meta uspol (+)
I got to meet up (online) with my group that formed in the wake of the US 2016 election. We call it Action Tuesdays (even after it shifted to Thursdays) and we would take turns bringing one topic and one action item for us to do together that evening — writing postcards to voters or letters to local lawmakers/school boards/etc, making signs for protests, teaching each other, sometimes just talking through trickier issues where there seemed to be no right answers. The same people were already and still are friends, and this was our dedicated time to doing something rather than just panicking or sliding into despair.
We hadn't met for this purpose in a long time, but decided around a month ago that it was high time. Tonight we brainstormed public comments for the pending CBP rule forcing disclosure of 5 years of social media history and caught each other up on ICE resistance local to each of us. I'm much less overwhelmed with US news than I would be if I were physically there, but I still left the session lighter than I arrived. I'm impressed by what people are managing to do and hopeful that it is a meaningful level of resistance.
Thought y'all outside the US would appreciate knowing that people are pushing back against everything that's happening. It's quiet, but people are showing up.
I have now lost the post that led me to learn about ray cats (awesome, thank you) but it led me down a glorious wikipedia rabbit hole including poka-yoke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poka-yoke), my new favorite thing. I did not know the term for it, but I have constructed many systems of that nature to compensate for my squishy forgetful human nature.
international politics / news, but good news :)
https://zeroes.ca/@datum/115827231927093532
The thrust of this piece reminds me of Brandon Taylor's debut novel Real Life, which was so raw and cutting I'm still hurting from it. I've been a little afraid to pick up his books since then, if I'm honest. Too much to heal from still. This other piece (different author) unexpectedly cut along some of the same scars. A little more gently, and it treated the wounds after.
https://sightlessscribbles.com/the-colonization-of-confidence/
The fireworks, I hates them. Luckily my cat does not seem to care, so he's keeping me company.
I've been separated from the "they" pin in this trio. If anybody finds it give me a shout! #39c3
Seeing as there are a couple orders of magnitude more #39c3 talks and workshops I want to attend than copies of me to attend them, I'm looking forward to going back through the entire schedule and self-teaching whatever I can starting from the descriptions (some have links! wikis, even!)
right after sleeping a week to recover from this, I'm not even exaggerating.
Fabric glue, fancy tape, or something else? Delaminated in the dryer despite being on the "safe for waterproof outdoor gear" setting.
Annoyed that a medical referral indicated I "speak only English." Decided to follow up to say "If you could modify this slightly, I would be able to see someone who speaks English, Spanish, Italian, or Japanese, but unfortunately I don't speak enough German yet." Don't think it will improve my chances, but it matters to me.
I am still muting accounts that serve me pictures of the orange man. I did not move continents only to have him follow me here.
Iris Young (he/they/she) (PhD)