.

She’s not the first Black American to seek refuge overseas; James Baldwin, for example, wrote much of his groundbreaking work while abroad in Turkey. Outside of the “haze of racism and hostility and oppression,” as Zerlina put it, she can find the clarity to examine this moment in American history.

Everything she shared with LaFonda on our How To Not Lose Your Sh!t podcast echoed the conversations we’ve been having all year. Rest matters. Being kind to yourself matters. Doom-scrolling isn’t helpful and can actually prevent you from taking action. Connect with people. And joy itself can be resistance.

LISTEN HERE

Even if you can’t move to Italy (and don’t be so sure you can’t!), you can learn from Zerlina’s journey. Every day, you can do one soft thing and one civic thing. Have a dance party in your kitchen, or meditate, or grab a coffee or ice cream with a friend… and text your neighbors about an upcoming election, or attend a city hall meeting, or donate to an organization you believe in.

The “soft” and the “civic” are equally important. We can’t heal a broken country without healing ourselves — and that can happen from anywhere.

One of the most controversial parts of this new Medicaid bill — HB 795 — is a ban on family members of Medicaid recipients being certified caregivers.

And here, the Ohio GOP is clearly parroting talking points from the Trump administration. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, visited Ohio last month and repeated the misinformation about fraud. “We don’t want everybody hiring their kids to carry the groceries up the stairs,” he said.

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But the facts are clear. Home healthcare isn’t just less expensive than nursing home or other institutional care — it’s better for everyone involved. And in the case of mothers who are trying to keep a roof over their family’s heads and take care of their kids’ medical needs at the same time, Medicaid payments are an absolute necessity.

Marlana Kendricks is one of those moms. Her son Osiah has a rare developmental disability that leaves him nonverbal and prone to seizures. Marlana had to cut her work hours (and her pay) to take care of him, and without Medicaid, they simply couldn’t survive.

Marlana should never have had to travel to the Statehouse to plead for the right to take care of her own son, but her efforts paid off. Her fiery testimony, and the testimony of other Ohioans like her, actually convinced House Republicans to change the bill! They’re still pursuing cuts and changes that could affect thousands of families, but they took out the part that cut Medicaid to family caregivers. Republican State Rep. Josh Williams said it was “a direct result of listening to interested parties and constituents.”

Even in Ohio, where Republicans control both houses of their state legislature, speaking up can make a difference. This mama bear fought not just for her own son, but for families across the state, and lawmakers had no choice but to listen.

What does the law accomplish?

• The bill requires private insurers in Connecticut to cover fertility care for LGBTQ+ couples and single individuals.

• It uses an LGBTQ+ inclusive definition of infertility to determine eligibility for coverage.

Why does any of this matter?

• Many LGBTQ+ people rely on fertility care to build their families. This bill addresses barriers by removing a longstanding inequity in how infertility is defined.

• Under previous rules, many LGBTQ+ people had to pay out of pocket for multiple rounds of treatment just to “prove” infertility before qualifying for coverage, putting care out of reach for many families.

• This law is an important step toward a future where everyone has access to affordable fertility care, regardless of who they love or how they choose to build their family.

In the words of Karla Torres, Senior Human Rights Counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights: “With this bill, Connecticut is one step closer to making sure everyone can get the affordable fertility care they need to build the families they want.”

Equality is supposed to be one of America’s founding ideals. We haven’t always lived up to it, but states like Connecticut are taking us a little closer. Happy Pride!

So often we hear women say that things feel deeply wrong right now and they want to do something about it. But how do we engage without losing ourselves? It can feel like pain is the only way to make change, like we can only heal the world if we’re willing to be exhausted and broken ourselves along the way.

Teacher, author, and therapist Prentis Hemphill offers a different perspective. What if we can actually heal our systems while healing ourselves? What if it’s not about checking off items on a to-do list? If we can be more present, listen with curiosity to ourselves and our neighbors, it doesn’t just make us feel more centered. It’s actually more politically effective.

LISTEN HERE

Here’s just one snippet of Prentis’ grounding wisdom!

If you missed this episode last year, or if you’re feeling a little off-kilter and could use a little extra grounding to get you through your day, don’t miss it.

They report being served rotten food, being held in poor conditions, being beaten and pepper-sprayed, and being denied essential medical care.

Mayor Ras Baraka has announced that the city of Newark is filing a lawsuit against the operators of Delaney Hall to close the detention center, citing health and safety concerns, including a complaint that recounts New Jersey Senator Andy Kim meeting with detainees, including a woman who had a miscarriage but did not receive necessary care and was left to manage it on her own.

New Jersey is now suing the private operator of the immigration detention center, arguing that the state health department has been barred from inspecting the facility beyond the food service area and from viewing the medical unit, bathroom facilities, ventilation, HVAC, and sleeping areas.

The defendant, GEO Group Inc., owns and operates Delaney Hall as a detention center under a $1 billion, 15-year contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The lawsuit comes as the city of Newark has already been engaged in a yearlong legal battle to remove GEO Group from Delaney Hall, alleging that GEO Group failed to obtain the proper permits to reopen the facility last year.

“If the GEO Group – with a $1 billion government contract – has nothing to hide and the conditions inside Delaney Hall are as safe and as sanitary as this private corporation and the Trump Administration claim, then there is no legitimate reason why my health inspectors are being kept from full access throughout the building.”

— Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement.

While Delaney Hall has rightly captured the country’s attention, it is far from the only detention center reporting medical neglect and poor conditions.

At Red Wine & Blue, we’re channeling our anger into action with Moms For Good to demand accountability for ICE.

Join us and help put an end to ICE’s cruelty.

Bold move to attack books for children and one of the country’s most beloved entertainers at the same time.

Missouri launched Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program in November 2023. Since then, more than 4.3 million books have been donated, with 169,032 children receiving a free book every month through the program. That means about 42% of children under the age of 6 in the Missouri have received free books.

Dolly Parton began the program in 1995 to honor her father, who never had the opportunity to learn to read or write. Her goal was to prevent other children from facing similar struggles – a goal she achieved!

Research has found that children enrolled in the program were 5 times more likely to be interested in reading, 11 times more likely to be interested in books, and 15 times more likely to join in shared reading, compared to children who were not enrolled.

Imagination Library relies on a combination of private and public partnerships to provide free books to children. The Dollywood Foundation covers program overhead and purchases books in bulk to keep costs low, while local partners and state funding help pay for the books and mailing expenses.

Missouri’s budget cut means that no new children will be able to sign up for the free books as of July 1, and the state will continue to provide books only to children already enrolled “as funding allows.”

Books are critical for kids to improve their reading and language skills, develop empathy, learn about characters who are different than them, and grow into thoughtful adults. It’s even been shown to counteract some of the learning and cognitive effects from poverty on early childhood development.

The state of Missouri might be about to cut funding for Imagination Library, but Dolly Parton isn’t going to stop her mission of providing books to kids and neither can we. If you want to join our mission to support reading and public education, check out Freedom To Parent 21st Century Kids.

That’s what Ghiovanna, owner of Coterie Lounge & Cafe, recently started printing on t-shirts. Her friends and customers love it — not just because it’s a catchy phrase, but because it’s a reminder that community love can defeat extremist hate.

Ghiovanna and her friend Roxie D. Mocracy had already worked together to put on drag shows at her cafe. The community loved the shows, so Roxie and Ghiovanna thought a Drag Story Hour could be a fun new addition.

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Unfortunately, a right-wing extremist named Darbi did not agree. This wasn’t the first time that Darbi tried to impose her extremist views on the rest of her community. She was elected to the local school board in 2022 (after running on an anti-DEI platform during the nationwide chaos over “critical race theory”) but was quickly removed from the board after being disruptive and abusive. One of her fellow school board members actually had to take out a restraining order against her.

Well, apparently Darbi found herself with some free time on her hands and decided to attack Coterie Cafe over their planned Drag Story Hour. She called the cafe a “breeding ground for potential pedophiles wrapped in glitter and sin,” which honestly seems a little funny until you consider that she was whipping up other extremists on social media to boycott and post negative reviews of Ghiovanna’s business.

Ghiovanna said that seeing it happen was like a punch to the stomach. It’s already hard enough to run a small business without a coordinated attack. Coterie Cafe is located in a Republican-leaning suburb of Cincinnati, so there was good reason to fear that the extremists might win.

But her panic quickly turned to gratitude as Ghiovanna’s community rallied around her. They defended her and Coterie on social media, sold out the Drag Story Hour event (along with the t-shirts), and business has been better than ever. She’s even received messages of support from as far as Denmark and Australia.

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Most importantly, she’s heard from parents in her own community that they appreciate having a safe space for their kids. She says she’s had numerous people come up to her and say, “Hey, I just wanna say thank you for creating this space. I have a trans kid and because of you, I know that there’s a place that I can bring them to. Thank you for creating that space. Thank you for creating a space of love.”

The Drag Story Hour was such a success, Ghiovanna and Roxie have already planned more drag and other LGBTQ-friendly events throughout June — and all year long! Because supporting the queer community isn’t just for Pride Month. It’s for every month.

You can listen to Ghiovanna tell the story here on today’s How To Not Lose Your Sh!t podcast!

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Best known for taking on Pacific Gas and Electric Company in a water contamination case that inspired her self-titled movie, Erin has now launched “Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting,” a new map tracking AI data centers and their impact on communities.

I am watching as YOU, the communities, show up and speak out. In the famous words of Mark Twain … “The secret of getting ahead is getting started,” so let’s go!

— Erin Brockovich

The self-reporting map gives communities across the country a place to document the growing spread of AI data centers and the concerns surrounding them.

Within hours of launching, submissions poured in, revealing where centers are already operating, where new ones are under construction, and where residents are sounding the alarm. The map now includes 3,674 community-reported locations nationwide, highlighting just how widespread the concern has become.

Do you want to help push back against AI data centers? Talk to your state lawmakers and tell them what we expect about rules on data centers.

• State agencies should immediately begin tracking the use of natural resources, such as water.

• Statewide legislation must ensure that all costs are borne (and secured by bond) by investors, NOT by local residents.

• Statewide agencies and task forces must follow up with data center owners on a 6-month to annual basis to verify compliance.

• Localities must be given full legal authority over data center construction, operational safety, and shutdown plans and actions.

It might seem like too big a fight to take on sometimes, but across the country, we have seen communities push back against these data centers — and they’re winning.

Just last week, the Columbia Borough Council in Pennsylvania rejected a bid to allow a private company with a history of building data centers to develop in the area after hundreds of people showed up at the fire hall meeting to share their concerns. So many people attended that some had to watch through the windows!

There’s still so much work left to do, but this win shows that when communities come together, change is possible.

When Homeland Security bought a warehouse near her Arizona high school, Cali knew she couldn’t sit back and watch DHS turn it into a detention center.

"Everyone has a civic duty to protect the youth and the students," she said. "I believe that this facility is not going to be anywhere close to a safe space. I felt moved because I'm a student body vice president for us. With our students being 60% Hispanic, I felt compelled to be the one to step up.”

Cali began speaking out at local city council meetings. And when the mayor told her his hands were tied, Cali kept coming back month after month. She became a regular at meetings, pushed her members of Congress to support legislation banning ICE facilities near schools nationwide, and rallied her classmates to join the fight.

After school, she handed out pamphlets outside city hall, covered her laptop in sticky-note reminders of calls and emails, and faced online threats. At one point, a man commented in her neighborhood Facebook group that he hoped an immigrant would shoot her — again, this is a seventeen-year-old girl. Cali’s mom notified the police, but the comment remains posted.

But Cali was undeterred. The organizing consumed much of her senior year, leaving little time for friends and fun. She even missed her senior prom.

And Cali’s hard work paid off! In late April, AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes sued DHS over plans to move forward with the detention center without an environmental review.

A court date has not been set, and while the future of the ICE facility remains uncertain, DHS still plans to convert warehouses it purchased in other cities, which is why Cali continues to push for a nationwide ban on ICE facilities near schools.

She graduated this week but she’s continuing to fight on behalf of her community. “This is not a political issue,” she said. “This is not a Democrat or Republican thing. It is the right thing.”

If you’re inspired by Cali’s dedication, you can learn how to stand up to ICE in your own community by downloading our ICE Resistance Playbook. We can’t sit quietly while ICE terrorizes our communities and threatens our neighbors. Like Cali, we need to turn our fear and anger into action.

You must’ve been afraid. So how did you feel the fear and do the work anyway?

Judy’s response centered on a few things: community (she says she never felt alone), music (freedom songs gave her strength), anger (we can relate!), and dedication to building a better world for the next generation.

There are plenty of things to be afraid of today too. If ICE is knocking down your neighbor’s door, if you can’t get a life-saving abortion, if your LGBTQ child is facing threats of violence, or even if you’re just standing in the grocery store unable to afford food for your family this week… it’s natural to feel fear. This is a scary time and there’s no point in pretending otherwise.

But the goal isn’t to feel unafraid. It’s to feel those feelings, lean on each other, and keep moving forward.

If people like Judy could do it back in the 1960s, when she and her friends were being imprisoned and shot at by white supremacists, we can do it now. Their efforts weren’t in vain — they led to the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. If we keep supporting each other and fighting for justice, we’ll see results too.

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Suddenly, her friend June comes running into the SNCC office. June is only 15 years old and had recently been beaten half to death alongside Fannie Lou Hamer and other civil rights leaders. She asks Judy to drive her to a local hospital, where her friend Silas is being treated after being attacked for sitting in the “whites only” section of a movie theater.

So Judy and June are driving to the hospital to help Silas when suddenly, a white couple pulls up alongside their car and starts shooting at them. The girls make it to the hospital, only to see a mob of white men with baseball bats waiting for them in the parking lot. They run into the lobby to see a group of FBI agents who have been called to the scene but are not happy to be there. Many FBI agents back then were former Southern sheriffs — white, racist, and not supportive of civil rights.

Someone in the hospital parking lot throws a rock through the window. Everyone takes cover behind a wall, including the FBI men. After a minute, Judy peeks her head out to see if she can make it to a pay phone. As the FBI agents continue to cower behind the wall, 19-year-old Judy Richardson runs out, puts a dime into the phone, and calls the Justice Department.

Ultimately Judy, June, and Silas all make it out safely and continue to fight for civil rights all their lives.

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But for all of that, Judy says she told us that story not to highlight her own courage, but the courage of her friend June.

And this was just one story that Judy Richardson told us this week on our How To Not Lose Your Shit podcast. We came away from the conversation so inspired and uplifted and ready to keep fighting for civil rights.

LISTEN HERE

We thought that with the recent attacks on Black voting rights and people calling for a second Freedom Summer this year, Judy might feel exhausted or hopeless. To see America fighting the same battles 60 years later after all of that work that she and her friends did, all the demonstrations and hunger strikes in jail and funerals she attended… it must be frustrating, to say the least.

But Judy was as full of anger, hope, and love as she ever was. She’s still connected to her SNCC friends from the 60s, still sharing their history, still being uplifted by protest music. And she’s still marching — she’s been to all three No Kings protests, carrying a sign with the classic James Baldwin quote, "If they come for you in the morning, they will come for us that night."

If Judy and June could fight as teenagers in 1964, we can do it today. We can’t fix it all in one generation, but we can continue building a ladder to justice, one rung at a time.

In Judy’s words, “We always have to remember that it is folks just like us who made and sustained the movement. You know, it's our cousins, our mothers, our clergy, our teachers. And if we don't remember that we were the ones who did that, we won't know that we can do it again.”

If you want to take action right now, you can tell Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and make sure everyone in your community is registered to vote.

The first known observance of Memorial Day was on May 30th, 1868. Back then, it was known as “Decoration Day” and honored the Union soldiers who died during the Civil War. The idea caught on, and by 1890, every Union state had adopted it. The holiday expanded after the world wars to honor all fallen service members, but it wasn’t until 1968 that Congress made it a federal holiday and officially named it Memorial Day.

It’s so important to honor the sacrifices of service members who gave their lives in the line of duty. But a tragic fact is that we lose far more veterans and active duty members to suicide than to combat.

According to a 2021 study, we’ve lost four times as many military members to suicide as we have to war since 9/11: around 30,000 active duty personnel and veterans have died by suicide, compared to the 7,057 service members killed in military conflict. We don’t have more updated numbers than that because the government has stopped tracking them.

Not only has the Trump administration stopped tracking that data, but they’re also currently making cuts to mental health support to pay for the war in Iran. It makes sense that they no longer want to track veteran suicides when they’re actively making the crisis worse. Why would they want a record of that?

But the good news is, there are lots of ways we can pick up the baton where Trump and Hegseth dropped it.

We can support veterans in our lives and in our broader community by listening and caring. You can also get trained by an organization called The Fire Watch to better identify veterans in crisis and help them find the right resources. They’ve seen a 26% reduction in veteran suicides in northern Florida, where Fire Watch began, and they’re now expanding to other states.

Today is about honoring our military members who’ve lost their lives defending this country. Let’s be inspired by their sacrifice to take care of the veterans who are still here. It’s the least we can do.

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Then, six days before the concert, their school board abruptly made a decision: the students wouldn’t be allowed to perform the song after all. Their band director had followed district policy to the letter — parents were notified, and students were free to opt out. The band had been practicing for months. But at the eleventh hour, the board changed its mind.

At an explosive meeting, school board members forbid the band from playing the piece. They claimed their decision was about "ending indoctrination and radical curriculum.” The song, by the way, has no lyrics or text whatsoever. It’s an instrumental piece for a wind ensemble that simply honors the legacy of a trans pioneer.

Students begged them to reconsider. Camila Siebenlist, an LGBTQ seventh grader who plays the trombone, told them, “I don’t think you guys understand how hard it is to listen to you guys not accept them, because I know it’s like to not be accepted. To hear them play a piece by an LGBTQ composer would mean so much.”

Students staged a walkout to protest the decision, but the school board stood firm. In the end, the piece was removed from the May 18th concert. It appeared that the far-right school board had won.

But don’t despair yet, because the story isn’t over.

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After a huge outcry from students, parents, and the entire community, a local church stepped up. Just two days ago, Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church hosted a community performance of A Mother of a Revolution by current band members and alumni alike. Even better, the actual composer of the piece — Omar Thomas — heard about the controversy and flew in from across the country to conduct the concert personally.

The event sold out, with hundreds of neighbors in attendance, and those who couldn’t fit inside the church listened outdoors with their ears pressed to the walls. Thousands more across the country listened to the livestream online. The music ended up reaching so many more people than the original student band concert ever could.

“This feels like a day of redemption,” said one Watertown resident. Another said, "When art is silenced, community speaks louder.”

What started as a school board’s attempt to censor a song because of transphobia ended with thousands of people inspired by Marsha P. Johnson and the power of community. When we stand up for our values, we win!

If you want to make a difference like this in your own community, check out the Red Wine & Blue Network!

Basically, Katie is a badass.

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So when we asked Katie about what patriotism means to her, her answer was… it’s complicated.

We were also joined today by Torrie, a Red Wine & Blue organizer who’s been part of a military family her whole life — from growing up with a father in the Navy to now having a husband in the Army. Between Katie and Torrie, we learned so much about how veterans and military families are doing right now and what we can all do to help.

Everyone says they “support the troops,” but few people understand what that actually means. (It definitely doesn’t mean cutting mental health services for veterans to pay for a war in Iran!) This week’s How To Not Lose Your Sh!t podcast is full of eye-opening stories about mental health under an administration that claims it supports the military but actually lets them down at every turn.

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Their newest report examines the 3,743 unique titles banned during the 2024–2025 school year and how the books being taken from shelves reveal the stories, identities, and facts being censored amid broader political attacks on public education across the country.

During the 2024–2025 school year, PEN America found a surge in bans on nonfiction titles, including more than 1,100 educational and informational books for young people, such as textbooks, reference materials, history books, biographies, and autobiographies.

This widespread removal of educational titles highlights the growing censorship of facts, history, and access to information in public K–12 schools across America.

Of the 3,743 unique titles banned this year, 1,664, or 44%, featured characters or people of color. That marks the highest percentage PEN America has ever reported in this category.

1,448, or 39%, featured LGBTQ+ themes or identities, up significantly from 25% the previous school year.

Book bans are actively harming children by taking away their opportunities to learn accurate history and gain better insight and understanding about themselves, their community, and people who are different from them.

The good news? Recent surveys show that two-thirds of Americans oppose book bans, and standing up to book-banning extremists works! We’ve seen many states pass anti-book ban bills to protect the right to read, but there’s still work to be done.

Want to get involved and stand up to book banners in your community? Sign up to be a part of our Freedom to Parent movement and become a Book Ban Buster too!

We’re at a critical moment for LGBTQ+ rights in Michigan and across the country — currently, there are over 20 pending anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the state, ranging from banning trans youth from school sports to restricting facilities from providing gender-affirming care for youth.

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So Red Wine & Blue joined Equality Michigan and the LGBTQ Commission of Michigan for their fourth annual Statewide LGBTQ Capitol Day in Lansing.

At the Capitol, we talked to our lawmakers about the issues that matter most to our community, focusing on protecting gender affirming care for youth and funding for HIV prevention and treatment.

The representatives we talked to assured us that they would reject any anti-trans and anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation that made it to the House floor, but they also acknowledged that the makeup of the House makes it difficult to get any positive or protective legislation passed… so that means we need to take back the Michigan House in the midterms.

We have to remind our elected officials about the issues we care about — and remind them that they’re elected to represent us. There’s no better way to do that than with friends and neighbors!

If you’ve been seeing all the commentary and hot takes but don’t fully understand what just happened and what it means, don’t worry — we’ve got you.

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And if all of this makes you want to do something, we've got you there, too. You can reach out to your Congressperson and tell them to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, or you can support the planned march for civil rights in Alabama this weekend. The day of action starts on Saturday with a prayer gathering at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, the same ground where marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday in 1965.

Is it depressing to find ourselves fighting the same battles that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. marched for back in 1965? Of course. But they didn’t give up, and neither will we. We owe it to ourselves, our children, and the brave people who fought and died for voting rights a half-century ago.

In Dr. King’s words, said to his fellow marchers once the third march from Selma reached Montgomery: “Let us therefore continue our triumphant march to the realization of the American dream.”

Wait, hear us out! We talked to Jaclyn Friedman and Jenny Steadman from EducateUS this week and it turns out that comprehensive sex education has the power to change everything about our culture and our politics. There’s a reason that authoritarian governments crack down on sex ed.

It’s not just about sex — in fact, in the younger grades, it’s not about sex at all. Jaclyn encouraged us to imagine what our government would look like if every man in power was taught about consent and how to handle rejection from a young age. That’s just one sex ed lesson that could change our country.

It’s also wildly popular, across all demographics and political parties. Not only do 75% of all Americans want sex ed in schools, that number remains at 72% even when they’re specifically told that would include education about and for transgender students.

Extremist politicians and pundits want us to believe this is a divisive issue, but it’s simply not.

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If you’re not already a believer based on all of that, sex education is also an issue where you can make a serious difference in your community. A simple conversation with one of your school board members can have a huge impact. And EducateUS is making it even simpler by offering to reach out to your school board members for you! All you have to do is fill out this form.

We’re not ignoring the crisis of voting rights in this country. In fact, we’re straight-up losing our shit over it! Red Wine & Blue is hosting a social banking event tomorrow to raise awareness on the issue and we’re encouraging readers to urge Congress to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. You can also watch our recent virtual event with Janai Nelson, who argued the Louisiana vs. Callais case in front of the Supreme Court, where she explained to us what happened and what comes next.

But all of these issues are intertwined: civil rights, democracy, consent, and protecting women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. If you feel overwhelmed by all the bad news (and who isn’t?), it can help to turn your focus to an issue where you can really change things on a local level.

The truth is, most Americans actually agree on so many things. We want free elections with fair representation. We want sex education that empowers students in ways that go far beyond sex. We can bust through the “culture wars” if we listen more to one another and less to the people who are profiting from our division.

We really enjoyed talking to Jaclyn and Jenny this week on “How To Not Lose Your Sh!t”! You can listen to it here and if you need more resources to help you talk about sex ed with the people in your life, the EducateUS website has tons of free resources.

Happy Sex Ed For All Month!

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Pennsylvania has become one of the country’s fastest-growing hubs for data centers, with over 100 active data centers and approximately 50 more proposed. Over the past year, major tech, energy, and investment firms have committed more than $100 billion in private sector funding to Pennsylvania, which has received strong support from both state and federal elected officials.

Pennsylvania citizens, on the other hand, are doing everything in their power to stop it.

Concerns over rising electricity bills, air pollution, health risks, and more have sparked bipartisan efforts to stop — or at least slow — the construction of these centers in local communities. And Red Wine & Blue is mobilizing at the state and local level to support those efforts and help protect our hometowns.

For our 2026 Advocacy Day, Team PA headed to the Capitol in Harrisburg to meet with state legislators about the environmental impact of data centers and the steps lawmakers can take to protect communities by enacting stronger regulations.

Throughout the day, advocates spoke directly with elected officials about concerns ranging from rising electricity costs to increased pollution and strain on local resources. The legislators they met with were highly receptive to the conversation, sharing thoughtful feedback about their own concerns and what they’re hearing from constituents back home.

These conversations made one thing clear: people across Pennsylvania want growth that puts communities first, and they want lawmakers to take an active role in protecting public health and affordability.

Do you want to help push back against the AI data centers that threaten not just Pennsylvania but every single state in our country? Talk to your state lawmakers — tell them what we expect about rules on data centers:

• State agencies should immediately begin tracking the use of natural resources, such as water.

• Statewide legislation must ensure that all costs are borne (and secured by bond) by investors, NOT by local and Pennsylvania residents. This includes buildings and additions, transmission lines, security and safety (fire and police departments), water access, infrastructure and processing, shutdown, and abandonment.

• Statewide agencies and task forces must follow up with data center owners on a 6-month to annual basis to verify compliance.

• Localities must be given full legal authority over data center construction, operational safety, and shutdown plans and actions.

• There must be plans in place to reduce the dark data stored by data centers.

And if you want to get involved with Red Wine & Blue’s Pennsylvania team, a community of 32,000 women and 42 local groups standing up to extremism in PA, join us here!

She was inspired to attend the event because of a conversation we had on our podcast a few weeks ago. Annette, another Ohio mom, shared that her kids love playing at a playground that’s now directly next to an AI data center. Not only has it ruined her neighborhood’s wilderness, with deer disappearing and trees being cut down, the site is being fast-tracked to becoming a full-on power plant… all without listening to local residents like Annette.

With those kids in mind, Katie took the mic and asked RFK Jr. this question:

“Tech companies are building data centers all over our state, over the objections of residents. It’s been found that these facilities could contribute to 600,000 cases of asthma… yet your administration issued an executive order to fast-track the building of them. How does giving kids asthma make America healthy?”

So, you may ask, what was RFK Jr.’s response to Katie’s question?

“I’m concerned” and “we’re continuing to study it.” No commitment to take action to protect kids. No acknowledgment of the executive order. Just… “we’re watching it.”

At that point, the event organizers cut off Katie’s mic. But she continued to press for a real response. “We need to not just study it!” she called out. “We need to stop it!" RFK Jr.’s only response to that was a look of annoyance.

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The good news is that you don’t have to wait for RFK Jr. or Trump to stop AI data centers in your neighborhood — the permitting for data centers is often up to your city council or other local officials. Communities across the country, like Monroe Township NJ and Lordstown OH, have been successfully pushing back.

If you want to hear more of Annette’s story and how communities can stand up against data centers, check out our recent episode called Neighbors Vs. Data Centers! You can hear it on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get podcasts.