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Welcome to my weekly update for March 16, 2025!
I won’t get into my political beliefs, but I wanted to let you know that I recently used the 5 Calls app to contact my Congressman and Senators about an issue. I cannot adequately express how much I hate calling strangers but I decided that I need to speak up when I have strong feelings about politics. I researched a bit and everything I read agreed that calling is the best way to contact them. I also read that if you want to avoid speaking to an actual person (the horror!), you should call after hours and leave a voicemail. So I screwed up my courage and went to it.
The app gave me a template I could use for my voicemail. I decided to start with that and modify it to say what I wanted. I typed that up for myself because I get flustered on the phone. The app had my representatives’ names and phone numbers. I just pressed “Call” in the app and away I went! My voice was so shaky on the first voicemail, even just reading my script, that they probably couldn’t understand me! But I did better with the second and third calls. Honestly, the worst part was the dread of calling. Now that I know what to expect, I’ll be using the app to contact them again and again and again. So if you’d like to share your thoughts with your representatives, the 5 Calls app is a great resource! The link takes you to their website, which in turn has links to their Android and iPhone apps.
Posted:
The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood, read by Hanako Footman: Book Review–3 Stars
The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan by Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller with John DeSimone: Book Review–3 Stars
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon: Book Review–4 Stars
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett: Book Review–4 Stars
Read:
All links go to my reviews on GoodReads.
Mairelon the Magician (Mairelon #1) by Patricia Wrede-3 Stars
The Bookshop on the Shore (Kirrinfief #2) by Jenny Colgan, read by Eilidh Beaton–4 Stars
River of Teeth (River of Teeth #1) by Sarah Gailey, read by Peter Berkrot–3 Stars
Currently Reading:
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, illustrated by Arthur Hughes
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James, read by Kirsten Potter and Brittany Pressley
Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell’s 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon by Edward Dolnick
Up Next:
I’m not at all sure. We’ll see where my mood leads.
What did your week look like?
Hosts:
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
22 Comments
Looks like a great week! I hope this upcoming week is just as good.
Thanks!
Thank you for linking up and for the shout out. I love 5 Calls and spend one morning a week calling in with all of my issue to my representatives.
Thanks for calling your reps so regularly!
I’ve used the 5 Calls app once, but need to do better and use it much more often. I’ve been following Alt National Park Service on Facebook (really the only reason I’m on there anymore), and subscribe to Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletters, and it’s really hard not to feel utterly discouraged right now. I feel like the “grown-ups” aren’t doing anything to stop this path toward a dictatorship. I try to feel hopeful, but each night I go to bed feeling nothing but despair. I agree that it’s important to voice our concerns with our reps even in a blue state.
Thank goodness for books!
I’m only on Facebook for my RV groups. I’m torn between keeping my head in the sand and feeling a responsibility to know about what’s going on. It’s hard to find a balance between between being informed and my own mental health and stress levels.
Hadn’t heard of this app before. Definitely want to check it out. Glad you made your opinions known. Lots of great books on your list today. Hope you enjoy some more great reading again soon.
https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2025/03/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-mailbox_0757641632.html
5Calls is definitely worth checking out.
Good for you for making the calls. I’ll look into the 5 calls app, which sounds like a real help as making the calls can be overwhelming.
It helped me a lot. I wouldn’t have known where to start without it.
I’m trying to ignore the whole political situation these days which is making me feel a bit guilty. I’ll check out that app as I, too, hate making phone calls. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
That’s mostly where I’m at too–torn between being informed and trying to remain blissfully ignorant.
Thanks for the heads up about that app. Also, thanks for calling. I’m Canadian, and doubt I could make any kind of difference in the USA, but I try to do what I can here to ensure that we don’t elect a similar type of government here.
Thanks for the introduction to the Kirrinfief series. I really want to read the first, but have no idea when I will find time to do so.
Many Canadians seem to be doing their bit to support sanity and protest insanity! I can’t imagine what all this must look like from the outside. I promise we haven’t all lost our minds; it’s just a slim majority, apparently.
I hope your voice is heard Jen!
Wishing you a wonderful reading week
Let’s hope reason wins out in the end!
Thank you for the information about 5 calls. I’m the same way about making phone calls and appreciate your advice.
I hope you find it useful if you want to contact your representatives!
I am going to bravely try to follow your lead, Jen, and use the app to call. I have been sending email, but now I’m not getting a response about these. I suspect no one is reading them. I will try calling.
I’m very interested in Down the Great Unknown!
I’ve read that emails are ignored but I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t know why one form of communication would be more influential than another.
You’ll be happy to know that I finally finished Down the Great Unknown and have my review up on GoodReads! I really liked it!
Good for you for making those calls. I have democratic representatives and senator so I feel like they don’t need to hear from me since I agree with them, but maybe that is the wrong way of thinking. If they hear from me they will get resolve and feel like they are on the right path.
I read that we should call even when we agree with our representatives for exactly that reason