The Good Trouble Candle
The adage that whenever there is a crisis, you must look for the helpers has been weighing on me awfully heavily the last year. To think that we would willingly elect a would be fascist to run our country again has literally given me panic attacks ever since he re-took office. I’ve been trying desperately to figure out what I as a small business can do to help those most affected by all the cruelty being enacted around us. Something, anything, is better than nothing. Speaking out is great, but I’m a middle aged cis gendered heterosexual bald man.
Who am I to impart anything wise? I should be shutting up and listening. Social media howl rounding/doom scrolling is bad for my mental health, and I don’t have much time to march/protest/spray paint Teslas.
Then it occurred to me - Why not do what I do best? So I made a candle. Specifically for this moment, and all profits from its sale are going to organizations doing the good and hard work of fighting for those being marginalized by this evil new administration.
Good Trouble is a nod to civil rights icon and Georgia Congressman John Lewis. He constantly espoused the notion of causing “good trouble” - standing up for what’s right - most especially in the face of the entrenched powers that be. Civil disobedience can take many forms, and that’s what this candle is aiming to do.
It’s notes are all deliberate - citrus, because, well, you know, orange is the color of my true enemy’s skin. Soil, because it would appear to me, at least, that that’s what’s being thrown on our constitution - dirt. And the essence of smoke, because well, it would seem that this democratic experiment is going up in it. It actually smells much better than it sounds - it has an earthy musk that mingles well with the touch of juicy sweetness. And as always, it’s made with all natural 100% soy wax, so the hot throw is full and long lasting. Vegan, too, if that’s something you’re into.
The charities I choose to support with the sales of GOOD TROUBLE are ones that are very close to my heart - RAICES, which provides support to immigrants in Texas and nationwide,
The Trevor Project, which supports gay and trans youth, RACE FORWARD, which fights to abolish racism in this country, and finally The Lilith Fund, which provides resources for women in Texas needing access to abortion and reproductive care. Candles and politics have nothing to do with each other, really. But you’ll notice that at every vigil and protest candles are usually lit as a sign of remembrance. I choose to make these candles to shine a light on the great many injustices this criminal new administration is enacting on all of us - and to try and do my part to help. Please consider buying GOOD TROUBLE and helping me try to help others.
