Indivisible by the Lake

Up next in our interviews of Indivisible NWI’s endorsed candidates, the one and only Major Jerry Williams. Jerry is a law enforcement legend in NWI and is running for Lake County sheriff. If there has ever been a person more suited for the office they’re running for, I’d love to meet them. Jerry’s integrity, commitment to civil and civic rights, and unbelievable amount of experience speak for themselves, but I have to admit: I’m a little biased. I’ve interviewed Jerry before, and I considered him a friend about five minutes after we started talking. I’ll bet you will, too.

You can find Jerry online here:

* Website

* Facebook

* Instagram

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indivisiblebythelake.substack.com/subscribe

We’re continuing our interviews with Indivisible NWI’s endorsed candidates with this fascinating conversation with Nick Neal, who’s running for State House District 19. I’m telling you folks, if there is any man on the ticket who understands the systems failing his constituents and how to fix them, it’s Nick.

You can read more about him on his website: votenickneal.com

And folks, remember, it’s zero hour and go time. If you want to break the Republican supermajority and get a state you’re proud to live in, you need to vote and you need to lift Nicks’ message. Here he is on Facebook

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indivisiblebythelake.substack.com/subscribe

So my friends, it’s down to the wire and we’ve got to make every second count. That’s where YOU come in. You have the power to reach HUNDREDS of people with just a few taps on your keyboard, in a half an hour, every single day.

I’m talking about this…

Like, share, and follow a candidates content, and your support goes in front of everyone you know.

So for the next week I will be posting clips of Indivisible NWI-endorsed candidates to all the podcasts channels. Your assignment: like, follow, and share that content. Comment. Engage. Put it on YOUR pages, then go and visit the candidates pages and interact there. Do this for a half hour every day and you’ll push those candidates ahead in the algorithm, and let all your connections know who you believe is best suited to fix NWI.

So here are those places to find posts to share:

Instagram

YouTube

TikTok

Facebook

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indivisiblebythelake.substack.com/subscribe

So when Pete Buttigieg stops by the banquet hall a town away to stump for local candidates, and when you hear the news that TWO DEMS ARE IN THE LEAD IN STATEWIDE CONTESTS, you get chills. You get excited. And then you get to work, because we’ve only got two weeks left to get our endorsed candidates across the finish line.

Here’s two more to get your started:

* Scott Houldieson for State Senate District One

* Jessica Bailey for State Comptroller

They need your support. They need your vote. And we need their leadership.

It’s the goal we’ve been working at, day and night, for the past two years: to restore representative democracy in the state of Indiana. It’s in reach. So GO! Phone bank. Social bank (that’s just a fancy way of saying like and share and comment on these candidates social media posts). Share with your friends and family and people you know why this election matters, and why the people we elect matter most of all. If every single person watching this episode had one conversation between now and the election, just think how many people we can reach. So go! If not now, when???

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indivisiblebythelake.substack.com/subscribe

Folks, I am so EXCITED. It’s our very first every episode of Indivisible by the Lake, and I can’t think of a better way to launch then profiling these three amazing Indivisible NWI members who earned our endorsement. Let’s get them across the finish line and get our Indivisible values into local government. Here’s how you can help:

Barb Domer for Porter County Clerk

Leslie Nussbaum for Porter County Recorder

Angie Henzman for LaPorte County Commissioner

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indivisiblebythelake.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, hello NWI. If you’re watching this after the great changeover, you probably saw a new url and can guess what I’m going to tell you. I’m moving my show to Indivisible NWI. If you are a current follower or subscriber, you don’t need to do a thing. I’ll be moving my substack and all my social channels over to the new name and logo sometime next week, but your subscriptions will remain unless you opt to change them.

So what’s the new show going to be like? Well, Indivisible by the Lake will be exploring Region life through an Indivisible lens. We’ll be educating NWI on the critical issues facing our Democracy: civic education, voting access, and, most important to me at least – how to restore the civil rights that have been eroding under our feet.

Which is the perfect place for me to talk to you about this final episode. I recorded this back in June, after I went to my very first drag show with my trans teen. I learned some lessons about my own preconception, and I was saving it for a moment when ugly rhetoric reared its head.

And oh my stars, are we there, folks.

Every Democrat knows the stakes this November. Many have made the calculation – willing or otherwise – that the need to form an accountability check on the Trump administration means some issues matter more than others. I’ve watched thinker after strategist after pundit say time and again: “the trans issue isn’t important. It can wait until the next cycle.”

But let’s say what they are really saying. “Trans people aren’t important. Their rights can wait until the next cycle.”

Now let’s try something else. Let’s put another group in there. “Black people aren’t important. Their rights can wait until the next cycle.” Or “Immigrants aren’t important. Their rights can wait.” or “Pregnant women aren’t important. Their rights can wait.” And look how all that turned out: cops kneeling on a black man’s neck until he dies, ICE, and Roe v Wade overturned so miscarrying women bleed out in parking lots. Every time we ask a targeted community to wait for us to care about them, they suffer. For GENERATIONS.

Guess how many of the 510,000 NCAA college athletes are trans? Ten. That’s 1 and 0. I’ve put a link to the NCAA’s report in the shownotes so you can read it yourself.

As the parent of a trans teen, it’s been incredibly frustrating and disheartening, watching intelligent people swallow, unquestioned, arguments about sports and bathrooms and fairness that are clearly fruit from the same tree that sprouts things like ‘third-trimester mothers are aborting their babies for kicks” and ‘immigrants are gang members taking over our cities’ and ‘inner city welfare queens are making millions on welfare payments.’ Edge-case scenarios that play upon general misunderstanding of nuanced and rare situations. It’s the meat and potatoes of every ugly discriminatory argument we’ve seen since this nation was founded. Democrats should know better. Democrats should be better.

I know better. And I’m not throwing my kids under anyone’s bus on their way to the white house OR the state house. I’m not throwing anyone else under the bus either.

Now, when you see me next, I’ll be introducing you to the Indivisible candidates who earned Indivisible NWI’s first ever round of endorsements. And in the meantime, please please watch Miriam and her parents break through all my assumptions about drag performers. If you saw my clip in June, you’ll remember how dazzled I was. I left all my pearl clutching assumptions at the bottom of the hill I rolled down, because it was THAT joyous. It was glorious and humanizing and it made me realize immediately that if I, progressive blue podcaster, could have such hidden assumptions, who else might share that who needs a gentle nudge to explore those biases? Miriam, who is not trans, for the record and her parents did me the great honor of trusting me with their experiences. I challenge ANYONE to listen to this and not leave with a different viewpoint. Thank you to all of them for offering hope in these times that, yes, we can be ourselves and YES, the world can change for the better and YES, we CAN make Indiana a place that our children can thrive and be themselves and call home. And I hope you will stay with me as I help Indivisible bring the same spirit throughout NWI. I can think of no other organization better suited to do this work, and I’m beyond honored that they trust me to be one of their voices in this fight. So stay tuned! We’re just getting started.

If you want to see more about Absolutely Dreadful, here they are!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indivisiblebythelake.substack.com/subscribe

So folks, I don’t endorse people often. But after talking with my dear friend and Region community activist and legend, Donna Catalano, I just have to say it loud and proud. From South Shore Arts, to the Legacy Foundation, to the League of Women Voter’s and beyond, there’s simply no area of NWI life she hasn’t made better. Vote for her. Center Township will be LUCKY to have her.

If you want to support Donna’s campaign, find her here: https://www.facebook.com/committeetoelectdonnacatalano

Here’s a link to the research on social polarization and the strength of social ties. It’s a fascinating read and really lends some credence to the idea that these online communities we’re building aren’t serving the pro-social purposes they’re supposed to.

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/07/more-social-connections-weaker-ties-lead-greater-polarization

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indivisiblebythelake.substack.com/subscribe

Folks, since I started this show I’ve been wanting to introduce you to the amazing Alise Buchmeir of Kitsch & Beautician Beauty for a couple of reasons:

* She’s a very dear friend of mine

* She’s been the podcast’s most steadfast sponsor

* She’s the only person who can make my baby-fine middle aged hair look fabulous, full, and sassy

* She’s an active member of the sustainable community and she has not ONCE said “how you like them apples” after the storm, though she could have because have we all learned now that climate change is here, real, and destroying our stable Midwest homes with winds that would send someone in Florida nailing plywood to their windows?

Join me for this very special episodes where you can see Alise’s hairstyle magic in action, get some Munster political gossip, and get some easy, common-sense ways to do your small bit to help stabilize our weather. It’s not as impossible a task as it may seem.

Just an FYI, you’re not going to hear anything about the storm in this episode, because we recorded just before. I imagine Alise might have a LOT more to say about sustainability today.

To book a service with Alise, click here.

To see her amazing Instagram videos, click here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indivisiblebythelake.substack.com/subscribe

Folks, I’m not gonna lie. It’s shitty times in NWI. We’re hot. We’re tired because we can’t sleep. We’re worried about our vulnerable family. We’re angry that it’s taking so long to get the power back on. Our internet is sketchy, so I haven’t been posting here as much as I want to. If you want to stay up to date, check out my instagram, tiktok, and Facebook profiles.

https://www.instagram.com/bluerbythelake/https://www.facebook.com/bluerbythelakehttps://www.tiktok.com/@bluerbythelake

But in the meantime, if you need some words of solace, my incredible friend Buffy Adams has them in spades. Please listen, and let her soothe your heart for just a few minutes. Trust me, you need those few minutes of peace. Then visit her here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/999483696271648

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indivisiblebythelake.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, hello, NWI. Welcome to this very special update from Bluer by the Lake. Boy, I know. It sucks. It really sucks. I live in Munster. I have never seen damage like this. I’m going to tell it real for just a quick second, and then I am going to get to the good stuff. So...

One of the things that has really shocked me as I’ve been reaching out to some of my friends across the state is that nobody seems to and the rest of Indiana seems to realize that the second most populous county in Indiana is basically offline completely and that we had the equivalent of a hurricane.

Roll through our county and knock our entire grid out. It’s the largest power outage for you folks that are listening and that are not in Lake County. We are living in a very precarious environment right now. There’s trees everywhere. It’s NIPSCO’s largest power outage in their history. I lived in Florida for several years, went through hurricanes,

and I have never seen the kind of damage that I’ve seen here in Northwest Indiana, and it’s everywhere. It’s really shocking, both in the scope and in the fact that, again, few people outside of Lake County seem to realize that this is happening. So it’s happening.

This is, again, the second largest county in Indiana is basically completely offline. So just perk that up in your head for a minute so you can understand the scope and the scale of what we’re dealing with up here. Now, on to the good stuff. So, I am reaching out to local community leaders, people on the ballot,

anybody who has some resources or thoughts to share, and I’m going to be posting those messages as I have access to data and... And bandwidth to do uploads. Probably won’t be able to record too much myself because, again, right now, I don’t know if you guys realize this,

but a lot of people in northwest Indiana are really struggling to get data, to get phone messages, to get texts out because everything has been put on emergency mode. Some of us are getting that lifted here and there depending on our carriers.

And maybe that’s part of why people just don’t seem to realize the scope of the damage here. So... Anyhow, I’m going to be posting updates as I get them and as I can. If you have resources that you want to share, please do reach out to me. You can message me on any of my social channels,

Facebook, Instagram, right on my podcast page, bluerbythelake at gmail.com. I’m going to give you my cell phone, too. Just, you know, why not? 219-669-7918. Text me if there’s any news that you need to share and you want to get out and you just don’t have data.

I’ll make sure that the community hears about the resources that you want to share. Okay, so everybody, I know we’re all in this together and we’re all trying to keep our spirits up. Eventually the power will come back out. We have the National Guard in Munster right now trying to clear some debris.

I know that, you know, crews have been pulling in from all over the country to help. And we’re so grateful. Be kind to your NIPSCO linemen. They’re doing their diggity darndest to get everything back online as fast as they can. Treat them with respect. It’s not their fault. They’re doing what they can. Stay safe. Stay calm.

And we’ll get through it. And let me know if there’s anything that I can do or any words that I can share with the community to help. Bye.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indivisiblebythelake.substack.com/subscribe