Jedeed hosted a talk titled “What is to Be Done? How to Take Action in Horrifying Times” in Vollum lounge in March.
By Bennett Campbell Ferguson
April 23, 2026
Laura Jedeed ’19 is no stranger to risk. She’s a veteran U.S. Army signals intelligence collector and analyst—and more recently, she infiltrated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an experience she chronicled in an investigative article for Slate.
“Everybody has their own level of risk,” Laura told an audience of Reedies in Vollum lecture hall, where she hosted a talk titled “What is to Be Done? How to Take Action in Horrifying Times” in March. “And nobody can determine that for you.”
That’s why Laura has some unexpected advice: If you want to change the world, start with soup. “I have a friend who is always saying to me that she’s not doing enough,” she said. “I yell at her every time because three years ago, she hosted the inaugural soup night.”
Eventually, that soup night expanded into a whole network of soup nights in New York. “It’s like his whole extended soup family,” Laura said. “And I’ve met so many people through soup night—and I’ve met people that I’ve done activism with through soup night.”
Soup night is the heart of the manifesto Laura espoused: Activism isn’t just about protesting and reporting. In order to do good, you need to feel good—and feeling good means connecting with your fellow humans at a time when isolation and depression are becoming the baseline for far too many people.
“Statistically speaking, half the people in any room you’re in feel isolated, left out, and like they lack companionship,” Laura said. “Fascism is a set of very bad solutions to very real problems. And one of the biggest problems is this feeling of disconnect.”
In her talk, Laura expressed optimism that widespread feelings of disconnect can be overcome in the long term—while acknowledging the devastating effects of short-term threats to democracy, such as white supremacy becoming increasingly mainstream. “We are not headed toward fascism, it is here,” she said. “And it’s going to get worse.”
If there was one theme that encapsulated Laura’s talk, it’s that societies can’t be changed by a battle royale. They can only be changed by building a foundation of kind acts—not only toward your neighbors, but toward yourself.
“Make room for joy,” Laura said. “Remind yourself that the wider world exists. I like to go and look at the ocean when I can. The ocean was here long before I was born—long before humans were around. It’ll be around long after I’m dead, long after every human has died. It’s perspective.”