Multiconstruct

Here it is early 2026 already and I’m just getting to my holiday Letter. 2025 was long, significant, and hard. For all the things that were good and I’m proud of, it was a difficult year I was happy to put to bed.

The year began with the bustle of moving into our new home. Shae and I bought a 1910 turnkey house in Leavenworth, Kansas at the end of last year and because she is a wonder it was quickly unpacked and decorated. Our things merged nicely and we only had to purchase a handful of items to have a beautiful tricked out house.

Shae, being a photographer has a great eye for light, composition, and color and I live in a house way cuter and put together than I have any right to. I have made good use of the kitchen to put out mostly healthy, scratch cooking, increasingly on a budget as the year progressed.

We have a formal dining room and got a nice dining room table to match my grandma’s china cabinet. We put it to good use with game nights and monthly gatherings of friends and associates. Shae has the Illuminati card game one of my particular favorites and we had several great games. Shae and I played a lot of chess and then Carcassone this year.

I continued my election organizing with the https://newamerican.community We posted over 100 learn articles based on needs identified in a comprehensive survey. We made contact with lots of County party organizations and provided fundraising and technical support to 20 different organizations. The County Party Orgs have a lot of potential but need a lot of consistent mentoring and follow up to make qualitative capacity improvements.

We also fought troubled private prison provider CoreCivic, who sought to reopen their troubled facility as an ICE detention facility. They applied for a permit in February and I wrote a blistering op ed to the LV Times calling for the permit to be rejected. A couple days later they withdrew from the permitting process and announced they were going to reopen.

I continued to write op eds and helped form a local opposition group and worked with regional allies to encourage the city of Leavenworth to defend their land rights. Leavenworth sued and won a temporary injunction. CoreCivic sued and lost. Appeals are pending with a hearing in February and CoreCivic applied for that permit with hearings scheduled in the spring.

Being part of a movement that is the only local community to stop an ICE detention facility has been satisfying. Here’s a link to one of my op eds if you want to learn more: https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article303489741.html

Through all the organizing and activism I brought the Practical Guide to Building a Better World through the publishing process. I had a book release in Leavenworth and follow up events Columbia, Toledo, Farmington Michigan, and Bowling Green Ohio. You can get books directly from the publisher: https://breadandrosespress.com/products/the-practical-guide-to-building-a-better-world

I’ve had lots of media attention, more for the CoreCivic organizing then the book, unfortunately. The highlight was the NY Times coverage of The Pots and Pans March but my profile didn’t make the piece. I did get a nice profile in Voyage Minnesota.

https://voyageminnesota.com/interview/meet-mike-trapp-of-leavenworth-kansas/

The best book sales event I did was a training on working with homeless folks with the Missouri United Methodist Church homeless ministry team. It was a well attended powerful event and I got paid and sold a bunch of books. I have scheduled the training with the Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia for Saturday April 2nd. I hope to schedule more of those next year.

Last year we started Clear Creek Solutions LLC to manage the PAC. The consulting firm now pays the bills and the PAC is a volunteer effort. Our big contract is with Https: AnneforKansas.com Anne Peralker is an immigration attorney and moderate Kansas mom who is on fire to defend the constitution and the rule of law. She has a trust buster sensibility and when Kansas sends her as the first Democratic Senator since 1932 she will be the harbinger of the new FDR who will restore the federal system and address inequality and affordability.

In addition to the protest stuff I’ve been making the rounds doing some poetry and supporting the local arts. My gig work hasn’t paid as well this year and my savings are depleted so I’ve had to cut back. Shae has done well and is picking up the slack.

She took us and the boys to Chicago this summer and Seattle for Christmas. Aside from some trips to Columbia and a quick trip to OKC when Shae lost her brother and the book tour I’ve stuck close to home.

I stick with the gym and have had a year of physical training. I’m down to about 205, 15 pounds from my target weight and packed on muscle. I’ve corrected my posture and gait issues that were chewing up my knees. I’m almost bone on bone, but I hope to stay off knee replacements for another 3 years. I also resolved my fatty liver disease and have a clean bill of health.

I’ve read some great books. Four by my editor at Bread and Roses Adam Gnade, a book on military strategy I got a lot out of (I have to read Clausewitz), a book on Kansas petroglyphs, On Authoritarianism, Rules for Radicals (5th time or so) and other great books. My favorite was about Boss Tom Pendergast which was great in local history and practical politics.

Next year I am wrapping up at the gym and looking to improve my fitness with more activity and at the Leavenworth Community Center. I am going to do 4 weeks of Stoic spiritual exercises starting next Wednesday and inviting others to participate with me.

Look for at least a weekly post on developing virtuous habits and having a happy flow of life. I also plan to do more book promotion and continue to look for a career type job because of the insurance thing.

Thanks for sticking with me constant reader. I hope your next year is happy, healthy, and blessed.