Canon vs Fanfic

Jan 18, 2026

Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of our 50501 CO newsletter!

In this newsletter, we discuss why we cannot allow this administration to rewrite our stories. In addition, you’ll find information on upcoming activities from the 50501 calendar, actions you can take outside of protesting, and also find out about additional ways to connect with us.

See you on the streets! ✊✊✊

Actions and Activities

(The below list contains details on all actions this week and next week which have been submitted to our 50501 CO calendar; click the link above for more details and the full calendar)

Arvada

1/18: 11:00am - Weekly Resistance Rally *Weather Permitting*
- 80th and Wadsworth in Arvada (Safeway)
1/25: 11:00am - 12:30pm - Weekly Resistance Rally *Weather Permitting*
- 80th and Wadsworth in Arvada (Safeway)
1/25: 11:00am - 2:00pm - Camp Campaign: A Community Festival
- 7601 Grandview Ave, Arvada, CO 80002

Aurora

1/21: 9:00 - 11:00am - Denver Business Know Your Rights Canvass and Training (E. Evans Ave. near Havana St, SIGN UP to get address: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/879709/)
1/24: 4:00 - 6:00pm - Shut Down GEO Aurora Listening Session
- Exact address shared after registration!
  Aurora, CO 80010
- REGISTER: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/874516/

Boulder

1/22: 12:00 - 1:00pm - Visibility Brigade - Overpass Protest
- Foothills Pkwy & Sioux Pedestrian Overpass (Parking on Sioux Ave off of Thunderbird Dr.)
1/29: 12:00 - 1:00pm - Visibility Brigade - Overpass Protest
- Foothills Pkwy & Sioux Pedestrian Overpass (Parking on Sioux Ave off of Thunderbird Dr.)

Broomfield

1/25: 11:30am - 1:00pm - No Fascists! No Kings!
- Northwest Corner
  West 120th Avenue & Sheridan Boulevard
  Broomfield, CO 80020

Denver

1/19: 10:00am - MLK Jr. Day Marade (City Park/State Capitol)
- 10:00am: Opening Ceremony at City Park (Food Trucks available)
- 11:45am: Step-Off at City Park (@ MLK Jr Statue) and peaceful march down Colfax to the State Capitol
1/19: 4:00 - 6:00pm - (GAS STRIKE/PROTEST) No Occupation of Venezuela, No Occupation of Our Cities (Chevron Office, 1099 18th St, Suite 1500, Denver, CO 80202)

Estes Park

1/20: 2:00 - 4:00pm - FREE AMERICA WALKOUT (170 MacGregor Ave, Bond Park, south side, Estes Park, CO 80517)

Fort Collins

1/20: 3:15 - 5:00pm - WEEKLY Corner Protest Tues/Thu (Corner of College & Drake)
1/22: 3:15 - 5:00pm - WEEKLY Corner Protest Tues/Thu (Corner of College & Drake)
1/27: 3:15 - 5:00pm - WEEKLY Corner Protest Tues/Thu (Corner of College & Drake)
1/29: 3:15 - 5:00pm - WEEKLY Corner Protest Tues/Thu (Corner of College & Drake)

Golden

1/22: 2:30 - 4:30pm - Standing For
- Near the Buffalo Bill statue, Washington Ave & 10th St, Golden CO
1/29: 2:30 - 4:30pm - Standing For
- Near the Buffalo Bill statue, Washington Ave & 10th St, Golden CO

Littleton

1/20: 3:00 - 4:30pm - WE THE PEOPLE
- South Broadway & Littleton Blvd
1/24: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Protest Against Tyranny
- 5700 S Broadway
  Littleton, CO 80121
1/24: 12:00 - 3:00pm - January Food Drive
- Prince of Peace Church
  7000 S Windermere St
  Littleton, CO 80120
1/27: 3:00 - 4:30pm - WE THE PEOPLE
- South Broadway & Littleton Blvd
1/31: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Protest Against Tyranny
- 5700 S Broadway
  Littleton, CO 80121

Louisville

1/19: 3:45 - 5:00pm - Overpass Protest
- https://maps.app.goo.gl/iQUmi35XfgMHaG5E8
  (Hwy 36 & 88th)
  88th St Overpass on Hwy 36
  2200 S 88th St
  Louisville, CO 80027
1/26: 3:45 - 5:00pm - Overpass Protest
- https://maps.app.goo.gl/iQUmi35XfgMHaG5E8
  (Hwy 36 & 88th)
  88th St Overpass on Hwy 36
  2200 S 88th St
  Louisville, CO 80027

Lone Tree

1/25: 1:00 - 3:00pm - Speak Now - "Good" Trouble
- Park Meadows Dr and S Quebec St
  8660 S Quebec St
  Lone Tree, CO 80124

Loveland

1/20: 2:00 - 4:00pm - STAND UP LOVELAND: FREE AMERICA WALKOUT (Walgreen's, 205 E Eisenhower Blvd, Loveland, CO 80537)
1/24: 10:00am - 12:00pm - Stand Up Loveland!
- 1440 N Lincoln Ave
1/31: 10:00am - 12:00pm - Stand Up Loveland!
- 1440 N Lincoln Ave

Northglenn

1/21: 3:00 - 4:30pm - Gabe Evans Pedestrian Bridge Protes
- I-25 Pedestrian Bridge
  281 W 104th Ave
  Northglenn, CO 80234
  Map of where we will protest (the pedestrian bridge over I-25 near Cinzetti's): https://maps.app.goo.gl/cPPfGKSBYpWKwfYG8
1/23: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Protest at Gabe Evans' Northglenn Office
- Northglenn District Office
  10701 Melody Dr
  Northglenn, CO 80234
1/28: 3:00 - 4:30pm - Gabe Evans Pedestrian Bridge Protest
- I-25 Pedestrian Bridge
  281 W 104th Ave
  Northglenn, CO 80234
  Map of where we will protest (the pedestrian bridge over I-25 near Cinzetti’s): https://maps.app.goo.gl/cPPfGKSBYpWKwfYG8
1/30: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Protest at Gabe Evans’ Northglenn Office
- Northglenn District Office
  10701 Melody Dr
  Northglenn, CO 80234

Pagosa Springs

1/24: 12:00 - 2:00pm - Weekly - Stand Up Saturday
- The public Parking Lot on Hwy 160 next to the library
1/31: 12:00 - 2:00pm - Weekly - Stand Up Saturday
- The public Parking Lot on Hwy 160 next to the library

Superior

1/24: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Stand Up! Speak Out!
- 2 S Marshall Rd
  Superior, CO 80027
1/31: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Stand Up! Speak Out!
- 2 S Marshall Rd
  Superior, CO 80027

Thornton

1/23: 3:15 - 5:15pm - FOURTH-FRIDAY FIGHT BACKS
- Colorado Boulevard & East 112th Avenue
  Thornton, CO 80233
1/30: 3:15 - 5:15pm - FOURTH-FRIDAY FIGHT BACKS
- Colorado Boulevard & East 112th Avenue
  Thornton, CO 80233

Trinidad

1/19: 11:00am - 1:00pm - "I Have a Dream" Rally and Food Drive (Intersection of Main and Santa Fe Trail)

Canon vs Fanfic

I’m a geek, but I’m not the scary kind.

I don’t freak out when a sci-fi show breaks continuity. If a writer bends canon for a good story, fine. If a comic does a reboot for the fifteenth time, whatever. I’ve survived Crisis events, timeline resets, alternate universes, and the classic “surprise, they were a clone” twist. I can roll with it.

Fiction is allowed to cheat. That’s part of the deal. The stakes are emotional, not structural.

Democracy is different. In real life, when canon gets broken, people get hurt. Rights shrink. Rules stop applying evenly. Power starts freelancing and calling it strength.

So yeah, I’m chill about canon breaks in sci-fi. In our democracy, I’m all about canon.

In a functioning democracy, canon is the boring stuff people only notice when it’s gone: constitutional limits, due process, transparent data, courts that don’t take orders, agencies staffed by people who know what they’re doing, elections that get counted the same way no matter who wins. Canon is the rulebook that keeps the whole system coherent.

And lately we’ve been watching an aggressive attempt to replace that canon with fanfic.

To be clear, I’m not insulting fanfic. Fanfic is creative. It can be smart. The problem is running a country like it’s fanfic, because political fanfic has one requirement: it doesn’t have to match what happened on screen. It just has to feel good to the people writing it.

That’s how you get a world where facts become optional and vibes become law.

Once you see the style, it’s hard to unsee.

There’s the retcon. A retcon is when the story rewrites its own history and expects you to nod along. “We never said that.” “That’s not what happened.” “You’re taking it out of context.” The point isn’t evidence. The point is to wear you down so you stop insisting on a shared timeline.

Then there’s headcanon. That’s when a group decides what it wants to be true and repeats it until it feels like reality. Headcanon thrives in politics because it’s simpler than the real world. It gives you a clean hero, a clean villain, and a clean ending. Reality is messy. Democracy is messy. Headcanon hates messy.

And then there’s the villain edit. Oversight becomes sabotage. Journalism becomes propaganda. Peaceful dissent becomes disloyalty. Data becomes “rigged” the second it’s inconvenient. Courts are “corrupt” when they disagree and “patriots” when they comply. The act of checking power gets reframed as an attack on the nation.

That isn’t persuasion. That’s narrative control.

And narrative control is not a harmless hobby. It’s how rule breaking becomes normal. Because once you convince people the rules are biased or fake or optional, you can break them in public and call it courage.

This is why information systems matter so much. Not because spreadsheets are exciting, but because data is canon. Transparent, verifiable public information is one of the few things that stops politics from becoming pure storytelling. When leaders bury data, delay it, replace experts with loyalists, or turn basic measurement into a partisan brawl, they’re not just fighting over a number. They’re fighting over whether reality is checkable.

The attack isn’t only on outcomes. It’s on continuity. On whether the same standards apply tomorrow that applied yesterday. On whether “truth” means something you can verify or just something you declare.

So what does “defending canon” look like for people with jobs, bills, and finite brain space, who don’t want politics to become a second unpaid career?

It looks like a few hard standards you don’t negotiate.

You don’t need to memorize every policy fight. You do need to notice when the standards change mid-scene. You do need to be skeptical of stories that get smoother every time they’re repeated. You do need to pay attention when words like “violence,” “patriot,” or “fraud” suddenly mean something new. And you do need to remember that “my side” is not a substitute for reality.

Fanfic governance runs on momentum. Canon runs on process, proof, and consistency. Pick the second one, even when it’s boring.

Let the comics reboot. Let the starships time travel. Let the writers get weird.

In real life, keep the canon intact.

Non-Protest Actions Bingo

The below bingo card contains a list of actions you can take (other than protesting) to help further the cause. If you get a bingo, tag us on social media to let us know!