Good trouble is brewing

January 8, 2026.

Over the past few decades, I have found that it is much easier to plan out tasks for my work regarding German and White Rose resistance than it is to write essays and analyses of legislation proposed or passed. It’s a little more difficult to put together “goals and plans” for my "other" work. Or at least it has been difficult in the last couple of years. We seem to be driven from one moment to the next, whatever the news media tells us is the most critical dumpster fire or distraction. Epstein, no Venezuela, no ICE, no Minnesota, no Trump’s dementia, no Epstein, no Epstein, no ICE…

I think you get the picture. It’s giving me—likely, all of us—a massive case of PTSD in the truest sense of “trauma.” Politics and everything that accompanies it has become our national nightmare. Over the past few days, I’ve reached a sort of equilibrium. Doesn’t mean I’m immune to the dumpster fire.

Simply put, I want to work intentionally, not reactively. Introspectively, not reflexively. Purposefully, not rashly.

As I created my to-do list (and yes, there’s really a to-do list), I wondered how I could narrow my emphasis. The last couple of weeks, I’ve concentrated almost exclusively on setting up and initializing my legislative research pages, posted to DEHeap Enterprises, Inc. As I’ve done so, it’s become clear that even were I to work 24/7, my posts would always appear well after the fact. The vast majority of political writers here on social media will have long since moved on to the next distraction.

That’s not an affront to their work. They’ve simply chosen to post breaking news, going from one emergency to the next.

I don’t want that model for my work. I don’t want to write about the breaking-breaking-broken news that exhausts us, that makes us feel hopeless. Meanwhile, good people in DC are working their butts off, attempting to effect change the constitutional way. All around them, their extremist colleagues work equally hard to destroy our constitution and democracy.

From where I sit, they are our only hope.

Yes! We should protest. We should write here on social media and elsewhere.

Yes! We should return to tried and true methods of informed dissent and nonviolent protest.

Yes! We should write letters and postcards and put out yard signs.

Yes! We should compose protest songs and stand on street corners channeling Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and Joan Baez.

Yes! We should do whatever we can do, whatever our personal strength and talents and energy enable us to do, to say, to Be.

I dare say that our Senators and Representatives in Washington, DC, along with their staffs and assistants, need us. But we need them more.

They have the power to enforce checks and balances. They have the wherewithal to stand on the hallowed floor of the House or Senate and proclaim that we stand for justice.

Al Green’s waving his cane at Donald Trump held far more significance and weight than my dear friends in Gettysburg shaking theirs at passersby could ever.

Elizabeth Warren’s expert dissection of MAGA legislation as unconstitutional and wrongheaded can persuade more of her Romney Republican colleagues than any letter-writing campaign I could undertake.

Adelita Grijalva’s rookie season in the House cracked the wall of silence that Trump & Company had built up around the Epstein files, something the combined power of Substack political influencers had not achieved.

Thinking about all of this, my mood went from dejectedly discouraged to stubbornly optimistic. My friends will tell you, when I dig in my heels, “Persistence” becomes my middle name. All right, all right, they probably use a different word. I prefer Persistence.

So, my to-do list for 2026 includes posts regarding the following, in addition to “White Rose” work.

Travel. Check out my travelogue (no fancy name) and travel services.
Genealogy. I write how-to's and essays about my own research in Finding Family. I offer genealogy services here.
Real Texas History. You can read about the Texas my family inhabited before Texas was a state in Real Texas History. This gives you a clear example of the research services I offer.
Translations Verbatim. A complete description of the services Translations Verbatim offers to businesses, genealogists, historians, and more can be found here. Word of Mouth, our "newsletter" of sorts, dates back to 1990!
Policies, Not Politics: Legislative analyses. I'm now only following seven topics: Separation of powers, AI, government shutdown and debt ceiling, immigration, international law and human rights, national security, and our public lands. Landing page is here.

The first three topics will be my palate cleansers.

Talking to myself here, but it applies to you, friends on social media, as well: If I immerse myself in politics day in and day out, no matter how noble my intention, I would not survive.

Gone are the days when we could debate conservative versus progressive viewpoints with friends over dinner. There’s no debate. There’s little in the way of ideology. It’s a screaming match, without governance. We have neither a president nor a Speaker who presides; they prevaricate. Our Supreme Court Justices dissemble. Politics à la mode comes with a side of disinformation.

It is beyond grueling. It’s eating us alive from the inside out, tearing apart the fabric of our society and dismembering our families. If that is all we live or breathe, we won’t make it.

So yes. I will still tell you about the enchanting places I love to visit. About New Braunfels, Fenwick Island, old Philadelphia, Phoenixville, Hof in Bayern ganz oben, Mödlareuth, about Zion in Utah, about St. George, about Mormon Mill (in Texas, not Utah), and Jekyll Island.

You’ll hear more about Aunt WeeWee and Minnie Lea and my mom. I’ll introduce you to the Sachs and Heap and Norris and Kelly and Light and who knows what other families that make me who I am—an American.

I’ll relate stories about the Houston I knew growing up, the Houston that no longer exists, except in the memories of Gen-Jones friends who used to hang out at the mall watching Gordie Howe skate. The Houston my great-grandfather knew, when Liederkranz and Sängerbund shared space with the Orthodox shul, when Sons of Hermann hosted erudite speakers on topics like the Quran or social gospel. Houston with 26,000 residents, with 500,000, with 1 million.

I’ll share family photographs, newspaper articles from 1900, poetry and prose from great-aunts, contracts and deeds in German and in English. Those “sections” at the top of this Substack may be unique and separate, but for me, it’s personal history, the mish-mash of life in these United States.

Maybe my stories will make you want to look deeper for your own.

And then yes, I will write about proposed legislation that impacts immigration, Medicare, gun control, civil rights, LGBTQIA+ and women’s rights, infrastructure. And of course taxes and tariffs, of which there is likely more legislation than everything else put together. And more.

But I won’t bore you with details. I’ll give you highlights, what passed the House or Senate, what was hotly debated. If Elizabeth Warren zings John Cornyn really good, I will tell you. If she and Ted Cruz cosponsor a bill together, and it’s actually a good bill, I’ll tell you that too. Like government in general, these posts take more time. These days, the only bills or resolutions that pass quickly seem to be the harmful ones.

When considering my 2026 tasks, I very nearly dropped this legislative undertaking. It is tedious, no fun, and sometimes makes my blood boil.

As I’ve seen the good work that is shouted down by news media and influencers, I now see legislative analysis as perhaps the most important of all.

When I saw Tim Kaine and Peter Welch insisting that Foreign Relations look at global human rights violations, I took a deep breath.
When Chris Van Hollen pushed back against Trump’s unconstitutional usurpation of power in Washington, DC, I wanted to hug him.
When Glenn Ivey and 127 Democrats introduced the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, to hold law enforcement accountable for misconduct in court, improve transparency through data collection, and reform police training and policies, I literally shouted YES at the top of my lungs.
When eleven Democrats and nine Republicans—including Lauren Boebert—sought to overturn major sections of Trump’s Big Bad Bill that destroy rural healthcare, I shook my head in astonishment.
When Ayanna Pressley and 181 Democrats submitted the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act, I knew that Good Trouble Is Brewing.

And these five examples are just the tip of the Democratic iceberg. So yeah, it’s worth my time and effort to keep going.

Good trouble is brewing. Now more than ever.

Postscript: And sometimes good trouble brewing smells just like coffee. Couldn't resist!

COMMENT WORTH KEEPING

Denise, as always, your eloquence and understanding come to the front of this message. I agree with everything you say in this article. Thanks for continuing to advise and educate!

--Frances Anderson, January 8, 2026. [This comment means the world to me. Frances was my high school chorale teacher at Spring Branch High School, Houston, Texas, 1969-1972. She was also the music teacher for one of the ZZTop band members!]

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