We find ourselves almost speechless as we watch the news and hear the heartless response of our president to the deaths of children on an airplane; to the deportation of immigrants; to the dismantling of programs meant to combat centuries of inequality; and to the dissolution of international alliances that protect our worldwide community.

Last weekend, when one of our adult sons returned from doing his family’s weekly grocery shopping, he unpacked the usual items: fruits and vegetables, milk, cereal, yogurt, bagels, bread, cheese, snacks for the first grader, chicken and fish for dinners, and pasta. One regular item, however, was missing: eggs. Not because prices were so low as a result of President Trump making good on his campaign promise. And not because the prices were so high they were unaffordable.

For those of us who like metaphors, there was nothing like the raging snow storm followed by bone-chilling cold that accompanied Monday’s inauguration. As we dug out from many inches of the white stuff, and negotiated carefully to avoid the black ice, we felt vulnerable, a bit unprotected, and worried about neighbors and families who might be stranded without heat or food.

Hate crimes and hate groups seem to be everywhere. We hear and read about them on a daily basis. While discrimination and prejudice against “the other” are nothing new, these current strains of venom seem to be striking dangerously and frighteningly close to home.

January 6 has come and gone. No storming the Capitol with the more than tacit consent of the president. No killing of law enforcement officials. No threats to the lives of senators and congressmen. No conspiracy theories or accusations of stolen votes. Without mobs or disruption, without protests about the legitimacy of his right to the presidency, Congress certified that Donald J. Trump won the 2024 presidential election and will take office in 12 more days.

After last week’s letter about our 2025 Art as Activism contest inviting high school students to create posters expressing the importance of fighting book bannings and censorship in schools and libraries, and our plans for a forum on the same subject at the Cabot Theater in Beverly on March 26, we started thinking about what we might all do in our daily lives to spread awareness about this issue, increase knowledge, and make some tangible effect.

We are excited to announce our fourth annual Art as Activism contest for high school students. We believe that art is an effective form of activism, as well as an especially powerful way for students to find and express their voices.

Does anyone else remember standing in line in elementary school in the ’50s to receive the first polio vaccine shot? Those were the ones developed by Jonas Salk before a liquid drop form came into use a few years later. My parents were particularly excited after having watched with fear as my brother was hospitalized with polio a decade earlier.

We have retrieved the family recipes from the virtual or actual files; we have successfully navigated the aisles in the grocery store; and we have put clean sheets on the spare beds for soon-to-arrive children and grandparents. Yes, we are just about ready for Thanksgiving. And while we may have trouble giving thanks for a lot of the craziness going on in our country and the larger world, and how that may affect the planet and the most vulnerable among us, we are still thankful for family and love, beauty and humor, health and good memories.

President-elect Trump may be a liar, but he clearly keeps some promises. His cabinet and staff choices show that he keeps promises to some of his friends and some promises to all Americans. He promised a new way of doing business and that’s just what he plans to do. If you’ve missed what’s to come, here it is, all in one frightening array of appointments.

Some of us are still licking our wounds. Some are still shocked and in disbelief. All of us are horrified that more than half the voters in our country chose for their leader a man who speaks vulgarly about women and veterans and immigrants and so many others. Horrified that the most powerful head of state in the world is a convicted felon who wants to rule with impunity, overrun the system of checks and balances in our federal system, and deny basic rights to many law-abiding citizens.

Tomorrow night is the night we have all been waiting for. Yet, it’s a little like having your senior prom postponed indefinitely because of a blizzard.

The Leading Ladies Executive Committee is endorsing Kamala Harris for president of the United States.

We’ve had a busy past few days, with voter registration drives at Beverly High School and Landmark School and our YOUth Votes Count event in partnership with the Cabot Theater.

I had dinner last week with a woman who shoots large game with AR-15 rifles. Given our letter last week about leaning into difficult conversations with people whose opinions may differ from ours, the Fates seemed to be having a little fun with me. So there I sat across the table — for reasons too complicated to explain here and in my own dining room, by the way — from a 50-something resident of Alaska who lives with her engineer husband in Anchorage, where she raised her four sons. All six of them hunt bear and deer and other wildlife, all of which they eat.

We think this message bears repeating.

The time is past for avoiding difficult conversations with friends and family. No longer should we heed the many words of advice about how to get through a Sunday dinner without having a disagreement over reproductive rights or gun control, immigrants or taxes, climate change or racism.

Thank you for being part of our postcard campaign and ordering our Art as Activism cards to send to reluctant voters. Because of you and others, more than 3,000 of our cards have been sent in the last two months!

The most consequential outcome of last week’s debate may have been the endorsement of Kamala Harris by Taylor Swift. To quote President Biden, “I mean it. That’s not hyperbole. I really mean it.”