Episode 2

About

In this compelling episode, Chris and Soren sit down with seasoned lobbyist and tireless human rights advocate, Charlotte Warren, to explore the power—and the personal cost—of advocacy in today’s shifting political landscape. Together, they unpack what it means to raise your voice for justice when the world feels chaotic and unprecedented.

Charlotte shares behind-the-scenes insights from the front lines of policy change and breaks down how everyday people can engage in meaningful advocacy. From navigating political burnout to maintaining mental clarity in the noise, the conversation is both empowering and deeply grounding.

Key Takeaways:

• How to advocate effectively without losing yourself in the process
• The importance of community, boundaries, and self-care for long-term activism
• Stories of hope and resilience from inside the halls of power
• Why protecting your peace is just as vital as protecting your rights

Whether you’re new to advocacy or a seasoned changemaker, this episode offers practical wisdom and heartfelt encouragement for finding—and using—your voice.

Tune in and be inspired to show up, speak out, and stay grounded.

www.inspiredcg.com

https://www.youtube.com/@InspiredInsightsPodcast

inspiredinsights@inspiredcg.com

*Please note that this episode contains sensitive behavioral health topics such as suicide and substance use. If you are experiencing a behavioral health crisis, please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling 988 or visiting www.988lifeline.org.

**This podcast is for information and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered health advice. This podcast is not intended to replace professional medical advice.

Transcript

The Inspired Insights podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered health advice. This podcast is not intended to replace professional medical advice.

Please note that this podcast may contain discussions on sensitive topics such as mental illness, suicide and substance use. If you are experiencing a behavior health crisis or need support, please contact the 988-SUICIDE-AND-CRISIS-LIFELINE by calling 988 or visiting www.988-LIFELINE.ORG.

Soren:
Welcome back, guys!

Chris:
Hey! Hi!

Soren:
Hi. I am Soren Peterson, a high school student, and this is

Chris:
Chris McGillis back with you all.

We have a special guest. Charlotte Warren is here. Hi, Charlotte.

Charlotte:
Hello. Hello. Thank you for having me.

Chris:
Charlotte, you and I have known each other probably a couple of years now in some of my other social work roles with some of the work you do in our State House, and I’m going to let you introduce yourself and let our listeners and viewers know who you are.

Charlotte:
Thank you. So, as everybody said, my name is Charlotte Warren, and I serve now as a lobbyist. I never thought I would hear myself say those words, but I am working with Moose Ridge Associates, which is a lobbying firm in the state of Maine led by and founded by Betsy Sweet.

Chris:
He’s awesome.

Charlotte:
He’s awesome. And Laura Harper and John Hennessy, also awesome members of our group, and so that is what I do now in the legislature is I’m doing a mostly advocating on behalf of mental health and substance use disorder systems is a lot of the work that I’m doing. And then I do a lot of also sort of peripheral social justice work, if that makes sense.

Chris:
Yeah. What I love about you and your Moose Ridge team is I feel like you represent and are a voice for the partners, the agencies, the organizations, associations that you represent there. And you help us with some strategy and you help kind of map out what are we looking to get done?

Does it align with, and if so, who, what are the other partners we can bring in and then how do we move it forward? You are so skilled at laying out strategy.

Charlotte:
Thank you. And part of that, I appreciate, I appreciate that. Part of that is that I was on the other side for eight years, right?

So I started my consulting firm in 2012, and my consulting firm is just called C. Warren Consulting. And so I was doing some legislative work starting in about 2007, 2008 when I joined the Maine Women’s Lobby.

And so I had that sort of experience and then I figured out, all right, I’m going to try to get there and be one of those. I need to have a vote, right? It’s like you can kind of see what things needed to be fixed and I spent some time kind of on the outer edges trying to get things fixed and I was like, ah, I got to go get there.

I got to go have a vote. So I ran, I got elected and I ended up serving for eight years in the Maine legislature. And I think it really has allowed me to see the process both, you know, first as the associate director of an organization and we had a lobbyist, right?

And then doing some direct work on my own, then serving as a legislator and now coming full circle back into the building with a whole bunch of sort of new experience also about what those different roles are.

Chris:
And new relationships.

Charlotte:
And new relationships, yes.

Chris:
What years did you serve?

Charlotte:
I got elected in 2014. Okay.

And so I started my service in 2015, the January of 2015 and I served for eight years. So until, what is that?

Chris:
23.

Charlotte:
23.

Chris:
So through this first half of COVID.

Charlotte:
Yes. Yes. We were through, I did two years of chairing the criminal justice and public safety committee 100% over Zoom.

Wow. And I will tell you, I thought I had stamina, good attention before doing 12 hour Zoom hearings.

Chris:
Yeah. Oh, I can’t imagine.

Charlotte:
Zoom really allowed me to learn a little bit about my skills.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
I think it allowed a lot of us to learn about our skills. We all had to sort of lean in in a different way.

Chris:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Do you, I’m curious, like from when you got in to as you left, did you notice any dramatic shifts in the tides, the vibes, the political discord?

Charlotte:
Oh, 100%.

Chris:
In just eight years time?

Charlotte:
100%. I’ve always been somebody that tells the truth no matter, right? No matter.

Literally no matter. Even if people don’t want to hear it, I believe in my truth and I believe in my right to share it. And part of my work is to help other people believe in their truth and believe in their value to share it.

Right. And so I’ve always been just sort of 100% who I am. And I saw the reaction to who I am change as the world outside of the legislature changed.

And specifically, I can talk about specific examples of where my sort of behavior and what I was sharing on social media and my beliefs, I don’t feel like they really changed. But all of a sudden, I sort of became a target in some ways of what we saw change outside. And so yes, I started as an elected official.

Now, I also want to say that I served as mayor and I served on a city council for 12 years. So I have a long time of sort of public service. And in that process of serving, I really experienced something outside of the work shift.

And we all experienced it. The way we treat our elected officials has changed. The way we treat each other has changed.

What we agree on for facts has changed. Right. So that I saw.

Chris:
I saw a real shift. Oh, I can’t wait. I want to get into that more.

Sorin, this is our first guest episode of the season.

Soren:
Indeed.

Chris:
And I have already done a terrible job keeping us on track. That’s usually like inspired insight, right?

Yes. What is your inspired insight of the week?

Soren:
So focusing on this idea of advocacy and the importance of political involvement, I was thinking about the defeatism that I see in a lot of my colleagues at school, particularly around politics.

And then I look back into history and recognize, for example, the social movements in the 60s and 70s were led primarily by motivated young people. And I’m not seeing that in my current generation. I see a lot of politically interested young people.

But these young people are hanging out in online spaces where they’re not taking tangible pragmatic action. And I myself am part of this. I sit at home and I pontificate and I consider a policy.

And then I make no tangible action.

Chris:
Right. And then you nap for seven hours.

Soren:
So my insight would be for young people to start thinking about how they can get involved with policy in a tangible sense rather than marinating in ideas, engaging in actions.

Chris:
I can’t wait to check back in with you when we’re done our time with Charlotte to see if you have some ideas on what you might offer.

Soren:
That’s what I’m very excited for today.

Chris:
So my insight, and then I’ll end with you because I want to follow up with some of these things. What actually reminded me that we haven’t done our insights of the week conversation yet is when you were talking about the way we the way people treat elected officials and even each other has changed. And so our listeners know and Sorin knows all too well that I often look to one of my heroes, pop culture heroes for insight, none other than Miss Taylor Swift.

And so I’m in my Taylor cardigan and I’m wearing my insight of the week under my cardigan. And it’s a quote Taylor used in her Time Magazine Person of the Year 2023 article. And she just very casually dropped this little nugget in the interview and carried on.

And I come back to it over and over again. And what I love about it is on the surface, it may not sound kind. And Taylor is absolutely kind.

But I think it just sums up everything so well. And it’s this trash takes itself out every single time. And it’s this reminder that we don’t have to take a swing at every pitch that’s thrown at us.

We don’t have to spend a lot of time putting on the body armor and planning the defense. Sometimes just the knowledge that the folks that are taking swings at us or throwing lobs at us aren’t worthy of the return energy. It’ll take care of itself.

It takes itself out eventually. And so that’s kind of one of my thoughts.

Soren:
I think that is a very useful insight in most contexts. And I agree with it broadly. But I think on the topic of American policy and politics, a lot of people expected the garbage that is currently head of the federal government to have taken himself out many moons ago.

Chris:
Yeah.

Soren:
And yet he remains in a position of power. And I think that expectation that we will continue to see positive movement without action is something that has done a lot of harm to social advocacy in the last few years. But I broadly agree with that insight.

Chris:
And we’re going to get back to that because I know exactly what you’re picking up from that.

Soren:
Yeah.

Chris:
We will get back to that. Charlotte, inspired insight for our week.

Charlotte:
Well, yes, you actually gave me the inspired insight when we were on our call a couple days ago. Yeah. And you shared resistance plus resilience.

Chris:
Yeah. Yeah.

Charlotte:
I just, you know, hallelujah.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
Hallelujah.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
Right. Like we have got to put those two things together and not separate them.

Chris:
They have to be.

Charlotte:
They have to be.

Chris:
And you will remember that was one of our closing sentiments from last season, is how do we become part of both the resistance and prioritize resilience?

Soren:
Yes.

Chris:
And so we were talking about that being a theme as we come into some other activities we’re doing. So I’m curious, what are your thoughts on that? How do we balance this need, especially now, this need to do something and fight back and prioritize wellness and self-care?

Charlotte:
You know, I was thinking of it on my drive up this morning. And as everybody else, we have a lot, I have a lot of stuff roaming around in my head right now that’s, I’m not ready to prognosticate about what happened in November and who did what wrong. Yep.

Right? Yep. Right now, I’m sitting back and I’m kind of watching and I’m gathering information.

And one of the things that Vice President Kamala Harris said during her race was, there’s a lot of young women out there not aspiring to be humble. Mm-hmm. Right?

She said, you know, many of us aren’t aspiring to be humble. And that really resonated with me because I’m not aspiring to be humble to make a bunch of other people feel comfortable either. But I’m also not aspiring to be a martyr.

Yeah. Right?

Chris:
Right.

Charlotte:
I do not aspire to be Superwoman.

Chris:
Right.

Charlotte:
Right? We do a lot of that like, and I’m doing everything. No, I don’t aspire to doing everything.

Chris:
Right?

Charlotte:
Right?

Chris:
Yeah. Well, and somebody educated me years ago around racial justice and anti-supremacist movements, especially in the field of social work, that to rest is to be part of the resistance. To rest and gather and pause and collect thoughts is pushing back against supremacist culture, where it’s drive and produce and more, more, more all the time.

To rest is to be part of resistance.

Charlotte:
And it’s that trickster energy is one way it’s referred to, right? That trickster energy of, you know, maybe my ancestor, to keep what you’re saying, maybe my ancestor, an African-American person in the field couldn’t rest, could not stop from picking the cotton because the master was there with the whip. But that person of color now, couldn’t rest.

Right. And we talk about it a lot. Right?

We talk about these, what was it? People were talking about like quitting. What was that term?

Chris:
Quiet quitting.

Charlotte:
Quiet quitting.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
Right? I say to people all the time, you know, you get to decide how much you get paid an hour.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
You just work less. Yeah. How much you get paid an hour goes up, you know, like, like there’s that tricky energy or trickster energy that I think we all need to be using as part of the resistance.

Right. Because it’s true. Capitalism and the patriarchy and all of that, it’ll just grind us right down into the ground.

Yeah.

Chris:
Yeah. And I thank you for saying that because I, I just mentioned this to you recently as well. Part of, for my husband and I, part of our intentionality of rest is to unplug the news.

Like I, you and I have talked about this. I said when it became clear in November what was happening, I said to my husband, I looked at him and I said, I can’t do what we did from 2016 to 2020. I cannot live like that again.

So I need to figure out how to give myself permission to not scroll any, all of it. Yeah. All day long and, and marinate in what are they doing?

What are they changing? What’s the, whoever that is, I can’t live like that again. You my friend don’t necessarily have that luxury, especially in our state politics, but also federally, like this is your job.

Your job is to be aware. So what are you doing to balance that with this idea of resilience and rest?

Charlotte:
Well for one, I really do feel like right now what’s happening federally is completely beneath all of us.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
Trash. I don’t have time for it. I’m not interested in it.

I’m not paying attention to it. And and the reason I’m not paying attention to it is although, you know, I think people do see it as my job. I’m not lobbying in Congress.

Yeah. Not really. Right.

Right. I’m, I’m not. That’s not my job.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
And and what we’re going to see this administration do is throw a whole bunch of stuff.

Soren:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
Flood the zone. Yeah. And everyone’s, not everyone, some people are going to run around responding to all of those things.

Yeah. And that’s fine. I don’t want to critique what anybody else is doing.

I’m not doing it.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
It’s beneath me.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
And that is how I feel about it.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
And I’m not paying attention to it. And when the call for resistance comes, I suspect people know how to get in touch with me. That’s right.

Right. And when my trans brothers and sisters need me to stand up and take action, you can bet I’m part of it.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
Right. And all the other things you can bet I’m part of it. Yeah.

But that doesn’t mean I need to be glued to my cell phone or allowing that information into my house. Yeah. I no longer listen to public radio.

Yeah. And the reason I don’t listen to public radio is I would not let a dumb rapist into my house. And I’m not going to listen to one inside my house.

Right. Voluntarily. Right.

I’m not going to do it.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
Right? And so I miss my public radio. But right now, I have to take care of myself.

Yeah. And I don’t think that there’s anything that Charlotte Warren can control about what’s happening in D.C. right now. That’s right.

Now, if there’s an action activity that we need to take, sign me up on the first one there.

Chris:
And we’ll know about it. Right.

Like I said to Derek, like, you know, one of our concerns is obviously around the targeting doesn’t even seem to be the right word anymore. But the prioritization of making the LGBTQ community, especially trans and gender diverse, gender expansive community, making them the enemy, making them the them. And what I’ve said to Derek is, and we’re in complete agreement, I promise you all, if he or they do something that’s going to impact our marriage, that’s going to impact our rights.

Yeah. They’re not going to sneak it through. Nope.

We’re not going to be asleep at the wheel and wake up tomorrow and suddenly our marriage has been dissolved. We, I am connected with enough folks. I get enough email from all of these organizations.

We’re going to know. So I don’t have to be front and center in front of my screen watching and waiting and scrolling like patrolling the wall. Right.

Yeah. I don’t have to do that. It’s not going to sneak through.

The other zone flooding that’s happening, I honestly don’t give a shit. I cannot be bothered. And I love how you said it’s beneath.

Totally beneath me. I don’t need to know every confirmation hearing, every executive order. Now, in my world, I am paying attention to some of those orders, especially gender affirming care stuff and what’s going on with diversity, equity, and inclusion, like MyLively.

Absolutely. But that’s sort of the compartment, like I’ll focus on this so I don’t have to focus on the other 99%.

Soren:
Right. Yeah. I feel like what you guys are speaking to is the importance of picking and choosing our battles when we have limited both cognitive and social resources.

That’s right.

Chris:
What’s your hill that you’re prepared to die on and then how do you bunker and protect that thing?

Soren:
Yeah. And in being passive, we can be part of a resistance simply through not participating in an organization that we disagree with. That’s right.

Chris:
Yeah. Or not watching. I get really frustrated that all of our news venues are doing exactly what they want by feeding it to us and jumping on it.

It’s so true. And I just don’t want to give it my energy.

Soren:
Yeah. Yeah. And also what I’m hearing is I think politics on both sides of the aisle has become increasingly reactionary, especially on the right.

And what we’re seeing right now is a massive push from the reactionary right to dismantle the systems that leftists have attempted to provide the United States. And now what we need to do is sit, wait, observe, and know when to become reactionary in response.

Chris:
Strategy. Yeah. Craft strategy.

I mean, you and I talk about this on and off camera all the time. But we get frustrated that it feels like there’s this rollover mentality like, we lost. So licking wounds.

And I get frustrated with, for me, it’s drawing the line of what is rest and what is apathy and just shrugging shoulders and walking away from it.

Soren:
I think that’s a very difficult line to draw. Even in this conversation, I’m like, is that the greatest choice? When you guys are saying some of your passive whatever.

But I’ve never been active in a political sphere. I spend a lot of my time thinking about it, but I have never taken action outside of some of the public speaking engagements I’ve been involved in. And this.

Charlotte:
This is big, though.

I also want to say, this is big. Yeah. Tell us more.

Keep going. This is what you’re doing. This is action.

But keep going.

Soren:
Yeah. I think that a lot of young people are sitting on the apathy side of things, whereas a lot of older individuals or people who have been more politically involved previously are tired as a dog trying to fight battles for other people. Right.

Right. So it’s part of what I was thinking with my Inspired Insight. It is time for young individuals to take a step forward, because I feel like young people, although they don’t have the resources of older individuals, we are reformers.

We are able to view critically the world around us in a way that people who have existed in that world for an extended period of time can’t. And we need to leverage that in order to advocate for new policy solutions.

Chris:
So what does that look like for you today? What would a collective uprising of young voices, what would that tangibly look like? And it’s okay not…

I don’t know.

Soren:
Yeah.

Chris:
I mean, I think about, and I forget the year, the March for Our Lives group after the, shoot, is it Columbine? That that group…

Soren:
Yeah. I can’t remember which. I can’t remember which.

Chris:
The group of young people said, uh-uh. And they were in DC. They were marching and organizing marches all across the country.

Was that Parkland? Parkland. Yeah.

I see it was Parkland. Columbine was in Midnight. Yeah.

So isn’t that sad they all blurred together? That’s another topic as well. But that felt, for the first time, it really felt like here are young people doing something.

And they got torn to shreds, right? Yeah. We knew they would.

They got torn to shreds. But that looked like young people doing something. And arguably they did.

They drew a lot of attention to it. But I don’t know, short of taking to the streets, what does that look like now?

Soren:
Yeah. That’s what I was thinking too, because no legislation has been enacted at a federal level to introduce some amount of gun reform as a result of that. There have been no concrete actions to attempt to mitigate or reduce school shootings.

And I think that’s some of the conflict that I have, especially with my evaluation of what I’m doing. Spreading awareness is action, but it’s not results.

Chris:
Yeah. Right? Let me challenge you on that.

Because I think it gets back to what Charlotte was saying and what your mom and I tell you all the time. You giving voice to all of the topics we’re talking about is action. Is it measurable in the sense of ballot box?

Maybe not yet. But I’m curious what other metrics we might think about where action and results. What are the other ways to measure results?

And is it changing minds? Is it shifting hearts? Is it only passing bills or getting people elected?

So what are the metrics? When you think about results, are you thinking in terms of, here’s the new policy, here’s the new law, or here’s the person sitting in the office?

Soren:
Well, okay. I think as a result of us living in a democracy, to some extent swaying other individuals’ opinions is results because that has a tangible translation to policy. To votes.

However, I think that the only time when we’re going to see tangible results is when those people that we convince go out and vote or go out and get involved in a movement. That results in policy shifting. So when these things become visible is when it manifests in a shifted policy.

But until that is the case, our action is not doing anything. And I’d be curious to hear what you think, as a policymaker, the duality of the utility of advocacy.

Charlotte:
So important. So important. And that’s the thing, Soren, you showing up and being who you are is so big.

It is so important, right? So let me tell you what I mean about that in presence of the legislature. Hearing different people’s stories, being able to connect some policy that we’re trying to change or destroy or create or modify, it all needs to be accompanied by humanity.

What makes it real? It can’t just be theoretical discussions, right? It has to be based in our people, our communities, our collections of groups.

It has to be seen in order to affect. And that’s why I think doing this podcast, sending a letter to the editor, reaching out to a lawmaker, all of those things, and just even being who you are and sharing who you are is advocacy, right?

Chris:
And resistance.

Charlotte:
And resistance and important. Yes, and resistance and important. And here’s another thing that’s resistance, and this is one I’m trying to get other people to agree with me on.

So let’s see if you guys agree with me. I think another form of resistance is using our own wisdom and not needing to be, and not needing to do, and maybe this is just something that we as lefty progressives do. We don’t need to be surprised again.

Yeah, that’s the part that is irritating me about this more than anything else. Just people like oh, oh my god Did you see what he did right?

Soren:
It’s expected.

This is a pattern of things Yeah

Charlotte:
I don’t know why it irritates me so badly. Yeah, but it really Irritates me. Yeah, it’s like we we give up our own personal agency and our personal agency Oh, I know stuff.

Yeah, I know what he did I know who he is Right, and if I act surprised by it, aren’t I like going back on like what I was trying to say the whole time That’s right.

Chris:
Yeah. Well for me, it’s that it’s not it’s disingenuous and it’s that performative pearl-clutching of Can you believe that and those of us in the queer community on? November Blank the day after when we woke up Those of us in this community look to each other and said mark my words Yeah

Charlotte:
Day one exactly what I said

Chris:
You know mark like my word and sure enough day one and and like I It’s even now cliche for Roger 2025, but it’s a thing, right?

It literally mapped out. Yep And those of us that have been targeted by those policies and politics for decades We knew we knew what was coming he told us they told us

Charlotte:
yes like this is something that voters have been aware of and I was talking to one of my Friends parents who did vote for Donald Trump and he was like, why is all this happening?

I don’t know what’s going on and I’m like you want to be like this man took a bat out of a box went and Winded up and now you’re shocked when you got hide in the head, right? Like yeah, right, right That’s such a good way to say right you sat there and you were like, yeah Right.

Chris:
Well, and I would suggest the moment that box was checked on the ballot The bat was already pulled back a mid swing.

Yeah and coming our way Yeah, like yeah, so this idea that you are surprised I Agree,

Charlotte:
And I don’t know and I try to be patient about it because I know that people in my own circle Just love the drama. Yes, they love that Yeah, yeah, yeah talk about the bad stuff right and I’m the kind of person like if there’s a pal a dog shit over there I’m looking for the flowers,

Chris:
right? That’s right.

Charlotte:
And that’s just my own personality. Yeah, right like I don’t want us I’m not interested in spending so much time you know Filling whatever that is Wallowing talking about it sharing it. Yes It’s that I can’t

Chris:
because that’s resilience and resisting it is that’s pulling it all together I think

Charlotte:
it’s sitting back into your own wisdom Yeah, right and and and sitting back into your own Truth of knowing some stuff.

Chris:
Yeah. Yeah, one of the things that you and your colleagues taught me years ago was the importance of strategy and planning that And I think it speaks a little bit soaring to what you were saying about it What’s what are the tangible results like some of this stuff is measured in years and so the Conversation we have today Might not result in policy change for two more election cycles But we started it right the groundwork was laid right and it’s the idea of the long game and that When we had these conversations years ago it equally Frustrated me. Yes But also got me thinking about possibility and how do we then redefine the metric of The conversation we’re having today Might not yield results For years, right?

Charlotte:
It’s almost like dropping pennies in a well. Yeah, right You have to drop a lot of pennies in the well before they get so high you can see them above the waterline Doesn’t mean the pennies aren’t there.

Chris:
Yeah, I love that analogy, right?

Charlotte:
They’re still in the well Yeah, you just have to drop a lot of pennies for them to start coming up above Yeah the water and in for me, it’s you know When I graduated college in 1994 You know young queer Trying to figure out my place in the world, right and I was part of an organization at UMF It was a gay straight organization and we were like we were working on like having civil rights, right? Right having access to civil rights Which meant that we couldn’t be fired for being gay or lose our housing for being gay, right? Yeah, I my first job right out of college was as a teacher Yeah, right, right.

And so I was very concerned about my employment in my housing and So at and and and sort of was working on that policy fight and then in my brain Look how fast we got to marriage equality, right? Yeah, right Yeah, very rapid shift, right? And so but what I needed to remember was All the years all the other pennies that have been for all those pennies.

Yeah, right Yeah, and that two things one we define our win.

Chris:
Yeah.

Charlotte:
Yeah, we define our win, right? And that was like one of the first lessons I learned in policy making There is not the win cannot be we got all the green lights or we got all the red lights, right? It has the voting in the in the chambers, right?

It has to be something different than that because we’re not gonna get all the green lights on everything in one year That’s right.

Chris:
And that’s right, right? It’s that long game that the actions we have now today Might impact some of those green lights to for even six years from now, you know one of the episodes that Sauron and I did last season was a Episode we kind of called generations of pride and it was for the lived experiences of four male-bodied folks Yeah, representing different eras And one of my favorite people Mentors Frank Brooks was with us and I know you know friends who and you know Frank talked about living through the AIDS epidemic and then building the Organization that is now what we know as Equality, Maine and this and and then what happened in the state of Maine after marriage equality was passed and folks just kind of went yep done and Equality, Maine said uh-uh and Reenergized and revamped that but I I think about all those pennies in that well that you reference and all the wishes that every one of those pennies represents and how it takes the Collective energy of piling up before you actually see it And I think what I’m hearing over and over again that you know all too well Sauron as a queer young person in public school is The amount of people that I consider really dear friends Who are so disconnected? from the this idea of of queer rights not starting and stopping at marriage and And How much is now being talked about in terms of whether we’re talking gender-affirming care or diversity equity inclusion? but the new face of the gay rights movement is really the trans non-binary young people that You all are the new face of what we knew as marriage equality And so your passion For change and Intangible a metric of change.

I get it because I think I hear you saying you were there and and I Wonder your thoughts or an on Being The new thing that the right and the left are moving around the chessboard.

Soren:
I Think that minority groups have consistently been used in politics absolutely as a pawn Yeah, since the beginning of time. Yes, and I have a lot of opinions on the place of Social dynamics in politics. Yeah, I like to focus more on the socioeconomic end of things.

Yeah, um But I think what I’m recognizing primarily in especially the right And their crusade against transgender individuals is a simple lack of understanding of reality, right? They have created a straw man that they can attack which serves to Reinforce my point that we are pawns being where we are in a political order straw first the non-binary strong purse straw person, um Yeah, I as a young person I think In viewing all of this. It’s easy to feel Misunderstood by the institutions around you and we obviously are um, but because of that I think a lot of young people are incentivized to not interact with those institutions But in order to introduce the change that we desire we need to interact with those institutions Yeah, and I I like the idea of like defining our victory.

Where is the goal right?

There is no goal we will never achieve utopia but we can always push from where we are to that ideal right and as

Chris:
Charlotte said earlier showing up in the world as Your authentic self is a way you interact with those institutions It as a form of resistance, you know I think about Laverne Cox’s quote like I’m not interested in being erased and We’ve all queer people. We’ve always it we go in anywhere, right? So you can scrub the website.

Yeah, you can take the words out of the grant applications. You can delete the data but Every day that you Charlotte every day we show up in the world as our authentic self It is a giant middle finger to all of those institutions who seek to erase. Yeah.

Soren:
Yeah, I Think something that I find so Disgustful on the social right is this desire to Surefy culture towards an arbitrary ideal. That’s right whereas I think a lot of the social movements that I see on the left are an attempt to Have Common culture the indicative of the actual social conditions on the ground Yes, right and allow individuals who are existing to be shown in the common eye, right? whereas like a lot of people on the right and a lot of the social movements on the right focus on creating a Purified mainstream in which only certain social conditions can be shown.

Yeah, and I think through that they are abstracting reality and attempting to obscure Issues for their own Thousand percent, but that’s yeah. I don’t know. I’m just commenting on the right now.

Chris:
This is I’m allowed Well, I think you’re highlighting store in that in order part of advocacy is also Understanding some of the dynamics at play, right? And so you don’t have to Live in Augusta or or or watch every Zoom hearing you don’t have to be boots on the ground day in and day out to understand the issue and to take a role in the strategy To define what you or when it’s good you get to lay out the strategy at the same time you get to define your way I

Soren:
Regarding tangible action and boots on the ground even though as we agree It’s not necessary for every individual to be engaging with. Um, I’d be curious to hear how you Charlotte first got involved in politics and how what sorts of organizations other young people Can strive to become involved with?

Charlotte:
Yeah Mm-hmm You know, it’s such a good question and I wonder I sometimes wonder myself like what sparked this Yeah, when did it start? You know, I remember being well, first of all, I think just inherently Because of who I am and who I was as a child I was my mother is is a very born-again Christian person. She’s she’s very evangelical I was raised in a church That’s free Methodist.

So they’re not just Methodist like they’re like one-step Leveled up. They’re leveled up Methodist. Yeah, you know, they’re they’re born again It’s the the tent revival the whole thing like we had church camp.

So just trying to give you the picture of where I came from and I Was born a badass, you know, I just was born this way. I Was Yeah, I was and my mom God bless her. She really I mean we have a great relationship now.

I’m 54 Yeah, you know, my mother is 78 and we have a great relationship I got to keep her inside the line sometimes, you know, and she’s open to that She knows she’s got to be kept inside the line sometimes But I was a real tomboy. Yeah, and and So I sort of had to start advocating early on behalf of myself and somewhere along the line I Got the knowledge. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to whoever I’m saying.

Thank you, too I got the knowledge that just because My mom thought I was wrong and the church thought I was wrong. I didn’t think I was wrong. I Thought they were wrong.

Yeah Somewhere along the line. I knew as a young person that I did not want to be judgy And that I did not I remember having the term I’m not gonna judge until I’ve walked in your moccasins I don’t know where I got the term from. Yeah, but I remember being very young and sitting back and and so so so that sort of informed you get the picture of like how I I sort of came and then I sort of just became this person that Had experienced some real unfairness in my childhood.

My sister is very feminine She’s very traditional. My brother is is very much a boy And then here I was in the middle and I’m very much a woman But I wasn’t what my mother thought I should be right And so I sort of became this one-woman show of like I’m okay Even though you don’t like me this way. Wow, where did that come?

I have no idea I think part of it is I had a dad and a Nana Who believed in me? Yeah, and they thought I was the best thing they ever saw Yeah, they thought I was the best thing they ever saw so so you can make it through that resilience Resilience happens, even if you just have one person who believes in you right, right and so I have this like I can feel unfairness in my body And I will not abide it.

Chris:
Yeah, you can’t sit with that.

Charlotte:
I can’t sit with it. Yeah, I can’t sit with it It has gotten me into unbelievable trouble In my life and I’ve learned really great lessons from that trouble and I don’t have regrets about The trouble I created. Yeah, because I learned that it was In order to be true to myself and be my authentic self I was gonna have to ruffle some feathers because you don’t there’s a lot of times you don’t have a choice

Chris:
Yes, how do you balance?

The Feeling of when you when you are sitting with that injustice right when you are watching People you care about harmed. How do you balance that? with Recognition that there’s no Immediate gratification in the work that you do again.

Like we said some of its gonna come years from now How do you balance? the need for change With Knowing the strategy. It’s gonna take

Charlotte:
I Lean into my own wisdom. Yeah, and my own wisdom tells me that Movements are not just 12 years long. Mm-hmm and That if I really want to understand the struggle I should go back and try to do a little learning about what black women have gone through in this country take perspective Yeah, right.

So I take a lot of perspective Yeah but also like I Try to keep myself in the world that I live in as opposed to the world I wish I lived in

Chris:
Yeah, staying grounded.

Charlotte:
I’m grounded right like I I want to just not I’m not surprised by things Because I you know when somebody shows me who they are. I believe them the first time right Maya Angelou. I live by that But I also spend a lot of time I think I talk with my hands a lot I spend a lot of time Observing yeah, and then trusting my own Observations are mine the same as yours.

No, our mind may be not the same as 50% not Yeah, still true still valid still here. Yeah still here still having a hell of a time Yeah, right still having a hell of a time and and so I think I don’t know if that helps answer your question of how I do it, but The work is never gonna be done right? I’m never gonna be like they’re right.

I don’t take it right But I find so much joy in The trying yeah, and the joy in the meeting the people along the journey I got to tell you the this work of trying to create change It has exposed me to most unbelievable people and Then I just have like really big Self-care strategies. Yeah, right and now we even got people judging self-care. Yeah, right People like this this so yeah, and it’s like I just want everyone to have their own self-care what works for you, right?

I mean, let’s trust that people are experts on their own lives Yeah, and that if we can really encourage people to get to their own visit wisdom.

Chris:
Yeah Yeah, right

Charlotte:
Self-care becomes so much easier when you know yourself and you know what you need and You know, I’ve I mean my friends pick on me so much about certain things, right? I don’t go to a lot of things that everybody else goes to I say, you know Some people have FOMO fear of missing.

I have Jomo joy of missing out, right? You know and and everyone’s got you know, some sort of theory about what you know, I need connections Yeah, you can’t do this. You should do this and I’m like you you take care of yourself care Yeah, I think I’m doing all right.

Chris:
There’s that confidence again.

Charlotte:
Yeah You take care of your own, you know, I know what I need. Yeah, you know what you need You know what you need, right?

And so I think that’s got to be a big piece of yeah You know what?

Soren:
I’m hearing is a lot of conviction and confidence and the importance of that in resilience we need to believe in ourselves and the validity of our ideas in order to Allow them to change the world around.

Chris:
Yeah so thank you for saying that soaring because I would like the con I’m just like in awe of the the confidence you and and you radiating that confidence I Like sit in it and I feel like my posture like yeah, we got this It’s like it’s um, yeah infectious. So thinking about your question about resources then Um Charlotte what would you give folks Soren’s age even younger? If if if somebody who’s not quite 18 yet So that idea of a boat doesn’t quite exist yet, but they want to get involved What would you suggest to school-age youth?

Can they do?

Charlotte:
Reach out to somebody you trust who will invite you in Mm-hmm, and I think a lot of people in Augusta or At Bangor City Hall or Brewer City Hall or wherever the sort of seats of government are, right? we do a lot of sort of there’s a lot of sort of talking about who should do what and what it looks like, but there’s not a lot of just like Yeah, come join. Mm-hmm, right have a conversation Come be part and I think there’s this expectation that everyone’s gonna like figure it out of their own and really, my thing is like Would you like to come be at the State House a day with me?

Right? I say that to young people all the time You know about an invitation.

Chris:
Yes, it was Soren’s eyes went Oh

Charlotte:
Come spend the day with me and I do mean that right like like I you know when I was mayor of Hollowell and We were trying to figure out a way to get people to come to meetings or be involved right and I really saw it as You know, and and some people I was working with really started somebody, you know, we need them and they they’re not doing it You know, and I really was like, well, what are we doing wrong?

Chris:
Right?

Charlotte:
It’s oh, it’s my Responsibility as mayor right to figure out how to invite those people in right? How do I do that? right and so I Think it’s on me and it’s on all of us to figure out a way to not sit around and go Why aren’t they showing up?

But to figure out a way to go and get them

Chris:
Yeah

Charlotte:
and to bring them with me and what I say to people all the time is you want to come to the State House you let Me know I’ll meet you down at the screeners because that’s like the biggest thing is like just getting into the building the first time Yeah, right because it’s it’s a scary place for the first time

Chris:
Yeah, and and not understanding I know this was true for me not understanding the process and I and And I use that term process like I don’t just talk mean like how bills are Created I mean, how do you get in?

Yeah, what are the rules, you know, like Do you have to dress a certain way act a certain way be a certain way? Am I allowed to bring my mug of coffee? Like what are the rules and I want me a hundred percent Take away like the mystery of what happens and what I learned very early on.

It’s just another place Yes, it’s just another place

Charlotte:
And it’s another place that you own, right? And that’s what I try to say all the time to people that State House is your house Yeah, it does not belong to the lawmakers. It does not belong to the governor It does not belong to the lobbyists.

It belongs to the people of Maine. Yeah, but I have people say to me You know what? I’m like, okay We’re gonna go in this public hearing or we’re gonna go in this work and they’re like we love to be in there.

Yeah You’re not only allowed to be in there. You’re expected to be there. Yeah, this is yours.

Yeah, this is yours, right? so I would say to anyone that’s a young person or even an Older person Who wants to get involved but doesn’t know what to do? Reach out to somebody who’s already doing it.

Could I come along with you? Yep. Could I go to that meeting?

Right and and do it and and go the first time And the first time will be the hardest time. Yeah, because you have all those questions, right, right? and of course you do it’s a it’s a place of a lot of rules and Pop and circle.

Chris:
Yes. It’s the poppins that for me is most intimidating part it’s the pasta and when you go there and you realize that There’s not as much pump or circumstance that in real life than there was up here like the path and the circumstance I thought I was gonna see yeah, totally absent like it’s just another place exactly Yeah, I hope you do show up and we’re gonna talk more about this Oh, we’d have so much fun. You would have so much fun and what you would bring back to your peer group and what? Mm-hmm, that could be the next like I’ll rent a bus Yeah, I will pay to rent a bus to have you and your peeps show up.

Yeah, and for me again being your authentic selves and being in the stands so that you can’t be erased that you’re you’re not out of sight out of Mind of the people making the laws. Mm-hmm.

Charlotte:
I think that is perfect Yep, and I have something to offer right all young people I have something to offer and I just want to say this world is yours You guys are gonna get this right? This is yours and you get to shape it.

Chris:
That’s right You know, I mean it is and we blaming pile of no, let’s sorry We need you to shape it we you and I talked about this too we we need you to shape it for sure Charlotte, thank you so much for this. This was like amazing. I Again your inspiration and your confidence.

Charlotte:
I hope it was help.

Chris:
It’s infectious It absolutely is so I want to round back to you as we close You Does action feel different does tangible results is it starting to feel a little different

Soren:
I Spend a lot of time engaging with like system builders like marks, for example, and I have a lot of like very Extreme like alias ideas in my mind, right? and I think what this conversation has done for me has it is drawn me back to sort of like what detangible results look like and How can I act in a tangible way in order to forward? Progress rather than a like semi concrete ideal that is way off in the middle of nowhere.

Yeah. Um, I Think this has made me a lot more energized. It’s very energizing.

I call it in your face for sure um But I don’t know if my ideas around what progress looks like have shifted.

Chris:
Yeah We’ll have to say we’ll take the bus. We’ll get the bus. We’ll fill it.

We’ll take it. We’ll hang out there for a day and that my sense is The energy that you pick up from an experience like that Might help you start rethinking about what are my metrics? What and and how am I going to define my win?

What’s a win for me?

Charlotte:
I love it.

Chris:
Do you have any words of wisdom, parting thoughts for us?

Charlotte:
The words of wisdom are coming from what Soren said, and I just need to circle back to it. Because Soren, you said it so clearly, and I don’t think you really even realized it, that one of the ways we’re going to make social change is by changing ourselves and each other. Because we’re living, why are we living?

This is my question. Why are we surrounded by people who don’t think what’s happening in DC is beneath them? What’s happening with us as people?

How do we see ourselves? How do we treat ourselves? Why are we willing to put up with certain things?

And I would say that it has to do with the way we’re treating ourselves. We give a lot of space for a lot of bad behavior.

Chris:
That’s right. That’s right. We give people permission to treat us those ways, and then we internalize that as if it’s an expectation, as if this is what I deserve.

So we collectively need to just rise up and let that shit roll. Yeah.

Soren:
I agree.

Chris:
Yeah.

Soren:
What I sort of got from that is, to a great extent, hierarchy is enforced by the people at the bottom of it. Bingo.

Chris:
Yeah.

Soren:
And in order to reject that hierarchy, we need to reject what is inside of us. That is aiding in the enforcement of that. Yes.

Charlotte:
Yes. Right.

What is behind the simple statement of, I will not comply? Yeah. Yeah.

I won’t be complicit. That’s right. Right?

And that’s what that thing is of every time unfairness. Yeah. Even when people are like, oh my God, here’s Charlotte again.

Chris:
Yeah. Right. Right.

Right. Yeah. And it’s kind of, again, full circle moment of getting back to this idea of rest and resilience, that being complicit does not look like rest.

They’re two different pieces. So I can be resting and still be just as fired up about all that’s happening, even though it might not look on the outside like I’m fired.

Charlotte:
100%.

Chris:
Yeah. Well, this has been awesome. I thank you so much.

Charlotte:
Thanks for the invitation.

Chris:
Well, anytime. Yeah.

And this was delightful. Next time. Yeah.

Folks, my feet come into you. So on behalf of the podcast and our listeners and Inspired Insights, thank you so much. I’ve been Chris McLaughlin.

Soren:
I’ve been Soren Peterson.

Charlotte:
And I’ve been Charlotte Warren.

Chris:
Thank you so much.

Charlotte:
Thank you.

Soren:
We’ll see you next week. Bye

The Inspired Insights podcast has been brought to you by Inspired Consulting Group, LLC. Edited and produced by Amanda Seidel and Derek Harter.

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