The news cycle is enough to make you lose hope. Every day brings some fresh horror, or an update on an ongoing horror, or rumblings of horrors to come. It’s like being repeatedly smacked in the face with a tetherball. The events of the last couple of years have pushed some of us to be more politically active, which obviously leads to more political awareness... which can lead to despondency. (See tetherball, above.) Activists digging in for the long haul have to learn how to pace themselves and keep their spirits up.

We had my son's fourth birthday party the day the Patriots beat the Falcons in the Super Bowl. As everyone knows, the bad guys won that day. My son got to eat chocolate cake, so the party wasn't ruined. Still, he brings it up from time to time. My kid isn't unique. Over and over again, research shows that people emphasise the negative over the positive, both in our memories and the here-and-now.

Here are five actions to take regarding the neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend.