Welcome, my name is Theresa Mattheis. First up I want to explain who I am and why I am hosting these videos, then I am going to explain goals short term and long term. And follow it up with time getting to know more about you. Last but not least is a small piece of homework for you.
I grew up on a farm where we raised cattle, chickens and grew crops. I am the oldest of five, with it came all the responsibility. I went to college and have a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with a minor in Music. Someday, I can come back to more of all the various jobs I have held, but right now. I work at home in the oil and gas industry. I love my job. In fact working in oil & gas is the same as being a person in ND a small blue dot in a sea of red.
Let me share more personal stuff with you. In 2020, covid came along with the start of some tough years for me. There were the months of being home alone. In early October 2020 we got together with the entire family. My mom and dad had returned from a camping trip and dad wasn’t feeling so good. But, by the end of the night he had asked to go to the hospital. You had to know my dad, he only went to a doctor if something was very, very wrong. That was the last time I saw my dad. He died two weeks later from Covid. Alone in a hospital in Fargo. 2020, I lost my dad to covid. I took some time and then I finally decided to start going back to water aerobics. This is where I learned some hard lessons. People are willing to believe lies told on TV versus facts. The topic of covid came up, and it was mentioned how many people had died of Covid in ND. The response, people die from the cold every year. That was when I stopped teaching water aerobics, I only sub when needed. The next class I went to ended up with me in a screaming match with someone telling me that people die of the cold all the time. I left in the middle of the class in tears.
I lost so many people in my life during this time. I couldn’t stand people repeating the stuff they heard on TV. Like how critical race theory is taught to our children. And we need to protect children from feeling bad. One lady came to class and was going on and on about how she quit nursing and was saving people from covid by giving them ivermectin. That ended with me leaving and screaming about it. I went to multiple therapists, 5 in 3 years.
The first one, I had been seeing before my dad died. I had a panic attack. It was my first one ever. I had no clue what was going on and freaked out. I reached out afterward to the therapist. The response is normal after you lose a parent. No advice on how to calm down, on how to recognize it before it gets so bad. Simply it happens. There were some that were good fits, others that weren’t. One left to move to another state. The next told me I should see someone in person to do ESMR. (or something like that) I found someone, but discovered it wasn’t for me.
But this therapist did help me understand why I had been getting into arguments and yelling at random strangers. I was terrified, those lies told to millions of people that covid is a cold, you don’t need to wear a mask, it is fine to ignore the warnings about big get togethers. All these lies added up to the reason my father died. You see they camped down around Rapid City, South Dakota. About a month after the Sturgis bike rally. Where people from across the US came and spread covid in high levels to South Dakota. This was before the vaccine, that wasn’t released until 2021. And even after the vaccine was released I knew of more people that were dying because they believed the vaccine was dangerous.
All those lies killed my father, and I was angry, under that I was scared and hurt. And when those topics came up my mind went into survival mode. I turned off all logic, all calm. It was simply a matter of; these lies will kill people, and I have to get my point across now.
In 2023, I learned my cat Precious who was 16 at the time had kidney disease, and Lyla her sister started to have seizures once every few months. In 2024, I moved to a new house, and lost Precious within a few weeks of moving in. In 2025, I lost Lyla, she had a stroke that took her ability to walk.
In the midst of all of this I kept following the news. Seeing all the evidence of the crimes committed. All the facts and details and watching time after time how people would defend a liar, and the news they believed. I learned how to put up my walls and talk about only surface level conversations. I don’t talk about what is really on my mind anymore, because to many people get offended. In disbelief and shock, he was elected again in 2024. I couldn’t understand, It took me three days of tears, before I was able to move forward.
If I compare my life to this country, I would say if you look on the surface, you can still go to work, eat out, and do what you want. Everything looks on the surface as normal. But under that surface my life has been taking a beating. I have had very hard losses. While the surface image might look fine. One the inside, there are cracks and holes in the windows looking out to the world.
So that is my past, where does it leave me today and going forward. I took some time after Lyla died to simply step away from the news. It gave me time to heal and think. In the past year, I have set up some foundations for a new future. In my personal life, I am still going to take it day by day. The same as we will do in this country. But in the meantime, I am going to start to get stronger each day. And I am going to work with all of you to build a new and better world to live in. Here is what I have done.
1. I have built a website- Westernndblue.com- all future Zoom calls will be posted on here and you can find a link to each meeting on this site. It is filled with pages from where you can learn more, from books to people who are willing to report the entire story. One page is dedicated simply to good things, not politics related but stuff that will bring joy. Places for my discussions and deep dives into topics. And the one place that I am hoping will become a hub for us to work from. I built a members only section- It is free to join. It is a place that is safe for everyone to communicate to share information. Some place where I can have control to kick out people who are only there to stir up trouble.
2. It think of the website as the building the foundation of a house. In most people’s homes the house is built and the bedroom is always the bedroom. In this house, we are going to have the space to get rid of a room if we no longer need it and add and expand as many rooms as we need.
3. Here is where you come in. there is a big difference between a house and home. A house has all the furniture, all the supplies. But it a home feels safe, a home has people in it and a family that fills it with smiles. A family shares the joy and the sorrows. They help each other up when times are hard and celebrate the good times together. My website feels like a house a place that I built for a community, but it is missing the people.
4. When I built the website I had two main goals in mind, explain what is going on, teach and provide news sources reporting the truth. The second was to bring people together to try to find ways to save democracy, to bring people together and to build a safe place where all of us that feel alone can safely talk about what is going on.
I promised you my goals so these are rough drafts, and they will change as more people contribute to them. The short term, host zoom meetings to meet and great people, find people willing to join the local democratic party, and people willing to run for office. Elections are coming and we need candidates for the ND State. We also need more people to join the local democratic parties. I will be honest with you, the goal of these groups is to get people elected in the ND State Congress.
My long term goals, are a bigger picture. I want to build an organization that has ties and connections to as many people as we can. In order to build this, my brain goes to the approach I heard at one of the dnc meetings. There is an example of a state going from red to blue. How, they had volunteers each willing to work with about 10 to 20 people and follow up with conversations all year long and when election day came, helped with reminding them to vote, and getting them to the poles. I am a data person, the more information I have the better answer I can give you. My brain tonight is telling me I should be asking these questions.
1. What level are you willing to help with elections?
a. I will think about voting, and maybe talking to someone
b. I will be voting, but don’t expect more from me
c. I will vote, and I can remind friends to vote.
d. I will vote and am willing to be a volunteer to talk to multiple people about voting.
e. I will vote, and will help with matching and organizing people to vote.
2. Name, phone number, email- preferred communication style?
3. What level are you willing to help beyond the election. Select all that apply.
a. As long as I vote that is enough.
b. I will come to a protest.
c. I will join a zoom call.
d. I will host zoom calls.
e. I will add website content.
f. I will attend a volunteer event.
g. I will organize a volunteer event.
The volunteer events is to show people that we are not the enemy, were are their neighbors who simply want to do good things.
A data base filled with the names and answers for all of the above would be amazing.
I would really like to have a solid database for the next election that tells me a breakdown of who exactly each candidate is. Where do they stand on democracy? And a history to point to of past votes if elected.
Zoom session geared toward education on how things work, including how our government works. And any other topic people want to understand better.
So the last part I have for you today, what do I expect your part to be.
1. Come with an open mind and willing to listen and talk. I am the first to admit when I don’t know something. I am willing to learn new stuff. Anyone who has decided that they have only one goal, to explain to me how right wing media telling the truth, can please leave now.
a. Anyone who is here to argue will be asked to leave. The goal is safe and open minded discussion.
2. See something say something. If you see something that is wrong, you need to be willing to speak up. You can always talk to me individually or fill out the contact us form on the website. It goes only to me and it will remain confidential. So many times people see something wrong and don’t say anything because they think someone else will see the problem and fix it. The truth is then no one says anything and it doesn’t get fixed. I heard a story where a girl did an experiment. She got store brownies and made brownies from scratch. She used sugar instead of salt in her homemade brownies. She gave them out to other kids and asked what is better my homemade or the store bought. Everyone one of them said the homemade ones. Why they didn’t want to hurt her feelings. But what if that girl didn’t know that the containers at home were mixed up. And the next time she made the brownies and took it to a competition. She would be so upset. It is better to learn of the problems when they appear and see what we can do to fix them.
The very last thing I need you to do, is to find one more person to come to a zoom meeting. Or tell your friends about them. We need to spread the word. This will become a place where we can simply talk and get to know each other, learn and grow. If the meetings get too big, we will start to host multiple meetings where we can work together.
The best way we can move forward is to build a community, one built on the basic foundations of honesty, facts, and support for all people.