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Gwen

@gwenfulton.bsky.social
218 followers 164 following 254 posts

Working class storytelling. Race, class, gender, & the South. 🥖🌹 Workingclassstories.substack.com

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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A grocery store stocker to he is putting generic store brand food up onto the shelf at about twice the rate he was a year ago. I thought this was such an interesting view into an economy and peoples spending/anxiety. What economic or social indicators do you see through your job?
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Common Dreams @commondreams.org · 11/09/2026
Sen. Ted Cruz warned Thursday that Democratic rhetoric was fueling political hate and violence. During the same speech, a rallygoer shouted that three Democrats Cruz named “should be shot.” Cruz has yet to publicly address it.
commondreams.org
Ted Cruz Silent After GOP Rallygoer Shouts That Dems 'Should Be Shot' Three Times
During the same speech, Cruz tied left-wing rhetoric to the 9/11 attacks, the murder of Charlie Kirk, and assassination attempts against Trump.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
You can't talk about "the working class" without talking about moms. Working-class policy = family policy. My latest: workingclassstories.substack.com/p/the-things...
workingclassstories.substack.com
The things moms need.
Fighting for paid family leave in Pennsylvania, and everywhere.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
How, and why, small towns are leading the fight against big data. workingclassstories.substack.com/p/small-town...
workingclassstories.substack.com
Small Towns Defy Big Tech
Working class people across the country are pushing back against data centers -- and winning
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In These Times @inthesetimes.com · 19/08/2026
Strong unions raise the bar for everyone, including workers without a union. As @hshierholz.bsky.social writes, they establish “broad standards that employers must follow to get and keep the workers they need.” That’s why union power is an affordability issue.
inthesetimes.com
Affordability's Key Ingredient Is Union Power
Tripling union membership would raise wages, reduce inequality and strengthen communities. Policymakers should take note.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
The tiny town of Lochbuie, Colorado, passes the biggest data center moratorium yet--- how the mayor and residents worked together to get it done. workingclassstories.substack.com/p/the-future...
workingclassstories.substack.com
The future should be ours to choose.
Taking the growth of their town into their own hands, these Colorado residents pass a data center moratorium.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
What do you do when the water in your town is too dirty to drink? You organize. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...
open.substack.com
Bad Water/Good Organizing
How the residents of Three Rivers pressured their local government to fix the water and fix the pipes in town. *With updates from our story last year*
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
NEW: I wrote for MSNBC about how Madison Square Garden turning off their facial recognition cameras for Taylor Swift is a perfect encapsulation of our dystopian present: where the wealthy can use surveillance to consolidate power, and the rest of us live in a privately owned panopticon.
ms.now
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got to buy MSG's privacy. Her fans aren't so lucky.
Reports that Madison Square Garden temporarily shut off its facial recognition system for Swift’s wedding expose a glaring problem with how the elite wield and control mass surveillance.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
These data center fights are fascinating because of their scale, but also because they’re successfully bringing out grassroots coalitions of local residents across race, class, and ideological lines. Latest: open.substack.com/pub/workingc...
open.substack.com
We didn't ask for any of this.
Working-class people in small towns across America are fighting the construction of data centers. I traveled to Rural Hall, NC, to find out why so many people are showing up over this issue.
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Anat Shenker-Osorio @anatosaurus.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Timely reminder: Authoritarians lie to be repeated - to force us to have their conversation instead of our own. If you're debunking the claims, you're giving them airtime.
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Common Dreams @commondreams.org · 10/07/2026
"This move is another pathetic attempt to sow doubt in our elections."
commondreams.org
'A Pathetic Power Grab': Trump Purges Bipartisan Election Assistance Commission
"This move undermines the integrity of nonpartisan election administration," said Arizona's secretary of state.
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Nonviolence 3.0 @nonviolence3.com · 07/07/2026
“For all the pandering and blathering on about the 'working class,' there is a telling absence of policy that supports the women who, increasingly, are the rank and file backbones of our economy.” @gwenfulton.bsky.social workingclassstories.substack.com/p/women-are-...
workingclassstories.substack.com
Women are the working class.
Politicians who want our vote should be making policy that acknowledges this.
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In These Times @inthesetimes.com · 04/07/2026
Americans are paying more for the basics of a Fourth of July cookout: beef, potato salad, strawberries, ice pops, foil and even disposable forks. Reports point to Trump’s tariffs, foreign wars and failure to confront corporate power.
inthesetimes.com
Your 4th of July BBQ Is More Expensive Due to Trump's Policies, Reports Claim
“Thanks to Trump’s tariffs and foreign wars, Americans won’t find any independence from inflation this Fourth of July.”
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I don't know if "birth tourism" is or isnt a thing. But I do have an increasing number of friends who who have traveled out of the US to give birth, both because its less expensive to do this with often better care but also to get their children dual citizenship in countries that offer better help.
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Common Dreams @commondreams.org · 02/07/2026
Want to See Why the GOP Medicaid Work Requirements Are a Disaster? Look to Arkansas | Why wiishful thinking and wildly unrealistic assumptions​ will not magically make a horrible policy a good one.
commondreams.org
Want to See Why the GOP Medicaid Work Requirements Are a Disaster? Look to Arkansas
Wishful thinking and wildly unrealistic assumptions will not magically make a horrible policy a good one.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
It's through organizing that we have achieved all our wins. From unionizing textile plants to regulating hog waste to suffrage to Medicaid expansion to the current fights against data centers, organizing has always moved us ahead. Reflecting on the 250th for Beacon Media:
open.substack.com
Gwen Frisbie-Fulton: This July 4th, a look back — and forward — at North Carolina’s collective power
North Carolina’s history is replete with examples of how community organizing made life better for so many of our communities. Does N.C.’s past hold the blueprint for a better collective future?
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Over the last year, I've been following the organizing of gamers... yes, gamers. A world I knew nothing about but keep getting impressed by. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...
open.substack.com
Gamers band together to protect their digital neighborhoods from corporate profits
Gaming isn't antisocial- in fact, gamers are behind our most rapidly growing third space.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Revisiting this project in Roswell, NM, where local residents figured out a brilliant solution to the low housing stock for low-income renters. Turns out, community really is the solution. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...
open.substack.com
"We never would have come up with this solution if we hadn't been talking to our neighbors and walking through the neighborhoods.
The residents of a small desert city find a solution to the local housing shortage.
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MisterJayEm @misterjayem.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Thomas House of Dublin exhibiting the pro-human solidarity that all of us should demonstrate.
SO FOR THE FUTURE (LITERALLY) WE'RE NOT ACCEPTING AI POSTERS OR FLYERS FOR THE PUB.

We're right next to Ireland's biggest Art College, lads. It's not a good look.

WE UNDERSTAND BANDS CAN BE SKINT BUT RELYING ON SOME EARTH KILLING APP FROM SOME PAEDO ISLAND BILLIONAIRE IS NOT THE WAY. WE GOT BY WITHOUT IT AND WE'LL GET BY AGAIN.

IF YOU'RE STUCK WE'LL HELP. (YES IT HAS BEEN USED HERE BEFORE BUT CONSIDER THIS THE START OF THE END OF IT.)

THANKS, HUMANS.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I visited a group of folks in Indiana who had recently put on a Fix-it-Fair. Not only did their neighbors get broken items repaired, but the organizers of the event got to reach out to a bunch of new people to help them put it on. Community organizing at its best. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...
open.substack.com
The Fixers of Lake Station
A Rust Belt community in northern Indiana figures out a way to fix what's broken.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
The Ohio Organizing Collective, which does political and voter engagement activities, was raided by the FBI yesterday. They built this website to explain what is happening: www.handsoffohio.org
handsoffohio.org
HANDS OFF OHIO!
Federal agents raided offices connected to the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a leading Ohio voting rights organization. Learn what happened, why it matters, and how you can stand up for democracy and...
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
A story for all the working class women out there. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...
open.substack.com
Women are the working class.
Politicians who want our vote should be making policy that acknowledges this.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/05/2026
Local election officials fully expect ICE to show up to intimidate liberal voters.
wired.com
Election Officials Are Getting Ready for ICE to Show Up at the Polls
The Trump administration keeps threatening to send federal agents to oversee elections. State and local officials are preparing, and even gaming out what happens if they're arrested.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
In a year, The Dorothea Project has grown from 12 women meeting on a Zoom call to over 1000 taking action across 47 states. Even more impressively, they are women across generations, regions, and political ideology.  open.substack.com/pub/workingc...
open.substack.com
"What we have is a common language."
Women organizing with The Dorothea Project are finding connection through faith and across political divides.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
For my latest in The Nation, I talk about how when the rich rob the poor, it's just shrugged away as business as usual. www.thenation.com/article/econ...
thenation.com
Everything Is a Scam
Our economy allows poor and working people to be shafted every day—does anyone care?
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
I've always owned my houses and the men I've dated haven't. Can you imagine dating a dude who didn't think you owning a house was awesome?
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
“No one gives a sh*t about housing.” “If [gas prices] rise, they rise.” "I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation." Millions are struggling with the cost of food, housing, and other basic necessities. 70% of U.S. adults say the American Dream is dead. And this is how Trump responds?
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
In Idaho, a group of moms is carving out time to help each other with chores, to free up time to "do politics" together, too. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...
open.substack.com
Build Your Village
"Maybe we aren't as alone as we think we are," says Heidi Borland, who has set out to build a community of moms in her hometown.
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Nonviolence 3.0 @nonviolence3.com · 10/05/2026
Happy Mothers' Day to all mothers everywhere… wagingnonviolence.org/2026/05/moth...
wagingnonviolence.org
Mothers are the most underestimated force for change
While many proclaim that our species is doomed, the everyday work of mothers and caregivers shows that a better world is possible.
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Common Dreams @commondreams.org · 09/05/2026
As West Virginia advocate and researcher Cathy Cunkel told me, the data center issue “isn’t about Left vs. Right, it’s about Up vs. Down.”
commondreams.org
Virginia's Data Center Alley Reveals Big Tech's Vision for America
​Their behavior reveals an air of entitlement to turn any community they choose into another noisy, polluting data center hub, extracting massive resources and tax breaks in the process.
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Nonviolence 3.0 @nonviolence3.com · 06/05/2026
“Women are a secret weapon against authoritarianism. They always have been.” @wagingnonviolence.org wagingnonviolence.org/aei/2026/04/...
wagingnonviolence.org
Why authoritarianism fears women — and why it should
The fact that today’s movements against authoritarianism are heavily women and youth led is grounds for real hope.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Every organizing meeting I go to, every protest, every public comment period; On the frontlines and behind the scenes, moms are showing up regardless of how busy they might be. Here it is published in the Nevadian: thenevadannews.com/local/the-bu...
thenevadannews.com
The busiest people in the room are moms, and they’re changing the world -
Gwen Frisbie-Fulton heralds the moms who are packing lunches, paying bills, and powering the community movements that matter.
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Nonviolence 3.0 @nonviolence3.com · 06/05/2026
“Most of the businesses offered to low-income and working-class neighborhoods—and increasingly small, rural towns—are predatory, scammy, and trap us in terrible cycles.” @gwenfulton.bsky.social workingclassstories.substack.com/p/everything...
workingclassstories.substack.com
Everything is a Scam
Our economy allows poor and working people to be shafted every day- does anyone care?
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Radical Graffiti @radicalgraffiti.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
A message from Mary, a 72-year-old Amazon worker from North Carolina projected onto Jeff Bezos’s $120 million penthouse before tonight’s #MetGala, chaired by Bezos.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." –Justice Louis Brandeis Words spoken many years ago that are just as relevant today. We must continue the fight to get big money out of politics.
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Nonviolence 3.0 @nonviolence3.com · 02/05/2026
My piece on using research to expose your opponent's weaknesses: “…power is more like a web than a monolith, & while your opponent may seem powerful, their power is not intrinsic, but rather derives from other people & institutions they cannot fully control.” wagingnonviolence.org/2026/04/powe...
wagingnonviolence.org
Why power analysis is key to fighting ICE
Deep research is key to identifying ICE’s pillars of support and building the power necessary to topple them.
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Nonviolence 3.0 @nonviolence3.com · 02/05/2026
Thousands of teachers, parents and students marched yesterday in Raleigh to demand the state spend more money on education. North Carolina ranks dead last in school funding, while politicians dole out billions in tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy. @wearencae.bsky.social @surj.org
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
I have passkeys for my authenticator and authenticators for my passkeys, and all I ever wanted to do was go live in the woods.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
A story about the time my neighbor pawned my saw and why working class folks aren't nearly as shocked at the grift at the top of government as you are. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...
open.substack.com
Everything is a Scam
Our economy allows poor and working people to be shafted every day- does anyone care?
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Excited to share my new column for The Nation: www.thenation.com/article/poli...
thenation.com
How Working People Are the Canaries in the Coal Mine
While it’s nice that politicians are finally talking about the “affordability crisis,” working folks are wondering: Where have you been?
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Amazon will pay $20.5 million to settle allegations that two of its Oregon data centers helped contaminate groundwater. This is exactly why communities across the country are organizing to stop data centers — and winning. Never doubt your power to change the system.
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Chad Loder @chadloder.dev · 14/04/2026
Amazon warehouse worker died on the job at Oregon facility - the worker collapsed on the floor at the PDX9 warehouse and lay dead as employees continued to work around his body.
techcrunch.com
An Amazon warehouse worker died on the job at Oregon facility | TechCrunch
Though Amazon has faced issues with warehouse safety, the company said that the death was not work related.
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Nonviolence 3.0 @nonviolence3.com · 14/04/2026
58% of your income tax money — $3.5 trillion — will go to the War Machine. Meanwhile, social programs get slashed even more… @resistwar.bsky.social Download this leaflet here - www.warresisters.org/store/where-...
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Working class people across the country are reaching out to their neighbors to learn from them, not lecture them. iowastartingline.com/2026/04/10/f...
iowastartingline.com
From Iowa to North Carolina, neighbors are gathering—and asking what's next
As economic strain deepens across the country, neighbors like Marvinna, Cindy, and Allen are starting small—by gathering around coffee tables and dinner tables to talk about what’s next, how to cope, ...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 05/04/2026
Nursing home owner Joseph Schwartz: • paid himself $5M as a “ghost employee” • diverted tens of millions owed to taxpayers & employees • failed to pay at least 3 multimillion-dollar judgments awarded to grieving families He also received a Trump pardon.
propublica.org
A Nursing Home Owner Got a Trump Pardon. The Families of His Patients Got Nothing.
At least three families won multimillion-dollar wrongful death suits against former Skyline Healthcare owner Joseph Schwartz. They haven’t collected a cent.
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Yesterday, I traveled through three smalls towns across Southern VA to No Kings protests. Heck yeah! Would love to hear what people all over the country are planning on getting involved with/building next! Drop your location and ideas in comments!
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Gwen @gwenfulton.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
No secret here: I think working class folks should be elected to every seat of government. It's doable, but will take work. My latest on Working Class Stories here. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...
open.substack.com
Working Folks Should Run This Town
All over the country, working-class candidates are running for office -- and they need your support. Plus: The Fundamentals of Electoral Organizing
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It's Going Down @igd.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
"Residents packed a Sunbury planning meeting, voicing their opposition to a planned $2-billion Amazon Data Service data center campus that is looking to locate inside the city's newly formed technology park." www.dispatch.com/story/busine...
dispatch.com
Why Sunbury residents are fighting Amazon's proposed data center
Sunbury residents are opposing a proposed $2 billion Amazon data center, citing concerns over resources.
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NPR @npr.org · 22/03/2026
Utilities are convincing lawmakers around the U.S. to delay bills that would allow people to buy solar panels, plug them into an outlet and begin generating electricity.
n.pr
Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them
Utilities are convincing lawmakers around the U.S. to delay bills that would allow people to buy solar panels, plug them into an outlet and begin generating electricity.
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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 20/03/2026
Three teenagers in Tennessee have sued Elon Musk's xAI, claiming the company's image-generation tools were used to morph real photos of them into explicitly sexual images.
bit.ly
Teenagers sue Musk's xAI claiming image-generator made sexually explicit images of them as minors
Three teenagers in Tennessee have sued Elon Musk’s xAI, claiming the company’s image-generation tools were used to morph real photos of them into explicitly sexual images.
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