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Having a hard week with the patriarchy? Grab some tea and curl up with a good link.
What can I expect when I read the Hot List? We share a variety of newsletters, long-form, magazine series, and other non-fiction from our network (The Collective), FLOWLab members, and other social justice futurists and historians. We also share more well-known writers to subscribe to (because there is so much out there you may have missed it anyway).
These works and writers we amplify not for the faint of heart. This is for the heart-led social justice humanitarians who want to learn, grow, and do better. It's for anyone who questions EVERYTHING and likes to go deeper.
These selected newsletters, long-forms, and features are just what the 2020's dumpster-fire-decade ordered.
Who is this for? Advocates, Allies, Accomplices, Creators, Writers, Researchers, Technologists, Educators, Founders, and friends...Anyone doing the work, wanting inspiration, solid content, and data/science/history informed positions. This is a community who gets it. Is that you? IYKYK.
What topics are HOT? A mix. Current events, academia and economics, civics, climate and human rights activism, media literacy, anti-racism, gender equality, accessibility, designing for inclusion, entrepreneurship, bro culture, solidarity economy, worker cooperatives, the philanthropic industrial complex, cultural history, and anything else we fancy.
The bulk of what we share will remind you the planet is burning and they're burning books too! We're still on earth after all, in a pandemic, breathing smoke from climate catastrophes, war, poverty, all the -isms, PLUS both sea levels and white supremacy on the rise. It sure is a lot to process. All of these problems are man-made, by men...so, uh...Yeah, like we said: Welcome to hell.
Is it all struggle, the fall of humanity, and doomsday? Actually, no. We share some helpful and optimistic content as well as some purely for joy, relaxation, reflection, or leisure.
When you need fuel for your fire, check The HOT LIST first. Save yourself from the firehose of content coming at you daily, doom scrolling, and a never ending feed of Ads and news selected by patriarchy to have you ignore the other stuff.
Process all the feels, feel less alone, learn, and be inspired by some seriously rad writing, incredible research, and human-centered storytelling.
Warning: A lot of what we share will be bonker balls. NSFW.
Content may make you audibly swear, shed a tear, laughāāso you don't cry, or want to crack that bottle of bubbly and toast the end of the world.
May not be safe for work, children, highly-sensitive people, empaths, under 18, millennials, Gen X, or Boomers. parents, caregivers, pet owners and animal lovers, people who love fresh air, and anyone who is a little bit tired.
With tabs and to-do lists, you need a trusted editor. Weāre a sponge but one you can ring out slowly. coFLOWcoās VIP content includes suggested reads, talks, threads, pods, videos, digital toolkits, recommended artists and creators, and more. Be in the know, or at least in on the joke.
Letās celebrate our Collective wins and amplify the work. After all, itās our mission.
Curated inspo and fuel for your fire. š„
Read the first 5 Issues here. Download the Padlet app for the best experience of our mini-feed.
Read the Neurodivergent Hot List - Special Edition here.
We want to keep curating and creating for you. We're invested in surfacing rad change-makers and moving breath-takers. The HOT LIST - Top 5, and otherwise, takes time, and time is money for humans in the 2020s. The people we feature, like us, do their work for a higher purpose. They aren't branding purpose for profit; they are trying to change the system.
Community building, curating content, creating social justice campaigns, and connecting communities is work, even if it's Invisible Labor or part of the "Informal Economy"āāaka, a woman's work. We love our mission but leading with purpose can't pay bills. Paying in exposure will not keep us warm. Our labor is not a favor.
Do you subscribe to a newsletter you LOVE?
Who do you read daily/weekly?
Do you pay for one because you thought "I absolutely must support & compensate this genius!"?
Tweet at us: ļ¹«coFLOWco &ļ¹«FLOWLab5
Use these hashtags: #WritersAreHot #HotListFL5 #InfoDumpsterFire
Read more of The Hot List - Writers edition here. Next issue, Fall 2022
Check out a special issue: The Neurodivergent Hot List.
Ways to Compensate this Labor |
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Give through our nonprofit FLOWLab5.org which is fiscally hosted by Open Collective Foundation and your donation is tax deductible; (I am not a CPA.)
Become a FLOWLab member and join our social entrepreneur and creator community.
Through our fiscally hosted nonprofit FLOWLabāµ sponsor FL5 projects like the HOT LIST.
Support this work on a grassroots level by keeping Em caffeinated here or keep the HOT LIST hydrated.
The HOTLIST Top 5 - Writers Edition
Do you know Luvvie Jones? She wrote one of my favorite articles ever about how Black women are the grownups in the room.
"Black women are the moral center of the universe and canāt nobody tell me different. In spite of the fact that we have our heads stepped on, weāre disrespected constantly, and treated like we are disposable, we show up. We speak up, show out, and stand up for everyone, even those who donāt deserve it." Black women are the Adults in the ROOM, ZORA, April 2020
Read on for some of my favorite grownups. Share them, subscribe to them, and compensate them for their work! Happy reading! -Em
Platform: Substack Newsletter title: Sharon Hurley Hall's Anti-Racism Newsletter For: White people who want to do the work and learn, and anyone that likes direct, concise writing about some truly effed up stuff. For Black people who want to feel seen. For those of us who want to do better (all of us) check it out and #subscribe.
Sharon Hurley Hall's newsletter is my go-to for straight talk about White Supremacy and Anti-Black Racism. Sharon, Founder and Curator-in-Chief (We love this title!), is on a mission to āfight racism one article at a time.ā
Sharon was awarded a Substack fellowship last year and you will see why. Full disclosure: We are mutual fans; she gave me a shout-out too, after I posted a shorter version of this in the HOT LIST). (Total coincidence!) Sharon is also a member of the FLOWLab and a frequent contributor to rich conversations about everything from racism to the best tool to use for your stack.
Sharon's was the first newsletter I finally paid for (I was already supporting creators on Patreon though.) Zero regrets, except all the subscriptions for far too many other newsletters I have signed up since. I recently renewed and it's always spot on.
Sharon's sister, Lisa Hurley is a rad human.
She is also a prolific writer and creator (and they co-host a podcast together for introverts).
Lisa wrote an epic piece for Juneteenth that is a must read for anyone (white) who still doesn't know exactly what to do on the 19th. Read on and subscribe to get her updates too.
Platform: LinkedIn Read: Women don't owe you shit (a post on LinkedIn, not from her Newsletter). Also read Issue 6 for a personal piece, perfect for Pride month.
For: Intersectional Feminists doing the work, people who love opinionated, strong voices and solid writing! Anyone wanting straight talk, no B.S. from a rad AF queer Black woman, DV survivor, C-Suite human resources innovator and speaker.
Subscribers: Close to 40k, she had 27k subscribers in the first 2 weeks!
Deets: Great sections and layout. Fun and engaging while serving the tea and truth around startups, the workplace and DEI. Cute af graphics.
Madison Butler is doing ALL THE THINGS. Speaking, writing, coaching, consulting, founder, co-founder, and a full time roll where she was recently promoted to Chief People Officer. She is a force and we are so here for it.
Learn more about her creation and launch of Black Speakers Collection (Over 2k speakers and counting!!) She was even featured on the airtable blog.
She's also co-founder of Rage 2 Rainbows (with me, Em!). Enough said.
Hire Madison here at Blue Haired Unicorn.
For: Intersectional feminists who want a STRONG voice. Read her and shout yes, yes, yes every single time. Mona Eltahawy- (Former reporter, current curator) and feminist author, commentator and disruptor of patriarchy.
"Every day on Twitter, I curate news of patriarchal fuckery and feminist resistance to it from around the world. I am moving that curation here, where twice a week - Wednesday and Friday, paid internsāyounger feminists I am delighted to work with and to share my platform withāwill collect global feminist news and weave it with brief commentary."
Follow her on Twitter for SURE. She has a really interesting background and I love how she has no effs to give.
One of the best writers ever. THE AUDACITY does not disappoint.
People curate what they put from their lives into the public sphere but a good writer makes what they curate one hell of a story. Thatās what I hope to do with this newsletterātell one hell of a story about the world weāre living in, the culture we consume, the things that bring me joy, the things that infuriate me, the things I think we should talk about.
I am also going to use this space to feature the work of others.
And she hosts a monthly book club for subscribers.
Roxane Gay also features emerging writers' essays, like this piece by Kaushika Suresh "Examination Abridged is mind-blowingly brilliant. "Kaushika Suresh is the non-fiction editor for Black Warrior Review. Their work has appeared in Joyland and The Masters Review. They are currently at work on a novel about gossip, girls, and existing between cultures. @kaushikasuresh"
The Audacious Roundup is a weekly hot list from one of the best voices out there. She is on top of the latest in pop culture and the news...which I find helpful af.
Seriously read ANYTHING by Roxane Gay including any of her essays in the NYT.
As Gay notes,
"Michelle Goldberg wrote about how feminism is struggling and younger people, in particular, donāt identify as feminist or believe feminism is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with her essay but I am surprised by how often we accept the results of one study as an indication of anything."
Clearly I agree about bad data. See this post on why it can be dangerous if not vetted well.
I too found Goldberg's piece fine and interesting but concur it stirs controversy which may not be a wise move.
I don't know Allison nearly as well as some of the others. Well I only personally know about half the writers mentioned here. I have only recently discovered Gaines' work. It makes her no less bada$$ and in fact it shows how many amazing voices there are worth amplifying and sharing I have yet to discover. She is a prolific blogger/publisher. IMHO she is one to follow, one to watch.
His writing is the bomb and his Juneteenth piece was on point.
Use this list from "100 Years of Politics, Persisting, and Patriarchy" by Emily Weltman, published in The Ascent ahead of the 2020 election.
Donāt just study the true history of being Black in America; use it to act.
Pay BIPOC creators and artists, via Venmo, cash app, or āBuy me a Coffeeā links. It is appropriate and more than welcome to pay them for their labor.
Spend at local Black women-owned businesses and share lists like these.
Follow and pay Black independent journalists and photographers.
Fulfill urgent needs from mutual aid orgs like Snack Bloc and the Rural Project of Oregon.
Donate supplies to local activations. (Refer to local lists requesting individual needs like this one).
Give to local Black-led organizations like Donāt Shoot PDX or the Black Resilience Fund whose efforts directly help Black communities.
Support Black candidates: Volunteer, canvas, and finance grassroots campaigns.
Fight for Black womenās suffrage. Bring them to the polls or watch their kids so they can go vote.
Systems change requires a collectivist approach.
Here is where we will keep ALL our content, bringing together all creative, academic, and business research and writing under one umbrella: The Collective.
The Collective is our answer to a failing economy and broken social contract.
To change the current capitalist crap to a Social and Solidarity Economy will take us matching their moves, step for step. For profit social enterprise and consultancy. ā Nonprofit 501c3. ā Think tank. ā Education, Products, Resources. ā ā ā
We have to match capitalism punch for punch, org for org, system for system. No one said it would be easy, but we know change is coming and we intend to be in the room this time!
We're here to transform our global economy into the Social and Solidarity Economy by working together, prioritizing the voices of those who have previously been left out. We have the solutions to make our world work for everyone.
The Collective is the web of everyone in our sphere, and it's interconnected and interdependent just like a complex mycelium network. Mutualism and collectivism are how we build a Future of Work that works for all of us.
Together, we find our flow.
This first iteration of CFPC was created to pull Collective content from all over the web and from 3rd party platforms and social media into one central location.
Ultimately we want to build a platform we host ourselves, but until we have the funds, we use Gitbook as our hub. We chose an open source platform that is not driven by Ad revenue and a place where our content is our own.
Our approach: Our holistic, systems change approach to changing our economy is to build more businesses for good, publish more creators and experts advocating for a progressive, inclusive, and accessible world.
Our goal: to amplify our voices, tell our stories, help new businesses from underestimated founders thrive. We The People define what The Economy is for us.
Our vision: an ecosystem consists of consulting, publishing, nonprofits, think tanks, and co-created education that fits the way we work and serves our shared values of people and planet over profit.
Co Flow Publishing Co (aka CFPC) is not an org...yet. Our vision for "The Collective" is for CFPC to become the coop of our multi-org ecosystem to Change Management.
CFPC will be a worker-owned publishing cooperative (and Think Tank) by 2028.
We are currently fundraising through FLOWLabāµ Open Collective and seeking sponsors for our first media and design projects that explore our key policy and research areas: Ethical Tech and Design, Media and Publishing, Public Health, Management Consulting and Small Business.
gender and racial gaps in business consulting, publishing, media, and academia
platform economies for alternative governance
non-extractive financing and exit to community for just capital
access to the arts and the impact of design accessibility for public health
sustainable solopreneurship and social entrepreneurship
worker-owned cooperatives, collectives, and community stewardship
Our Collective is creating "smaller" with fellow MSMEs, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, as defined by the EU (under 50 employees). We envision a To Be Named economy for the people that incorporates the Creator Economy, Knowledge Economy, Platform Economy, and Social & Solidarity Economy to a yet to be named replacement for capitalism.
We have already begun to support our network and community of educators, academics, and creators by amplifying their work, helping host events, sharing their publishing endeavors on our social channels, and featuring them in our coFLOWco Bookshop (launched 2021). We feature members work as part FLOWLabāµ's FTP Book Club, launching Spring 2023. We have received project submissions and want to begin compensating creators and researchers by 2024.
By 2025 through funds raised in FLOWLabāµ we hope to publish our first data viz research to educate people about social entrepreneurship, ethical business practices and economic policies to fuel our transition to a just and equitable economy.
________________
Collective Flow Publishing Co., aka CFPC, is the current home to The Collective's different work and information streams, linking to all of the orgs in our ecosystem. It's also where we will publish new work moving forward (even if it's also posted to Medium, LinkedIn or our blog.)
We work and live together, even when we are not able to be together. Our economy, business, commerce/trade/idea sharing is one big system. It only "functions" when it works for all of us.
We cannot change work if we don't get involved and stay informed about laws and trends that affect the most vulnerable.
Founding members of FLOWLabāµ are our muse.
The HOT LIST is an experimental newsletter/publishing platform of curated content for busy founders. Currently we're using Padlet to test out a mini-feed. Preview the first 5 issues here.
Want more Tools and Tips? Want Top 5 lists to read, follow, listen to, use, or watch. Sign up so you don't miss an issue here.
We curate the internet for creators, founders, and solopreneurs...so you can do you.
For analysis of the state of the economy, politics, climate, and more...we go spelunking all over the web and find the deep cuts that tell the story of the moment. We amplify diverse creators, scientists, writers, and journalists. We seek out storytellers with lived experience or ties to the issues we cover whenever possible.
We aren't the authority on everything but we don't have to be. Listen to trusted voices and experts from the community most affected and walk away more informed, with a full picture, connected to the truth. Read our first Undercurrent here on the 2022 Supreme Court Spring that set us back decades.
We amplify great startups or projects that are "Leading with Purpose," because the patriarchy isn't going to fix itself.
And additional pieces published by Emily Weltman here.
Currently hosted on our website but transitioning to a new platform asap.
Coming soon...
The FLOWLabāµ is where we come together to iterate, ideate, ruminate, and maybe procrastinate. We gather in service of never working for āThe Powers That Beā ever again.
Weāre leading with a purposeāto create more opportunities for diverse leaders to survive the first 5 years in business.
Self-employment can be a minefield. Google is not a reliable business advisor. Your family is sick of hearing about your biz. FLOWLabāµ is here to help you find your way.
Together, our social change agents and neurodivergent content creators are making space for mutual learning, mutual support, and conscious collaboration.
We're still growing our beta community of small business owners, consultants, startup founders, and solopreneurs. Join here!
The Future of Work does not work without us. Period.
The HOTLIST Top 5 - Writers Edition
Have you read anything about current events that just has a way of putting a whole new light on it. This months writers do just that. They are all about shedding light on the truth about our nation, and exposing how totally effed it is. If you are into learning about nefarious industry and government plots, or the not so secret ways people are racist, homophobic, misogynist on the web, this one's for you. Read these creators/scholars for a master class in saying the damn thing, laying bare the truth, and doing it in a way that makes you say "Damn kid, that's fucking brilliant."
Finding great creators outside the mainstream is not hard. We try and tell you all the time... "Hey we know stuff too." Still, white news guys forget we know stuff, and they announce their "revelations" as if they are geniuses. Of course, often they are realizing the obvious for the first time.
From time to time we need to remind them, women, trans, queer, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latina, disabled, neurodivergent, gay et al...we know stuff too. If more people listened it would save the world a lot of time. There are so many hot writers worth reading. Here are some of my favorites who nail the mic drop often.
Platform: Substack
Theme: Current Events in the U.S. News Newsletter title: "Letters from an American" For: Americans, duh. People who want a passionate yet very understated account of current events told through the eyes of a professor of American History who never swears and whose outrage always seems both nonpartisan and justified.
Read it when you want to know what happened. (An alternative option: WTFJH. More on why WTF is also a good option later this month.)
Her July 30th issues...You couldnāt write a movie more gripping or salacious than this if you tried. In this recent "Letters from an American," Cox is a great storyteller, but not in a spinny and dramatic way. In a just the facts are enough to make your jaw drop so no need to embellish. I mean seriously even if you can't keep up with January 6th, read her newsletter every few days. You will know what you need to know.
I am happy to support this Substack because she is a professor who updates every American nearly every day. I would say alongside Sharon Hurley's Anti-racism newsletter and Anne Helen Peterson's Culture Study, LTAA is one of my daily go-tos.
In truth we have to support as many "creators" as humanly possible because it means less working for The Powers That Be and THE Man and more working for ourselves. It also means we will still have some integrity in journalism...because right now, the media is all owned by the same people, and they are writing the story.
Her recent posts have all been mic drops for me. I also find she is getting better acknowledging the systemic issues that lay under our nation's decisions and policies. As a historian, she does lean a bit idealistic for me in that we are still a great democracy which I find is becoming less and less true by the day. But, I appreciate her moderate left voice the days I am totally losing the forest for the trees.
Platform: Substack (but designed and branded beautifully, obvi.) Read: Nandini Jammi's Twitter and LinkedIn, actually. She drops her scathing take downs and is totally fearless. And you can get a quicker read of what they do. It's not hard to understand; it is however technical af and they are bada$$.
Another pre-Branded must read from June 2020 is Jammi's backstory on Medium; she share why she left the org Sleeping Giants, after her partner tried to erase her, then yelled at her for finally speaking up. The bro totally accepted a Cannes Lion for her work and forgot to mention he was going to France. I found her Medium article very relatable as I had started my own thing after similar, albeit less egregious circumstances, after I left Ad/Design agency life behind. The way she was treated in the Ad world and all the ways the guy gaslit her felt like an echo of my own workplace trauma.
Watch this bada$$ explain how Ad buying works to infuse social media with B.S., and how brands don't know their Ad dollars are used to dund disinfo...to a tune of $235 million annually.
For: Anyone wanting to cheer on two women taking down right wing media and doing so unabashedly. People in Ad Land. Feminists and those who lov to cheer for the underdog, especially when they become the big dog, and make the work with their former co-founder (Sleeping Giants) look like childsplay.
Deets: https://checkmyads.org/branded/
Subscribers: 50k
Platform: Squarespace website; previously producing longform posts on LinkedIn. Read: Any of his "Monday Opening Thoughts" and anything else he writes about HR, White Supremacy, Workplace toxicity, and living your goddamn life on your terms.
For: People who loathe bull shit. Anyone who wants to be challenged and especially white people who are ready to get uncomfortable and really be faced with someone NOT catering to them, but instead calling out White Supremacy in all its insidious forms.
Bonus: Love his sense of humor and his style. This graphic is the bomb:
Deets: https://www.pharoahbolding.com/blog
"Show a Brotha some appreciation."
Venmo: @Pharoah-Bolding
Cash App: $PharoahBConsult or https://cash.app/$PharoahBConsult
Paypal: pharoahbolding@hotmail.com or https://paypal.me/pbhrpro
Above is an update Bolding shared July 11th, after he took a Social Media break...one that I admire greatly and one of the reasons I am writing more here, (until we can set up a proper blog or publishing site.) I agree, social media is not entitled to anyone's content for free, especially while we get trolled and have to self-moderate and pay them.
In other words, I returned to another week on social media as an unapologetic Black person who isn't looking for validation and "debates."
So I'm going to return my ass back into an extended vacation from social media.
I'd rather sit on my porch with a La Croix and read a good book than entertain the thought of putting my whole self on platforms built on pushing legitimate hate speech and silencing Global Majority folx. Some of y'all prove every day that you are the reason we all can't have nice things, so I'm going to make sure you don't get to have a place to be a white supremacist on my time.
From now on, my primary content will be built for my website, a possible newsletter, and an eventual paywall at the beginning of 2023. I will no longer post complete content pieces on social media platforms, just off-site links to said content pieces. And even though I'll be creating more regularly scheduled content, sharing the links to that content on social media won't be a regular occurrence.
We obviously approve this message...and this call to action to divest from Social Media as our primary repository for content. Eff that. They made plenty off of the trauma and drama of activists and truth tellers...especially those fighting White Supremacy like Pharoah, Claire, Nandini, and Heather do daily with their writing and work. So instead of supporting LI Premium, maybe pay them instead?
Tagline: "Today's essential guide to the daily shock and awe in national politics. Read in moderation."
Platform: Self hosted
Content: Quick recaps of the mind blowing political f&%kery that is American Democracy.
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/podcasts/
Hello. Iām @matt ā your guide to the daily shock and awe in national politics.
And, youāve just joined todayās essential forum. š
WTF Just Happened Today is a newsletter, a blog, and ā most importantly ā a community.
While the blog and newsletter are produced every morning by @matt, this community exists 24/7/365 to discuss the news, coordinate actions, share perspectives, and connect with likeminded people. Itās a place for civil discussion.
There are three ground rules here:
Be humble
Show respect
Practice gratitude
This is not is a place for assholes, self-promotion, marketing, campaigning, pushing your political agenda, showing off, bragging, provoking others, or drama. There is zero tolerance for personal attacks, trolling, baiting, flaming, hate speech, etc.
Welcome to the WTF fam. āMatt
Who The F*ck Supports This?You do.
Invest in the continued production of WTF Just Happened Today by becoming a supporting member. Choose from three levels of monthly recurring membership:
$5, 7, 10
As an alternative to the monthly options, you can also support WTFJHT annually at $50/yr and $100/yr.
Tip Jar Just want to make a one-time contribution? While the recurring memberships above are preferred, I'm happy to accommodate four different one-time contribution options at $25, $50, $100, and $200.
He goes on to provide TOTAL pay transparency so you know where the money goes!
"Here's the deal: This is my job. And, I plan to keep doing this for as long as you keep supporting me. So, if you find my work valuable or you find yourself relying on my work, please consider becoming a supporting member so I can continue to tell you wtf just happened today.
I started this project to keep track of an impossible news cycle. It was a personal challenge to become a better consumer of political news. As it turns out, a lot of other people also wanted to be better political news consumers. So here we are.
My goal has always been to earn enough to cover my costs so I can keep writing and reporting WTF Just Happened Today. To do that, we need to make sure WTFJHT is sustainable as a member-funded project. That means covering all the costs associated with hosting, email delivery, site search, the community forum, web development, "salary," health insurance, the podcast, and more.
As a reminder, WTFJHT is 100% free, but supported entirely by your optional contributions. No ads, no sponsorships. It's why I try to be as transparent as possible about this process, in part because of my own reluctance to ask, but also my own ethos about transparency and openness. So here's where weāre at..."
He goes on to provide TOTAL pay transparency so you know where the money goes!
Just subscribe already. It's free but you should support his work!
If you are a nerd who loves the academic take, read this first. Where Platform Capitalism and Racial Capitalism Meet: The Sociology of Race and Racism in the Digital Society, Published October 9, 2020 Tressie McMillan Cottom is also touched up by many of her articles and in her Newsletter.
Her Newsletter, which I wish would come more often, her Op Eds are all about the things coFLOWco is into (the intersection of solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, the economy, culture, gender and race). Needless to say we are HERE for her work. There is so much to promote that is pure gold and our admiration is high! First, her Newsletter is only for The New York Times subscribers.
While this is technically a summer 2022 list, the truth is, like all good writers we get behind. With that we now have McMillan Cottom's own words in "What a MacArthur Foundation āGenius Grantā Gave Me" that sum up her work history through August 2020.
"At that point in my career, I had an enviable public profile: I had tenure and had written award-winning books. I took professional risks, like weighing in on academic misconduct and inequality in education, and the biggest risk of all: I talked about popular culture through an academic lens and in an accessible writing style. My combination of rigor and accessibility meant that I had a sort of split status. I was well regarded, but not part of any inner circle.
That suited me fine. I value the authenticity of writing from an outsiderās perspective. But it also meant that my work was always bootstrapped. I had not won major fellowships or grants to complete my dissertation research or first genre-bending book. I mentored students but had little institutional support to share with them.
I produced good work at a rare pace, fueled by egg rolls and intellectual curiosity. It was thrilling. It took its toll."
This October 12, 2022 Newsletter/Op-Ed, written 2 years after the paper on Racial Capitalism and Tech linked AND after she became a MaCarthur fellow covers how much has changed for her as a writer, while so much remains the same.
This early (April 2020) pandemic piece, What the Pandemic Means for Women in the Hustle Economy she discusses why "Workers in the hustle economy share a risk position: their economic activity is necessary for their financial well-being, but it does not afford them job-related protections. For women, the risks are especially acute."
Her Twitter is always on point. We love her website too! Lnk Tree for Tressiemcphd
"The concept of racial capitalism posits that racialization is a primary project for all capitalist activities, from accumulation to extraction. This holds for the future of work as much as the past. Racial capitalism identifies the hustle not just as a response to inequalities in the formal economy but as a kind of racial theater. Black peopleāand Black women especiallyāare shut out of traditional employment, but our culture applauds the hustler who responds to exclusion by striking out on her own. As brands and digital platforms celebrate grit and urge us to ārespect the hustle,ā the realities of who succeeds and who stays struggling are lost."
And, finally, lest we wrap a curated Hot List without irony, we'll end with this quote from her March 2022 Newsletter piece, How to Avoid Drowning in an Ocean of Information. Who better to sum up the cultural and journalistic purpose of Newsletters? We'll let McMillan Cottom highlighting Heather Cox Richardson close out this Top 5.
"Another way to look at information sources is to focus on genre, rather than platform. Newsletters are a powerful entry into the information ecosystem. My theory is that newsletters are an evolution of a very old genre: the new iteration of pamphlets. Political pamphlets are hundreds of years old. They are somewhere between āobjectiveā journalism and polemic. They often present deep explorations of topics and explicitly unsettled arguments. Good newsletters during information events put those window frames up for debate. They are systematic in their analysis of the event but also think critically about the sources that shape the analysis. The historian Heather Cox Richardsonās newsletter is a good example.
A good media diet is about more than diversity of sources. It is also about information with different purposes. Investigative journalism takes time and resources. Social media shrinks time and resources but can respond quickly. Newsletters give context and help us make meaning of information events. We cannot parse everything."
Research, Reports, and Policies: Political and Economic analysis for We the People. Because the patriarchy isn't going to fix itself.
We work and live together, even when we are not able to be together. Our economy, business, commerce/trade/idea sharing is one big system. It only "functions" when it works for all of us.
We cannot change work if we don't get involved and stay informed about laws and trends that affect the most vulnerable.
coFLOWco consultants contribute to CFPC with reviews, writes, and reports on products, processes, policies and practices, deconstructing "best practices" to create a future of work grounded in equity and justice.
CFPC, like coFLOWco, is not a 501c3 but is a social enterprise (committed to reinvesting at least 50% of our profits back into the business and mission.) We're not operated by FLOWLab, though we invite members to become contributors too.
Through our publishing, community, and consulting practices, we help creators, founders, and social impact leaders understand what is broken, where the barriers are, and identify gaps in the system to highlight opportunities for people who care and who create to do something about it.
Yes, we discuss race, gender, climate change, and politics at work. The question is, why aren't you?
We will not sit by while we toil away for this country, pay higher taxes, do all the care work, essential work, and invisible labor to keep this economy and nation humming.
Solopreneurs and founders, especially underestimated startup leaders, academics, consultants, and creatives are fighting a hard battle to make an impact. "The Powers That Be" continue to profit off reports about us, advocating for investments in small businesses, but stopping short of making the shifts discussed in their publishing.
You deserve to be paid, compensated for your ideas, and not have to do free labor for RFPs or grants while "The Powers That Be" give each other millions and millions to experiment on a widget or create another empty initiative.
Your research and content and creative work are work products. Thought leaders, culture critics, economists and business experts get paid to theorize, think, posture, and create. We have to have "traction" and proof and data to be worthy of investment. We need to remove all barriers to getting our ideas out in the world. They can't fix this. We can.
You cannot package "purpose" for profit.
Management Consultants and Big Tech create policies they don't follow. Like our government, they enact initiatives for PR and then when they fall short they just brush it under the rug.
There is no mea culpa. They have never acknowledged of the deep harms caused to humans and the planet, and instead continue to do so, while putting out ESG reports. (Where do you think our government gets their advice? Who do you think they pay to help plan the federal budget or create a policy for immigration?)
We are staunchly opposed to greenwashing, DEI washing, and stakeholder capitalism and care deeply about participatory design and shared decision making. We report on consulting and communications blunders, corruption, and exploitation to prove our Theory of Change.
The Big 3 and Big 4 have define the economy for over 100 years (Deloitte is closer to 200 years): what it is, who has access to it, and whose voices are heard. There is no regulation. No one says what they can or cannot touch, no monitoring, and very little accountability (save the occasional cash settlements for their regular illegal, nefarious, and unconstitutional practices.)
Small businesses continue to be left out, or blotted out, eaten up by M&A's, closed without access to loans or emergency funds. We're eliminated from the running on government contracts before we start, despite having the required certifications.
Despite government, The Big 3, and the SBA statements calling us "the backbone of America," we are being systematically erased through an all out war on our liberties, our livelihoods, and our lives. The SBA still defines small businesses as under 500 employees so companies with 400 people are getting small business set-aside contracts (not that we want to work for the DOD).
The prep school to U Penn pipeline is as ironclad as the school to prison one. There are two economies, but currently only those with pedigree get to define the "economy." Since the 1970s "Management Consultants" have taken over the trajectory of the global economy, all for their own gain.
They control the narrative of everything and have extended their reach far beyond advising managers, audits, internal processes, or financial improvements.
Why do we think we can do "everything" too? Why the f&%k not?!
We need to be in the room, at the table, leading the conversations and the solutions. We need to be reporting, researching, publishing and telling the stories. If we want to change history, we have to be the storytellers of the present and the ones defining the Future of Work. Period.
There is no morality in our economic and government decisions related to business, but for our sheer survival as a species, there absolutely needs to be. The management world is David and Goliath, and we will prevail...together.
Leaders in the place you work, the city or town you live in, the school you go to, the hospital you get care in, the place you worship or relax or have fun, and the country of your residence should be building systems (policies, processes, and practices) with YOU, not for you. With us, lead by us, not bringing us in at the end for a soundbite.
We examine how deep their control goes and how it impacts your work.
As workplace and employment equality advocates, businesses cannot remain neutral. Period. There is no longer a both sides argument (not that there ever was). Staying apolitical means siding with oppressors and discriminatory practices that impact everyone's lives.
We're always on the lookout for the next policy, law, or trend that put communities at risk. We're building more inclusive, equitable, and accessible businesses from the ground up. This includes being highly informed and active citizens.
You matter, your life matters, and that life deserves to be protected, educated, safe, and treated fairly by everyone else. The more you know, the more you can hold leaders accountable and create alternatives to lead us forward. It may seem overwhelming, and it is...but ignorance is not bliss; it's dangerous complacency.
"If you don't vote, you don't exist." āGloria Steinem
We will fight for democracy (if we can still call it that) because it is a fundamental need for a solidarity economy. We will fight for healthcare and people with disabilities, because we all have a body worthy of kavod (dignity, honor, and respect.)
Worker cooperatives follow 7 rules; rule number 1: Democratic governance. Their rule is 1 voice, 1 vote. Our government claims to be by and for the people. Businesses claim to be looking out for employees. But all evidence to the contrary, because by and large they are not led by us (women, LGBTQIA2S+, Black, Latina, Indigenous, AAPI, people with disabilities and neurodivergent people.)
We cannot do that without speaking up on the things that affect our everyday lives and liberties. As Sarah Phelps says, "There is no work/life balance. There is only life." Life is in the details. It is in the processes, policies, practices, and politics that define how we live.
You deserve to write your story instead of being ignored and only seeing justice if you sue and put all your trauma and drama on display.
We need less opportunists and more mutualists. Less individualists and more collectivists.
Our projects and plans are worth hearing. Anything they've come up with only got us here, to a place of chasms of inequality, violence, extraction, plagiarism, and exploitation.
The peacekeepers, care providers, thought leaders, managers, advisors, reporters, researchers, designers, technologists, publishers, and educators must include us, or they are not for us and they will continue to define a future where we cease to exist.
We can only achieve our mission* if we are the ones telling the story, defining the future, and leading the way.
coFLOWco's mission* is to achieve equal opportunity and economic empowerment by amplifying the strengths, voices, and creative ideas of diverse leaders.
*We want to make work not suck for humanity and work for everybody.
Do you have something to say? Do you have an idea or story we have to hear? What makes you shout "Did you see this?" or "Everyone has to know about this!"?
Leave a comment here or send us a DM on Twitter at or
Why have a white man from England tell us about the latest Abortion SCOTUS debacles? Because John Oliver does not mince words...and because maybe if a white guy in a suit on cable news says it, we have a fighting chance. Just don't get your hopes up people...this battle is going to get rough.
JUNE 6th
The man remained secured to the fence for about 15 minutes until he was removed by authorities. He held up a green bandana with the address of an abortion rights group's website. In a video on the group's Twitter feed, the man identified himself as Guido Reichstadter of Miami and said he was there because Americans' rights were coming under attack.
"I'm doing this as the first step, kind of like throwing down the gauntlet, the first step in a call to the people of America who support abortion rights - and that's the vast majority of us - to step out of inaction and passivity and sitting back and to enter nonviolent resistance," he said.
I am not sure you want to ask that question. You may stumble across things like this...
We shouldn't necessarily want more company involvement other than financial support for the freedom to choose.
Promoting access to personal health education and advocacy, one page at a time. By Chase DiBenedetto on May 6, 2022
Read this: Blog post about the Freedom Summer and activists who went hardcore.
"On what happens when it feels like all hope is lost and the real work begins"
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This is not about Joe. It's not about Biden, Manchin, or my ex from my early 20s. This is about Joe Shmo, the average bro, who has more say over our future than the billions of people who will be suffering in it.
In Manchin's case, I ask daily, how does one man has this much power? He's not even particularly charming, good looking, or smart. Is he especially good at his job? It seems like he's doing everything but his job. Literally his job is to govern and pass laws and protect constituents and the constitution.
Elected Democrats, especially after the orange toilet attempted a coup and election fraud, should want to keep their jobs.
80% of Democrats want the right to choose.
Manchin's lack of support for Biden and the democratic majority is like telling not only his supporters, but over 250 million Americans to go fuck off. Deal with the consequences of sex on your own. We're taking away all access to reproductive care. You have no universal healthcare. Good luck. I don't really care, do you?
And yet, even Manchin isn't the problem. The problem is we have people who are originalists in power, lauding a democratic government that is anything but, as they gut all rights to choose our leadership, or have any say in elections.
They tried to steal an election through gaslighting: saying we were stealing the election. But they are taking so much more: they are taking our voice. How a government spends money or what our representatives legislate on our behalf is everything. If they don't do the will of their constituents, we have no voice.
Per Gloria Steinem, "If we can't vote, we don't exist."
We're invisible but still expected to pay taxes! Why? No taxation without representation.
How is this any different from those who declared independence from England to have a voice and to stop tithing to the monarchy?
If they take our bodies and our votes, we have no recourse, save a violent one, no?
Not only will they have held our votes and vaginas hostage by 2024, they'll have captured the media with good old fashioned dollar bills.
GOPs get that talking heads matter and controlling the news cycle drives policy and decision making. It shouldn't, but it does, and dems refuse to see it.
The GOP keeps saying "we are going to fuck around and find out"āāand then they do. Why are the dems always caught off guard, shocked by their lying, cheating ways?
Roxanne Gay also noted a few days ago in her essay "It's Time to Rage"
"In their joint statement, issued after the Supreme Court leak, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, did not use the word āabortionā even once. President Biden has barely uttered it during his presidency. Itās hard to believe they are as committed as they need to be to protecting a right whose name they dare not speak. Until the Democrats stop lounging in the middle of the political aisle ā where no one is coming to meet them ā nothing will change."
The patriarchy has spent decades and dollars silencing us, writing us out of the story, calling us "nasty" and whores. They strategically got everyone to hate the sound of our (nagging) voices. There's a reason why no one is talking about Tampon shortages. It should be code red (pun intended), but periods are "taboo." Meanwhile, the 2020 Toilet Paper shortage was reported on ad nauseum. No TP, defcon 5. No Tampons? S.O.L.
It's not just Manchin that has us all by the ovaries.
Old white men changed every rule to suit themselves, as they have for 600 years...But this time, they did it "legally" and gerrymandered the whole country, then stacked the court. They also control several women with financial contributions to their campaigns.
There is, of course, Aunt LydiaāehemāI mean Senator Susan Collins, who claims shock that SCOTUS would ever do this. The senate should be forced to vote as the people want. 3/4 of Americans want this freedom. Why do 2 Americans get to take it away?
Maybe she didn't watch enough Handmaid's Tale like the rest of us. Maybe she read too much from Atwood's Guardian Op-ed or listened to too many white women who are complicit in their own oppression. Maybe she ignored the voices of Latinas and Black women, who have never received reproductive healthcare access or quality equal to that of white women.
Or maybe, Corporate Capture, money in politics, and the media have decided what is or isn't justice...because lord knows the average bro, which Kavanaugh is the poster child of, has no business deciding what's fair for our bodies, and apparently enough justices agreed that women's rights were not in fact human rights.
Don't you owe it to your voters, to not be such a tool for the patriarchy?
People like Collins would benefit from listening to the research (but maybe not by reading Atwood's Guardian op-ed which caused outrage when she said Roe being overturned, forcing childbirth was like slavery.)
White women (admittedly I include myself here, if just for a hot minute) did not immediately see the obvious issue with Atwood's piece. Understandably, many ADOS (American descendents of Slavery) women (and allies) were not happy with this comparison.
Whether you like her fiction or not, most pro-choice humans would agree:
We say that women āgive birthā. And mothers who have chosen to be mothers do give birth, and feel it as a gift. But if they have not chosen, birth is not a gift they give; it is an extortion from them against their wills.
But, Atwood's bad take, comparing forced pregnancy and forced childbirth to slavery, is a reminder of why we must not have white women lead this movement alone (including mine).
Her Op-ed got too much attention and detracted from the real issue: patriarchal rule. Pitting women against each other is a deliberate tactic. The fighting between those of us who want reproductive freedom and those demanding reproductive justice is a distraction the patriarchy welcomes.
We end up debating each other rather than aligning because of weak allyship when it's not steeped in deep intersectionality. Meaning: our alignment fails when white women fail to back up the organizing and activist movements started and led by Black and Brown women.
White women cannot be the lead voice of 21st century feminism. Yes, we must all speak up, but white women should always take a beat, listen first, and center other's voices (one reason I published this months later.)
No one wants forced pregnancy. Period.
People already lived the nightmare of zero abortion access and terrible maternal healthcare: the majority of those who were already effed: Black women.
But the reality is that the U.S. has a history of this, along with forced sterilizations, always affecting people from marginalized, oppressed communities. This cannot be forgotten or brushed aside. We must utter this everytime we utter #MeToo.
Instead of being an afterthought, this should be our central argument. Not "We won't go back." as much as we shout "We cannot let this continue." We still have so much progress to make. People have suffered all along, while many white women benefited from the freedom to avoid back alley abortions, forced labor, and granted the privilege to outsource domestic labor.
Truth: More than half our nation's population has ZERO wealth by 2053, median Black household wealth is on a path to hit zero if nothing is done within next 8 years. Projections for 2063 racial minorities will comprise the majority of the nationās population.
Truth: Thanks to gerrymandering, by 2040, 70% of our country will be represented by 30 Senators.
Truth: Out of 35 countries to work while raising a family the U.S. ranks 34th.
Truth: Americans have no universal healthcare, no universal childcare, face cutbacks on all social support systems, have states like Arizona gutting foster care funds,
Truth: Our nation continues to criminalize the poor.
Truth: Our government invests in war machines over vaccines. No stats needed.
Truth: We have less sex education than ever before. Only 6% of High School seniors are taught about using protection.
Truth: Spring 2022 Formula shortages were not prioritized. It took weeks for the government to act, while babies starved.
Truth: Diaper poverty is REAL and awful. "Parents cannot use federal aid to pay for diapers, and are often forced to come up with other solutions, using maxi pads or towels to keep their children clean and dry. In rural America where aid is even harder to access, tiny diaper banks are the only lifeline."
Truth: Period poverty is too.
Truth: We already have legal and illegal forced sterilization in our country for inmates, ICE immigrant detainees, and people with disabilities.
Truth: Inequality keeps growing. Per the latest Fed data, "the top 1% of Americans have a combined net worth of $34.2 trillion (or 30.4% of all household wealth in the U.S.), while the bottom 50% of the population holds just $2.1 trillion combined (or 1.9% of all wealth). 15x more....and white Americans hold nearly 85% of the nationās wealth, versus just 4.1% for Black households."
Oftentimes, when we think about trauma, we think about it in the context of the personal, but we deal with collective traumas all of the time. We are currently in the second year of a collective trauma, a pandemic that, in the United States, has resulted in the deaths of 800,000 people. And most of us have no idea how to grapple with that level of loss, with the fact that nearly a million people have simply disappeared from our daily lives.
There are things that we really do need to sit with and spend more time with to fully make sense of. And so a lot of my current work is about, how do we reckon with these collective traumas?
I am often asked, particularly by young women, how they can be less angry in their writing, as if anger is a bad thing. And what I love to tell these women, and what I also remind myself, is that anger is oftentimes incredibly appropriate when you're writing about sexual violence, misogyny.
All of the issues that feminists are trying to address in our work, anger can be incredibly productive. And I hope to encourage them to find ways to use anger for the greater good and to see it as an asset, rather than a liability.
"The other thing I'll add is most people having abortions are already parenting, they know how hard it is and that there are limited resources. Abortion is a parenting decision." from culture study woman- truth Beth Robinson- Hawaii Life Director of Conservation and Legacy Lands, for now a real estate broker on Moku o Keawe, forever a writer and natural horsemanship advocate
Patriarchy insists on controlling our mouths just as it insists it controls our wombs.
There is nothing polite about white supremacist patriarchy and the zealots it has installed on the Supreme Court, who are about to vote against a medical procedure that the majority of people in the U.S. believe should be the prerogative of the pregnant person.
There is nothing polite or civil about patriarchy.
Who benefits from upholding those social codes? Civility, decorum, manners and the like are used to uphold authority--patriarchy, whiteness, wealth, other forms of privilege--and we are urged to acquiesce in service to maintaining that authority.
We are not obligated to show respect to those in power. I refuse to allow those who don't recognize my full humanity by diminishing my bodily autonomy to expect politeness from me.
What would the world look like if the energy policing mouths and vaginas and wombs was invested instead into policing the very real harm of patriarchal violence? Abortion bans are patriarchal violence.
I'd already been thinking about this Elle Woods quote in Legally Blonde back in 2001 when I saw this piece recirculating on LinkedIn.
In 2017 BBC reported American's scary regression of our reproductive rights. "Texas lawmaker Jessica Farrar wants men fined for masturbating" discusses how Texas House Rep Farrar introduced a bill to criminalize being reckless with sperm via masturbation, but really she did so to show how bull shirt this all is.
"The last straw for her came with the most recent in a string of proposed bills, which she saw as chipping away at women's rights.
The latest wanted to force women to choose whether to bury or cremate the embryonic remains of either a miscarriage or abortion
It's not like we haven't already explored this from every single angle or tried to show their folly. They are perfectly straight faced when they say we have to decide what to do with the remains of a 6 week old fetus.
When Roe falls, there will be a public outcry. And yet the conservative movement has so successfully locked down structural power at nearly every level of government that even the most fervent activism around abortion rights will hit a hard ceiling, at least in the short term. The states are gerrymandered, the courts are stacked, and by 2040, 70 percent of Americans will be represented by just thirty senators.
While abortion rights were being hammered at the state level and the national conversation was becoming ever more vitriolic, where was everyone? For fifty years, women have been relying on reproductive healthcare and rights to participate in the workforce and support themselves and their families. One in four American women will have an abortion during her lifetime. According to a recent study by the New York Times, the typical patient seeking an abortion is already a mother, in her late twenties, and has completed some college. The prevalence of abortion means there isnāt a major business in the entire country that does not profit from the labor, talent, and spending of women who have had abortions. Every union and professional association has members who have relied on abortion care. Every university has students and faculty who have delayed or foregone parenthood to complete their education. Every one of us, whether or not we know it, has benefited from the work, care, and wisdom of people who have had abortions. And yet, despite these facts, nearly everyone has treated abortion rights as a siloed issue.
It wouldnāt have been so impossible for activists to push against abortion stigma had the subject been handled better by major media outlets, which tended to relegate abortion to womenās magazines or cover it as fodder for the horse race. National media covered high-profile court cases after legislation had already passed and it was too late for the public to weigh in. And, when the anti-abortion movement made the patently false claims that abortion causes debilitating regret and depression, infertility, and other complications, many news outlets fell back on false equivalencies and failed to distinguish between anti-abortion activistsā moral objections and their disinformation.
At the same time, leaders across many kinds of institutions failed to acknowledge publicly, openly, and without defensiveness or shame that abortion rights are a necessary condition to womenās participation in civic life. In the landmark 2015 gay marriage case Obergefell v. Hodges, hundreds of businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Facebook, and Google, filed amicus briefs urging the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage. The next year, in a major 2016 Supreme Court case over Texas abortion regulations, it was left to reproductive-rights interest groups, health associations, and individual women lawyers to plead for the importance of abortion rights.
I am not suggesting that big businesses are the ideal agents of social changeāquite the opposite. Instead, I want to underscore that itās emblematic of how our broader culture devalues women that corporations have almost never put their weight on the scale for abortion rights. Last year, after Texas passed its six-week abortion ban, fifty companies including Yelp, Lyft, and Ben & Jerryās signed an open letter opposing the law. That was much too little, much too late. Meanwhile, corporations compensate their lowest-paid workers so insufficiently that financial stressāincluding not having healthcare or stable housingāis a major factor for some people deciding whether or not to continue a pregnancy. At the same time, corporations staffed by educated professionals run on the expertise of people who have delayed or forgone parenthood or limited their number of children in order to finish college and work those jobs. Businesses directly benefit from women limiting their fertility, and yet for decades they have done almost nothing to advocate for reproductive healthcare, as if our collective ability to participate in civic life is an individual concern. The idea that women must shoulder their fertility as an individual problem is so pervasive that itās the water weāre swimming in, and we can barely see it.
"After Dobbs is decided, itās all but guaranteed that thousands more people will need assistance to get to abortion providers. Activists are poised to help, but theyāre already unable to meet all the existing need. If abortion becomes illegal in wide regions of the countryāas it probably willāand if the majority of Americans who support legal abortion continue to take for granted the myriad ways reproductive freedom has provided an invisible bedrock for our society, weāre going to repeat the failures of the past forty years. In post-Roe America, the struggle for reproductive justice cannot be someone elseās problem. "
Building businesses from the ground up requires intention, and that starts with the tools we use and businesses we support. We don't want to give Bezos or Google any more of our information, ideas, or money, but divesting from Big Tech takes big intentions.
coFLOWco reviews SaaS companies who are doing something innovative without exploiting our data, labor, or our wallets.
We are avid beta testers: we're always on the lookout for the next creator, ed-tech, or community tool to help us find our collective flow.
We amplify business leaders who are committed to improving workflows, creating access, and helping creators, founders, and social impact leaders work more fun.
Consumers drive overall business trends. Solopreneurs and small businesses make up the majority of businesses. Collectively, "We the people" can shift the economy. If you doubt it look at the recent resurgence of unions.
Have an tech product or startup we should know about.
āWhat makes these protests different is children are much more visibly present, displaying a bold determination to defy the establishment and ask for a better future for themselves,ā said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty Internationalās deputy director for Middle East and North Africa. āAnd they are using all the tools of repression at their disposal to crack down on them.ā
Amnesty International said it had documented 33 cases of minors killed in the uprising, but the real numbers are likely higher. Iran-focused rights groups and the association for teachers say the number is closer to 50.
Lawyers and rights activists estimate that 500 to 1,000 minors are in detention with no clarity on how many are held in adult prisons.
Democracy Now Interview with NYT Op-Ed journalist Hoda Katebi
Iranian's internet has been throttled. People are begging to get messages out so reposting does do something. It's not everything but it is adding to the cacophony of voices demanding an end to human rights abuses.
"Women! Life! Freedom!" Iranian Women Lead Nationwide Protests
āThe New York Times keeps UKRAINE front and center most days. It took a week before the Iranian conflict made the front page, and likely longer but by the time it did hit the front page, their government had ratched up the punishments for speaking out.
"When the Womenās March took place in Washington, D.C., in 2017, I was happy to join. Along with the rest I chanted: āMy body, my choice.ā Some women might well choose to veil their faces and bodies in accordance with their religious or cultural beliefs ā but that should be a matter of their own choice, not a rule imposed by the whips and clubs of men. Yet Western women seem only too happy to succumb to the standards dictated by the male tyrants in countries such as Afghanistan and Iran."
Don't feel you have to be the expert. Repost, reshare, and link to credible sources on the topic. Filling the feed helps push the truth out.
In my experience, small business CEOs and founders fall into one of two camps with money. We're either the operations/project management-type, allotting for every dollar, or the creative/strategist-type, worrying less about the price of stickies and more about what's written on them. Depending on the day, you may have to be one or the other.
If you're lucky, you have the cushion to ignore the finance details and stay focused on the big picture. Regardless of your attitude to risk, debt, or your P&L, it's possible you haven't given where you bank or your credit card choices much attention. (Privilege plays its part here, but let's table that...for now.)
Despite what pro-capitalists will tell you, there isn't just one right approach to handle finances, nor is there only one business model you must adhere to. If you consider yourself a social entrepreneur, an anti-racist, sustainability and equity advocate, you already think differently and prioritize social and environmental impact over profit.
To be authentic in your "business for good" leaders must be holistic and transparent with money above all else. Yet, only a fraction of bigger companies voluntarily track EEOC data. Transparency is hardly their strong suit.
What drives your choice in where you bank? Here is is one area everyone can affect the global economic system. We must literally put our money where our mouths are, and move it to small, local, independent banks.
In this Inflation Nation, we have to look beyond interest rates when deciding which bank to deposit checks and run payroll from. Don't be fooled by headlines that "small banks are failing." Your money is insured up to $250k, and your safer at a local community or black owned bank-and better yet, at a credit union.
Does it matter who holds your hard-earned revenue? Absolutely. This should be your first big money move as a founder after you incorporate or set up your LLC.
Why? Because, climate change.
āIn the six years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the worldās 60 largest private sector banks financed fossil fuels with USD $4.6 trillion.ā
More reasons I choose to bank as much as possible with Local Banks and Credit Unions (CU's) include:
Local Banks and CUās DO NOT fund big oil.
Local Banks and CUās DO NOT kowtow to conservatives.
Local Banks and CUās DO NOT use my money as a loan for the 1%.
āThe four largest US banks (Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo) poured more than $210 billion into the fossil fuel industry in 2019 alone, accelerating an already dire climate crisis.ā Bank for Good
Local Banks and CUās DO NOT hurt the climate.
The report "Banking on Climate Crisis, Fossil Fuel Finance report, 2021" shows how U.S. banks are tiny in comparison to other state banks like China but "they disproportionately bankroll fossil fuels." Not only that, Citibank is just one example of these Big Banks seeking investments to expand extracting fossil fuels, increasing petroleum production.
Who do Big Banks love help out first in an economic crisis? The little guys? We wish!
Who does the government send money to first in an economic crisis? Big Banks.
Big Banks gave preferential treatment to their wealthiest clients and large businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program.
It wasnāt until credit unions, community banks and online lenders were added to the Small Business Administrationās roster of financial institutions that the loans flowed to those in most need. The importance of the community-focused lenders such as community development financial institutions (CDFIs) became so apparent that when the PPP portal reopened at the beginning of 2021, CDFIs were granted an exclusive access period. As of June 2021, these institutions have deployed close to $15 billion in PPP loans. ā Glaring omission in climate policy: Community financial institutions - The Hill
Need another reason to bank small? Big Banks do NOT care about small businesses or solopreneurs.
Local Banks and CUās saved small businesses during the Pandemic and until their help, small businesses received virtually zero federal money from the CARES Act and PPP.
They also flagrantly discriminate with lending and racial profile those who need their money fast. Big banks have a big racism problem which harms loyal customers like this gentleman, grieving a parent, and simply trying to cash a check for funeral expenses.
Despite large U.S. banks being tiny compared to other global banks, such as those headquartered in China, they disproportionately bankroll fossil fuels. It was these same banks that gave preferential treatment to their wealthiest clients and large businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program that emerged to help businesses sustain the economy.
What's worse? Billionaires who claimed massive tax deductions qualified and took PPP loans. Don't be fooled.Only SOME of them returned the money and acknowledged the error, when the media called it out.
"ProPublica found 270 taxpayers who collectively disclosed $5.7 billion in income, according to their previous tax return, but who were able to deploy deductions at such a massive scale that they qualified for stimulus checks. All listed negative net incomes on tax returns."
The wealthiest Americans reported negative income (pure B.S. tax razzle dazzle) which led to more negative outcomes for small businesses, negative impacts on our planet, and greater wealth inequality. Federal money was passed back and forth through Big Banks, and they keep on doing it now.
Our representatives prefer big banks with consolidated power, despite the incredible impact credit unions and local banks can have for small businesses.
If the companies who invest and bank with the places that support fossil fuels, they are creating a bigger opportunity for banks to fund and loan to big oil.
It's not just your banking choices that impact carbon emissions. It's companies you use everyday to get work done in a capitalist society. Tech Companies are the biggest contributors to climate change, but not necessarily with their own operations.
āFor some of the worldās largest companies, including Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce, their cash and investments are their largest source of emissions. In fact, for Alphabet, Meta, and PayPal, the emissions generated by their cash and investments (financed emissions) exceed all their other emissions combined.
That means for a company like Microsoft, in 2021 the emissions generated by the companyās $130 billion in cash and investments were comparable to the cumulative emissions generated by the manufacturing, transporting, and use of every Microsoft product in the world.ā https://www.carbonbankroll.com/
Let's consider how our individual money impacts this mishegaas. Example, I pay $30/month to LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft. I do so through the App store so no doubt Apple takes 30%. For $20, I get shadow banned whenever I try and make a living or post about work.
Linkedin wants me (all of us) to buy Ads to boost my post. Somehow, most of my Big Tech, Big Bank, and Big Oil posts get 1/4 of the impressions (I can't imagine why?!) As a result my engagement goes down after each one for weeks till I build back up with more banal content. Meanwhile they use my money to loan to a bank like Bank of America who loans it to Exxon. Sweet, right? FML.
"Researchers selected the companies featured in this report to illuminate the magnitude of corporate cash and investment emissions and to highlight how companiesā climate accomplishments are being undermined by a misaligned financial system that is channeling hundreds of billions of corporate U.S. dollars into the carbon-intensive sectors driving the climate crisis.
...A comprehensive breakdown of the methodology used to calculate the emissions each companyās banking practices generate can be found in the Appendix."
āBanks play a foundational role determining our climate and economic future by taking short-term money and investing it in long-term infrastructure. Presently, too much of that infrastructure is furthering the climate crisis. The longer this situation persists, the more challenging it becomes to achieve global climate goals. As a result, by passively enabling their cash and investments to finance carbon-intensive sectors and infrastructure, companies have been unintentionally funding a future they are working tirelessly to avoid.
Conventional banking has not worked for businesses led by anyone other than those led by white men. PPP loans stats proved this beyond a shadow of a doubt. By design, using Big Banks also contributes to systemic racism and wealth inequality because you are supporting inequitable institutions and because climate change and pollution impacts Black and Brown communities much more than white communities.
"So you have a big idea, you start your business and you want to take this fledgeling product to the next level. Typically, youād go through a āstandardā funding journey. First, youād turn to your closest allies for the friends-and-family round where they can support you before youāre able to prove yourself to creditors or funders. After that, you either turn to the traditional financial system for a loan, or to venture capital firms for backing." āā Cristina DĆaz Borda
But, we know this doesn't work for the 98% of white women and 99.9% of Black women who do NOT get VC funding. Not only are they looking at speed to get money to those who need it, using local banks and credit unions. They're exploring a different lending model based on character, not Credit Scores, another racist and sexist part of finance.
In addition to Common Future, Policy Link has explored the impact of bank access and predatory lending on Black and Brown communities. It bears repeating here that a lack of inclusive financing is one more reason to skip these banks. Climate, racial, economic, and gender are inextricably linked.
It is not going to get better unless people take bigger moves to halt climate change. As they point out in "Thereās No Cheap Way to Deal With the Climate Crisis-Warming will bring enormous economic costs."
āWeāre going to be burning money just to adapt...Just the status quo is going to start costing us more.ā
Six banks ā Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, BNP Paribas, SunTrust, US Bank, and Wells Fargo ā have provided major financing to the two main private prison companies, helping them expand, diversify the ways they profit from imprisoning people, and lobby for harsher criminal penalties and stricter enforcement of immigration laws.
Being poor is g.d. expensive. Knowing this doesn't do much for poor people who still have roadblocks keeping them broke and oppressed.
"Those with low- and moderate-incomes face numerous barriers to accessing regulated, low-cost, financial services that could improve their financial footing."
Predatory lending practices ensure that poor people, (1/2 are people of color) pay BIG TIME in some way, especially with banking access.
giving loans people can't afford (especially before the 2008 housing bubble burst)
late fees for credit cards, SaaS platforms, mobile phones
reconnection/ reinstatement fees
fees for overdrafts.
PLEASE explain to me how this system has been in place so long? Only in the last decade is Congress even talking about this.
Why do those who run out of money get charged more money to then be further out of money?
Example: My credit card autopay was declined. My bank (a local credit union mind you) charged me $10 for the 1st attempt to pay, $10 for the second...before I even knew anything was amiss. When I had more money in my account, those fees were either covered or only $2, but when I am month to month, thanks to clients Net-45 and paying my people on time, I am out fees constantly. Society shames people who can't pay bills on time as if we don't want to or have a mental deficit that means we are less worthy, and charges us a tax for our "stupidity" or inability to make things work. Of course, the opposite is true. Their stupidity led to the belief that poor = lazy or incompetent. We are smarter and more resourceful with money. We understand The Economy better than a NY Times Economy "expert." Being wealthy does not make you wiser, but it does make you healthier.
If people can't get approved for traditional banking, they remain unbanked or underbanked.
unbanked: no member of the household has a checking or savings account
Low credit scores and low cash flow forced the unbanked into AFS, alternative financial services (AFS) which include:
underbanked: someone in the household has an account, but they still rely on high-cost AFS
check cashing, payday lending
pawn shop loans, rent-to-own
Buy now, pay later (BNPL)
Big banks are incentivised to be predatory because it's more lucrative. Poor customers pay fees instead of building up a savings, (with AFS options charging up to 400% APR.)
"In 2017, the unbanked and underbanked LMI populations, and those with little or no credit history, spent more than $173 billion in fees and interest for AFS."
Americans unbanked and underbanked include:
63 million adults
47% Black households (nearly 1/2!)
43% Latina households
More than half (54%) of [those in poverty] are people of color.
Almost 1/3rd (96 million) of adults live on income of 200% below the federal poverty guideline (which is not even a good guide. It's an outdated metric never intended as a long term usage and keeps people working at jobs with unlivable wages.
The above May 2021 report "follows up the Asset Building Policy Networkās (ABPN) 2014 Banking in Color" and looks into the experiences within LMI communities of color with financial institutions.
Fringe borrowing, as noted in "Health Affairs" From Payday Loans To Pawnshops: Fringe Banking, The Unbanked, And Health does not require credit checks...which immediately places the person borrowing in a precarious position, used for an emergency that quickly balloons when that loan's APR is 400-600% of the balance.
Not surprisingly this is terrible for your health, where fringe loans were "associated with 38% higher prevalence of poor or fair health, while being unbanked (not having oneās own bank account)" increased the prevalence of poor/fair health by 17%.
As Health Affairs noted, the solution is not to fix the impacts from poor health but to address systemic inequality by "expanding social welfare programs and labor protections would address the root causes of the use of fringe services and advance health equity."
More than this, the United Nations and World Bank predict that there will be between 140 and 200 million climate refugees by 2050 as continued warming leads to increasingly frequent and intense natural disasters.
A recent report from the APA (American Psychological Association) published in October 2022 shows just how much of a wreck our country is financially.
"Money is causing stress for 72% of Americans," and this doesn't account for those without digital access. The virtual Harris Poll survey was conducted in English and Spanish on behalf of the APA.
Americans who are already the most underbanked and underfunded, who don't speak English or Spanish, or who have no wifi were left out. Missing huge swaths of the population relevant to this data is why we can't have nice things. 72% is probably low.
Per a different study from Bank Rate & Psych Central, "42% of U.S. adults say that money negatively impacts their mental health."
If we continue to claim that Big Banks (fueled by Big Tech, Big Oil, and an even bigger military budget) can solve our financial woes, we are ignoring more than one elephant in the room.
We cannot "build business for good" if we ignore the negative social and emotional impacts that a lack of banking and finance options can cause. As the same study, whose takeaways feel suspiciously conservative observed,
"Everything from dealing with debt to managing money was linked to a decline in psychological well-being, leading to such outcomes as anxiety, stress, worrisome thoughts, loss of sleep and depression."
A lot, actually, but not through less Starbucks or saving more. Systemic economic inequality cannot be fixed overnight. Remember how Bernie was always ranting about "breaking up the banks"? This is why.
Still, there are policies you can support and money moves you can make IF you have some, especially if you are a small business owner and social entrepreneur.
"Conventional banking hasn't worked for businesses owned by people of color. But a new network is designed to get money flowing fairly to BIPOC economies."
Why? Credit scores are racist.
This makes it easier for Big Banks to be racist when it comes to lending for small businesses and home mortgages.
While banks pay out a few hundred million to make racial discrimination lawsuits disappear, we need systemic changes to the way banks finance communities already impacted more by pollution and climate change. It predicates the need to change not only using big banks, but the lending practices themselves that still impact Black and Latina families at credit unions (by far less).
Where can you bank instead?
Community banks: Where we bank matters
It's not easy! For more on why it's hard to escape Big Banks, read the report below: Breaking up with Bad Banks-from ACRE (Action Center on Race and the Economy)
If you care about the climate and systemic wealth inequalities due to systemic racism...move your money elsewhere and dig in DEEP to what the companies you support are doing with your money.
Seek alternative financing, avoid debt, especially VC money that forces a quick exit. Keep your budgets and compensation structures transparent. Prioritize people and planet over profit by taking your money out of Big Banks and investing more in Black businesses and keeping your money in Black-owned banks and coops.
Founders make a million decisions all day, often stretching a bank accounts and our bodies beyond capacity. One decision I have always felt great about? Being a member of a local Credit Union, and not just a consumer, feels good, confident I am doing business differently where it starts: money. We can't stop capitalism, but we can stop financing is at scale. Bank small; Collectively our small moves can make a big impact!
Ask anyone who has ever struggled to pay rent or build a business. Money is stressful and emotional. Pretending it doesn't exist is what the Big Banks are doing with climate change. We can do better than throwing up our hands. Make a plan at BankForGood.org. Find your bank, set a date, and start moving your money. Not ready yet? You can sign up for reminders to do it in the future. A budget is more than some numbers on a spreadsheet. It's your story. What will your story be?
Originally published on Medium and The Good Men Project
I met LaKay Cornell on the Ladies Get Paid Slack in 2019, and though she has been for much longer, she declared herself a writer. Thanks to meeting Lakay early on in my solopreneurship, I found my voice and made the same declaration. She validated that I was worth listening tooāāāTHANK YOU!āāāand something everyone needs.
She did so again in this piece last year, whichāāāshe does not knowāāāI have read several times. She probably thinks few have seen it, and maybe that brings her down. Reading the piece, youāll see this thought is meta.
Itās not just the Medium stats or the challenges with other social media sites that make it hard. She grew up as a woman in America, and that alone makes it easy to be worn the hell out from trying to be heard.
š„Hot Tip: Leave comments for writers, share, quote, and always give credit! Lakayās piece might be long, even by my standards, but you will blow right through it. Why? Lakay is speaking to you, and me, and Audre Lorde as she navigates the hard side of being a creator and empath in a difficult world built for neurotypical white men.
She writes poetically, as she often does, and I was immediately sucked in. Her deeply personal storytelling, interesting and intentional grammar rule-breaking, and her way of weaving in culture and connecting ideas past and present can have that effect.
Another reason you will be hooked: Lakay knows her voice and it rarely waversāāāsomething all creators, leaders, and brands should be jealous of, and many probably are. I have come a long way in finding my voice, but still have so much to learn about owning it and using it unapologetically.
Talking about culture, feelings, and ideas that have value, is important work. Doing so unpaid, for a long time, can be quite depressingāāāsomething Lakayās piece articulates well. Publishing all our heartfelt, well-researched, interesting thoughts for not much more than a teeny dopamine hit sucks. Itās a wonder that working in patriarchal capitalism is not always fulfilling, no?
Sarcasm aside, āpostingā is not always an easy or quick process, and itās usually unpaid work for āThe Man.ā (If youāre lucky a whopping $9.16 Stripe payment is headed your way this month from Medium). Even thinking about that is more emotional labor, labor with a high cost that remains invisible and unrewarded too. We wish we could care less. As creators and social justice dreamers, we spend our āfree timeā caring for others. With little to show for it we get the feeling we are invisible. We who live under the weight of living in a manās world spend our time strategizing, plotting, and planning what will make the world better for everyone. We do this on top of doing ALL THE THINGS, especially more care and domestic work, for less pay. We wish we had more help, too.
Reading Lakayās piece about finding work with purpose in a world designed for us to fail, I was struck by how this wears on the soulā¦the very one dying to create against all odds. It also somehow (sadly) makes the work better, but I refuse to glamorize the struggles of the starving artist; people deserve compensation for their creative labor too.
Having something to say and having it seemingly fall on deaf ears can be soul crushingā¦Publishing ideas on the internet is like telling a kid to pick up their coat for the 200th time. You think they canāt hear you, that theyāre not listening because you keep shouting into a void.
But you know they can hear. The truth is, the internet has got dog ears, especially the big dogs. Iāve had times when I feel like no one is listening.
Does this sound familiar: 3+ hours to write a post. Find the best pic. Schedule it at the optimal time. Tag just the right person, pick the perfect hashtag. Hit Publishā¦
2 likes from your mom and partner, (if they even read it this time)?
We lament if we should give up already, and thereās no shame in quitting. With no āengagementā to speak of, except from your karass (from Vonnegut; it essentially means āyour peopleā) or occasional hater, self-doubt creeps in.
All the negativity makes you wonder: āMaybe my ideas arenāt that good after all?ā Somehow deep down you still KNOW your work is more than good. You know it and they know itā¦āThe people will come Ray,ā and they sure do.
The reality is while we feel invisibleā¦ they are listening, a lot. āThe Powers That Beā are taking what we have to say to the bank. They debate your points before figuring out how to spin it as their own. For their concept or product they got $1.3 million in a seed round, investment-worthy ideas they got from you. Sure, they didnāt hear that from us.
For plausible deniability, they must feign ignorance, but people are listening. Theyāre reading. Pressing play. Taking note. Synthesizing. Lifting our ideas and throwing them into academic journals, pitch decks, highly SEO-ed blog posts, Twitter threads, and McKinseyās Insights.
One regular reader outspoken women and non-binary writers have is the bro troll. These detractors find ways to disagree with statements like āWomen are paid lessā or āOur voices are not valued and respected.ā Oh the irony! Theyāre showing up to bicker for attention while, intentionally or not, they start to absorb your content. (At least they boost your signal?)
Bigger organizations with tons of cash pay consultants to surf the web for new ideas. They spend all damn day listening to you. Culture and Business āexpertsā are reading your work tooā¦they arenāt amplifying, sharing, or boosting because your ideaāāāitās about to be expertly repackaged.
They hold back any support or kudos but theyāre ready with tons of virtual high fives for another CEO bro who posted āFuck Hustle Culture. People should rest,ā and is suddenly a genius. (The credit for that, by the way, goes to the creator of The Nap Ministry and Black women activists, not the guy in Seattle claiming he invented fair pay.)
āThought Leadersā and Brand experts show up to a Clubhouse or Spaces with an entourage, saying a few things that sound awfully familiar about building inclusive brands.
(True story.) After their talking points, a highly paid person(ality) who drew a crowd, evaded answering an audience question: āWho is one woman of color in the brand or startup space you follow or we should know about?ā Heās stumped. Asked to back up his soundbites with substance, and coming up empty, his handler pops in to remind him they āreally do have to go. One more question.ā
This is THE guy? He is innovative? He is the expert on branding, and teamwork, and brains in the workplace, and creating cultures of inclusion, and following your Why!?? Why?! WHY AM I SHOUTING?
Meanwhile, we gifted the world (and these guys) the roadmap to saving the planet and humanity, as we try and claw our way out of another hole, the result of their āinnovations.ā
We get rejection after rejection, yet keep building ābootstrappedā businesses by leaning on partners or borrowing from family, if we even have that luxury. Others put our vision on hold as we care for others (especially moms).
A lot of us try to make it work, but ultimately weāre forced to go work for The Man again. We donāt have much of a choice. We need insurance (in a pandemic). We need income to cover rent and our small business loan. We also need to get some goddamn sleep.
We apply to hundreds of jobs with demoralizing interviews. We get a job and instead of growing our own brand, we give discounts to give our thoughts away at scale, sometimes under someone elseās name. Some of us end up living in a car with a dog, putting a kid through college, applying for jobs from coffee shops.
Ironically, while we fit our brilliance around everyone else, they have significantly more time to think. They can problem solve for hours. They have the privilege of sitting at a desk instead of hiding in the bathroom for uninterrupted time. We work in fits and starts losing weeks (years) of sleep.
Yet, they get to live and sleep and rest and run and f&%k and parent and dream without the added dread of fitting in paid workā¦because theyāre writing with income through book advances. Weāre lucky if we get advanced notice we did not qualify, once again.
Men donāt get DMs to be a guest on yet another podcast, āpaid in exposure.ā Men get to think and speak and write as their only job. Theyāre employed by large donors and Think Tanks, musing all day on what would make the world even betterā¦for them. Men get the credit.
The kicker: we have the answers to problems they created, and they grab them and say yoink and weāre too tired and too insignificant (in the eyes of the algorithm Gods) to have any recourse.
We write as if weāre Hamilton daily, because we actually are running out of time, again. Itās almost pick up, dinner, time to call your mom, time to post, to send that email and birthday invite and time to pack for a household to take a āvacationā when you know itās really a trip.
We do this for free because we really are that passionate about our mission (dismantling the very $%it we write about. Itās so damn meta. Oh they lifted that word too to use as a name brand. Meta was stolen from a small business to cover up huge corrupt failures. Whatās that saying about when people show you who they are?)
As I said before, the Takers gonna take. Let them. We know in our hearts our words are worthy; our ideas are innovative; our art is beautiful. As much as we wish we didnāt give a crap, the fact that we care is a feature not a bug. One day all this āworkā and caring will pay off. Until then, if you find our work, credit us and pay up. Better yet, hire us first.
---------
Emily Weltman is a writer, social entrepreneur, and intersectional feminist Leading with Purpose and founder of Collective Flow Consulting and the FLOWLab and cofounder of Rage 2 Rainbows.
For more on gender, racial, and economic justice, and ideas on reinventing the workplace: subscribe + follow + sign up.
Collective Flow Publishing Co. supports "Social Tech for Good"
Hot Tip: With Heyday, you really can close all of your tabs. No really...you don't need to keep the tabs in your brain open anymore. You're welcome (not that I can take credit).
Rating: I have to turn it up to 11. This may be my favorite app ever.
Why I like it:
I can't oversell this workflow hack enough. I am not being glib when I say I am obsessed.
I beta test the crap out of everything. If only people would pay me! (I heard there's an app for that. It's on my to-do list.)
If I had one productivity tool to use for the rest of my days, and you made me get rid of all my others I would be fine. Heyday is my number one go-to SaaS winner of the year. This may get my vote for the best app ever invented, as long as they keep the features I love.š
Granted the plug in in chrome is what is making my life easier, but it's the fact that it's working anytime I am behind the scenes. It makes me feel like I have a research assistant, something my neurodivergent brain desperately needed before I found Heyday. Fun facts: I was almost afraid to share this app because it's like my secret weapon/brain hack. And then I was like, that is ridiculous, and also not how I work...at all! I am an over-sharer, especially with great tools and resources. When I find something I love I am a brand ambassador and tell everyone I can about your amazing biz.
Me wanting to keep it for myself tells you just how enamored I am with Heyday XYZ; it was that precious to me when I started using it last summer. I shared about it in the first few issues of the HOT LIST (launched back in December).
I couldn't just tweet about it. My fave tool deserves a full on Em report. So, here my verbose, yet engaging thorough design and user feedback long-form review of Heyday.
Meet Heyday, your research helping hand.
Heyday automatically saves your research, and resurfaces it when you need it.
Our lawyers told us we canāt say that it gives you a photographic memory. ;)
Heyday (originally called Journal app) is a SaaS browser plug-in, desktop, and mobile app that that when installed saves everything you look at and click on. It has a powerful search index; as a researcher and internet spelunker I feel was so needed, with how much Google's sucks these days.
Along the way, they have added some new features like article summaries, youtube video summaries (so rad!) and highlights so share quotes and remember stuff without having to copy/paste to other docs (though, I still do for now).
For a while, these guys started out with a combo of a browser organizer and notion documentation and it had a cool motion visual: every time you opened a new browser window a linear bubble would prompt you to breathe (and it really worked on me since I hold my breath constantly). That said, it took up way too much memory, but was a really nice change from the boring Google search bar.
They moved away from a journal app and embraced the thing they're really good at: saving your content so you can find it later. In previous versions, you could create different views and add documents or notes-like Notion Lite, but the whole experience has been simplified, and while I was hesitant to see features go, they made the right call.
You can grow your body of sources around subjects and themes and assign them "topics" (previous versions called it Spaces, but it's basically the same except simplified for faster, easier assigning/tagging via topic.
The best "new" feature that showed up late in their beta/early in the paid version is this handy reminder when using Google search! You get to see what you already found on the subject. The first time this happened, I think I fainted.š¤Æ
Google something and see what you already found on the subject! Forgot you were already looking at that last week?
Heyday didn't.
How to know if this App is right for you. (This checklist also applies to The HOT LIST, our members-only newsletter created just for creators, founders, and solopreneurs who want all the info and have none of the time.)
When you do research, do you save your deep dives?
Do you look at a variety of sources or always go to the same 3 websites/news outlets?
What defines "content" and how do you track it?
Ever want to share an article your read last month, but you have a more visual memory and can only remember the header image?
Do you save data sets or screenshots and have folders in disarray?
700 tabs every day? Afraid to close them?
Love sorting things into buckets (what I call them) or groups, themes?
Think Google Search sucks now?
Are you a connector with ideas and information, (this is how we build neural pathways and remember/learn things btw), finding the thread and connections between someone's post from today and a tweet from last summer?
Samiur Rahman and Sam DeBrule are super nice and approachable...but also totally buttoned up.
Community: The co-founders and their way of building this product with the community are rad. They have a good tag team thing going, with Sam on community and Samuir on product. They are listening and meeting with those who are highly invested in their beta.
They are into highlighting and connecting creators with a growing Slack. Not super active but not dead and Sam keeps updates around the product coming. It's clear everyone that's a deep fan is rooting for them. The sentiment got more serious since they went to a paid version and the community doubled.
On their Slack, "Every week top creators join our community for AMAs." They past ones are organized and easy to find -how on brand ;). You can read about every creator so far and join their community (if you love the app) here.
Besides the AMAs and Sam's Twitter stream, it's still a nascent, fast-growing group. From like 100 to ~4000 in the few months since I joined.
The shares and posts are getting a bit heavy on bros but I have not even jumped in much yet. For now, I am a lurker.
Note to HQ: Please create community guidelines so that one channel isn't 2 "creators" sharing all their Medium posts. And so you can ensure it's more than a help desk with griping beta testers. Need help? I might know who can help with that. ;)
Follow Sam here for solid creator-economy and tech tweets in storytelling format.
Personally, the workspaces channel don't resonate like they do with the majority of the community. I am old, I have kids. My workspaces are often not my own. People love sharing photos of their home setups and it's sweet to share our "workplaces" but not really relevant to the product and there are probably additional ways to engage with this ND crowd.
Brand Design/Voice: Their new branding is fire! I love the green on twitter-very ownable and unique. Love the hands and color palette. Feels very versatile and fun and just an all-around strong brand ID for a startup that does not feel like everyone else's in SV. Big fan of the lighthearted, personable brand voice. Doesn't feel overly gendered, academic, or SV tech bro.
Performance/ Productivity: When Heyday was still called Journal, it had this awesome feature. When you loaded a new browser page it had nature imagery and encouraged you to breathe. It was awesome BUT ironically, it made my fan go 24/7. For me it was not a deal breaker. I really need a new macbook anyway.
If Heyday could prevent me from still opening 2 dozen tabs, then theyād be brain hackers and I might be scared. They're not magicians.
What the app did do however was prevent me from freaking out if I have to close them all at once, if my computer dies because I forgot to charge it, or if I want to remember that one article about that one thing and cannot remember anything but the source, writer, or imagery.
For my brain, cleaning before starting a new project is not only necessary, but a ritual. Now, I can try and get through all my open work, but if I have to start fresh, I force quit Chrome and voila.
For me productivity in a capitalist sense is NOT the goal. But in a I didn't lose that thing because I forgot where I put it, I do care and HeyDay very much fixes that problem.
Inclusion: Co-founder Samuir is neurodivergent; they created this tool and modified based on how ADHD brains work and because filing your research sucks.
Side Note: Completely off topic, but not for me...I went DEEP on the design studio they hired to do their branding. Evidently, it was the same studio that did Hillary's campaign Hā”ļø. Know what else I found out? The agency is two white guys. Not that their work is not the bomb or notable; it is! But this is your reminder to hire diverse creatives and studios! Especially if your Hillary Clinton, but also if you're a startup. Lift each other's boats!
Challenges:
The features I love in beta are not all carrying over as they shift directions. That said, this is not a problem really. They are focused on doing one thing very well and I would concur that is where they, and most product platforms and SaaS should focus.
The features I love are the part this app saves you from anyway! The tedious tasks of folders and tags and organizing are not necessary for you to find stuff. (I really liked spaces and they just changed that to Topics which I am less jazzed about. The jury is out there but so far their product decisions have been solid.)
I wish I could escape Googleās g.d. grips but the chrome extensions are lifesavers. And Heydayās hits it out of the park!! They do have them on other search engines, as Fast Co was quick to point out.
NOT to be confused with Heyday.ai which is something else entirely. (Reminder to SaaS founders to do a deep dive on your handles and urls/naming).
I wish I could sync it to Gitbook and Canva like I do Google Docs. THEN Iād really have a record of my brain.
My motives are not always 100% altruistic in promoting new tech platforms and businesses.
With so many new SaaS tools for creators being released daily, there are a lot of opportunities to change tech for the better.
Occasionally when I beta test or dig into a company, I end up finding more synergy. This is the case with Heyday but it is not why I chose to highlight them first.
I chose them because it's coFLOWco's freaking mission:
Our mission* is to achieve equal opportunity and economic empowerment by amplifying the strengths, voices, and creative ideas of diverse leaders.
I chose them because the founders didn't send me an email to eff off because I had some feedback and offered to share it.
HeyDay is truly a game-changer, especially for creators, writers, and educators who love to share knowledge, tools, and tips with their creator communities (like me)! Happy searching.
Itās a relief to know that wherever I talk with others (Slack, email), the notes of our convos or some part of my research will take me less than 5 minutes to find, if that. I donāt need to tag or file it or worry where it lives, but if I doā¦even better.
For now, I can die happy searching, reading, and jumping around the web with wild abandon till the sun comes up. There's always more to learn...but first, a nap.
Previously published on The Ascent on medium
Emily O. Weltman, September 19, 2020
āIf you donāt vote, you donāt exist.ā ā Gloria Steinem
American freedoms have yet to be universal. As benefactors of the patriarchy, white women have contributed to the persistence of white supremacy. We have aided in the oppression of others for several hundred years. This country was not created in our image; white women worshiped it anyway.
Discriminatory practices persist like the layer of mycellium over our planet, touching everything. Antiquated racist and sexist policies stand. If the patriarchy is the microbial layer, racism is the earthās core.
100 years ago, Black women suffragists fought for us all to exist. Let that sink in. A century ago, only years after slavery ended, Black women chose to help white women win our freedom. They did so despite white womenās persistent mistreatment.
100 years ago, Black women suffragists fought for us all to exist.
In 1920, after taking care of our homes and families, they marched with us. Black suffragists taught white women movement-building tricks. The Patriarchy used tricks of their own (poll taxes, āgrandfather clauses,ā literacy tests) to prevent new voters, (tactics invented in the 1870s to prevent votes from freed Black Men).
White menās fear tactics, like lynching, successfully suppressed votes again. But many Black women voted anyway, before being disenfranchised for decades by racist, sexist, and classist laws. Fannie Williams, a Black suffragist, taught Missouri women how to get around roadblocks meant to stop their vote. The results: ānearly every woman in the city, Black or white, registered that season,ā (National Geographic, 2020).
Survival, persistence, and resilience in activism all came from Black suffragists like Ida B. Wells. Black women knew they would not benefit equally from their emotional and physical labor; they stood by us anyway. That is allyship.
After the 19th Amendment, most white women went back home as our nation repeated its offenses. As Kimberly Jones put it, ā[They] are lucky what Black people are seeking is equality and not revenge!ā Indeed, we are lucky. Despite exhaustion and ābroken social contractsā, they battled injustice again and again.
Black women like Pauli Murray, Adelene McBean, Irene Morgan, Jo Ann Robinson, Sarah Louise Keys, (and many more) worked to simply sit beside us. Until 1956, they spent another 36 years forced to sit in back on public transportation, (Civil Rights Teaching, Hipkins). We were not moved by this injustice.
In 1963, women like Joan Trumpauer sat with āsteadfast, non-violent courageā at lunch counters to fight for Black women to eat by our side. They were dragged down and beaten but got back up, (Civil Rights Movement Archive).
Later that year, Black Americanās joined MLK at the Freedom March in Washington D.C. Their demands for equality led to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
In the decades to follow, progress was made; but the dream was not achieved.
āThe 1970 Womenās Strike for Equality was the largest womenās rights demonstration since the era of suffrage ā and more inclusive than anything that had been seen before.āāThe New York Times
In the 1970s and 80s, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an ACLU lawyer, won 5 landmark cases on equality before the Supreme Court. In 1993 she was confirmed as a judge, and ābelieved that the law was gender-blind and all groups were entitled to equal rights.ā Her work overturned laws that benefited all women (History.com, 2020).
RBG was not perfect, but she was a pioneer for civil rights. She brought people with her, listened, and learned. She corrected mistakes. Can all women say the same?
In 2016, over half of white women failed us all. Thanks to myopic views of equality, the struggle for Black women to simply exist continues.
In 2020, more white women have been moved. In Portland, (a liberal sanctuary city), moms lined up in solidarity to protect BLM protesters from federal troops. Sadly, too many white women still missed the point.
We must stop showing up only when our gender is threatened.
Itās truly remarkable how quickly times change, yet how long progress takes.
In August, Black Lives Matter was chanted across the country. A new generation stood in solidarity for racial justice in front of the Lincoln Memorial, picking up the fight from their grandparents. Yet, 57 years after the Freedom March, inequality remains a national emergency.
āThere is no civil rights movement, no #MeToo movement and certainly no Black Lives Matter movement without brave Black women. When Black women championed equality for the least of these, they championed for us all.āāKellie Carter Jackson
Itās truly remarkable how quickly times change, yet how long progress takes. All summer white women declared Black Lives Matter. Did we mean it?
In the weeks to come, the evidence will be in our actions. Anti-racist voters can choose with their money, time, and ballots. Listen to Kamala and ārecommit to fight for [RBGās] legacy,ā and the legacy of all suffragists.
Tweets are not enough. As Tuck Woodstock noted, āPortlanders unable to take to the streets have also created roles from themselves within the [BLM] movement.ā Begin making reparations, often without leaving the house.
Donāt just study the true history of being Black in America; use it to act.
Pay BIPOC creators and artists, via Venmo, cash app, or āBuy me a Coffeeā links. It is appropriate and more than welcome to pay them for their labor.
Spend at local Black women-owned businesses and share lists like these.
Follow and pay Black independent journalists and photographers.
Fulfill urgent needs from mutual aid orgs like Snack Bloc and the Rural Project of Oregon.
Donate supplies to local activations. (Refer to local lists requesting individual needs like this one).
Give to local Black-led organizations like Donāt Shoot PDX or the Black Resilience Fund whose efforts directly help Black communities.
Support Black candidates: Volunteer, canvas, and finance grassroots campaigns.
Fight for Black womenās suffrage. Bring them to the polls or watch their kids so they can go vote.
How many times have we declared Black Lives Matter? In the weeks to come, our actions will determine if we truly mean it.
Most of all, stop centering. Use our privilege to center Black womenās cause and pass the mic. They clearly deserve the power to fix things.
We can no longer claim we are The Best. This land of freedom and opportunity is losing big time. A recent report placed the U.S. 31st for Human rights violations out of 35 nations, partly from systemic racism (Forbes, July 2020). While touting out choices, we are ācontinuously ranked as one of the worldās worst countries for women and girls,ā (Leading with Purpose: A Womanifesto, 2019).
Ideologically, Americans hold democracyās free vote on a pedestal, a panacea to avoid dictatorships.
Ideologically, Americans hold free elections on a pedestal, a panacea to avoid dictatorships. We often oversee the first āfreeā elections of these āliberatedā nations when spreading democracy. Yet democracy in the U.S. is not ideal. We rank 26th of 32 countries from abysmal voter turnout (Pew Research, 2018).
In 2018 the largest turnout since 1914 helped elect progressives. According to the Electability Myth, from 2015ā2019 women increased 9% in elected positions and only 1% were Black women. Midterm elections are evidence: functioning democracies can course correct.
Grassroots campaigns proved progress is possible. But, with a Blue Wave still short of impeaching #45 in both the House and Senate, that āprogressā was not nearly enough.
āThe right to vote is something most Americans hold as sacred. But the Constitution is clear on the matter. Although the 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments say voting rights can no longer be limited based on race, color, prior status as a slave, sex, or age, none of these amendments affirmatively state that a citizen of this country will be allowed to vote.ā ā Caleb Gayle, Boston Globe
States, he continued, have āsignificant discretion to establish specific eligibility qualifications to cast a ballot.ā Basically, they can bypass ārightsā to suit their ideology.
Loopholes from a century ago, created to prevent votes from Black Americans drag on, preventing millions of votes today. In Florida, prisoners won their right to vote. So Republicans found a workaround, which the Supreme Court refused to intervene in the case āparticularly fraught with partisan overtones.ā Voters rights 0; The supremacy 1.
More than halfway through the āLast 100 Days,ā our upcoming election looks nothing like the democracy we pedal globally. Gerrymandering and epic USPS interference seem to all but guarantee an election that is anything but free or fair.
Dictatorship feels imminent. Voter suppression is at a fever pitch.
As Martha S. Jones, whose recent book on the history of Black womenās fight for equality and voting, notes, āThe history of the 19th Amendment is more than a myth; it is a cautionary tale for our own time.ā
In addition, Jones points out, no one is actually guaranteed the right to vote by the U.S. Constitution (National Geographic, August 2020). With all 27 constitutional amendments, equality is also a myth.
By default, our democracy is anti-woman and anti-black. White men exist; everyone else has been a footnote. America was built for one purpose: to make money for white men. Itās why our president focuses on economic recovery while lying about job losses.
Stories about our founder's fight for freedom against tyranny are equally false. The independence sought was primarily economic: to avoid taxes. (Ironically, the current leader of the free world is acting like a ruthless king and avoiding his taxes.)
By default, our democracy is anti-woman and anti-black. White men exist; everyone else has been a footnote.
Faced with a history of half-truths, and our present-day election nightmares, I did not celebrate āwinningā the vote. Instead, like the 4th of July, I commemorated the 19th amendment with reflections. I acknowledged our nationās gross missteps which continue to disenfranchise Black families. I reminded myself, and my kids: In America, āfreedomā is conditional.
All over the constitution, our oppression is written by omission. Article II, Section I states āPower shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Officeā¦ā Womenās existence was never considered. Elsewhere, articles talk about taxing human beings. How can anyone āamendā a White Supremacist Patriarchy?
Letty Cottin Pogrebinās poetic words perfectly describe why we continue to be plagued, even now. āMindful of that history, I know enough to not underestimate the stranglehold of patriarchal institutions and death grip of male hegemony.ā
The judges and juries that define human rights are not our peers. We are born, live, work, vote, and raise children in these patriarchal institutionās āstrangleholdā. Each part of the system favors white privilege and is rigged. It keeps marginalized people subservient, with fewer resources, unpaid Board Membership, Jury Duty, Public School funding tied to property tax.
This same system led a known āpussy grabberā to win the countryās highest office. This system and its ādue processā allowed a sexual predator to face zero consequences; instead, he was appointed to our highest Court. After defending himself through rage-filled indignation, he is now the gatekeeper of our Constitution and the last chance we have protecting our rights to choose.
Patriarchy led to a virus out of control. One, because a misogynist worried wearing a mask made him look weak. And two, systemic racism led to worse health and economic outcomes for Black Americans. Thanks to persistent cis-male āhegemonyā (dominant social, economic, and political culture) 200,000 Americans have perished from Covid-19. Compounding problems from discrimination led Black Americans to represent disproportionately high numbers.
100 years later, with three Amendments addressing gender and race, America continues its death grip, because racismās roots have never been addressed.
When do we declare āEnough!ā and actually deal with it? Itās time to shift power to Black women. Start protecting our most marginalized populations. America: Timeās Up.
Our planet is in peril and our souls just as fragile. Losses keep coming. The fear over reproductive rights is not abstract (with forced hysterectomies and limiting access to birth control).
With the world literally going up in flames, we all need something, anything, to remind us, our existence matters. 2020 is not lost. Change can still happen. There is hope. Progress is possible. We need to believe this to keep fighting, together.
Progress often challenges the status quo. Moreover, it requires groups to align their efforts with a common purpose. Oregonian women, specifically, have a great deal of collective power. According to The Womxnās Foundation of Oregon, we vote more than men statewide, and more than most women nationally.
The patriarchyās narrative to counter our collective power: Your votes wonāt count. Nationally, theyāve sown doubt about election fraud.
In Portland, we are told we must not risk splitting the votes for mayor; stick with the progressive white woman on the ballot. How is that progress? If we default to choices created by a biased process primary, without listening to Black women now, we are complicit in continuing colonization. As Token Rose said in her Op-Ed: āItās funny, people like to dismiss write-in candidates as a āprotest vote,ā but after the events of May, we are all protesters now. We cannot allow an establishment politician or any other savior to co-opt this movement.ā
What now?
Do we listen to a defeated voice inside saying āItās already over; fascism is hereā? A white guy tweeting about rational choices, gaslighting us in plain view?
Not today ladies, gentlemen, and nonbinary citizens. Our options are not as limited as this system would have us believe. We choose. We know who should lead. We vote and act for Black Lives, come hell or high water.
Our democracy is hanging by a thread; so are we. The pandemic is out of control; we feel that too. But, now is not the time to retreat, shrink, or sleep.
Our democracy is hanging by a thread; so are we.
Itās time for reinvention and radical change. Take cues once again from Black activists who recognize why democracy is broken and how to fix it.
Black women like Jessica Byrd, founder of the Electoral Justice Project at the Movement for Black Lives can āreinvigorate democracyā with solutions not found āin traditional party politics, which asks us to hold our nose when we cast a ballot.ā
Progress means a more inclusive, responsive co-governance that engages marginalized communities. Representation matters because āthe electoral system [is] binary; the entry points are two doors expected to fit the voices and policy needs of hundreds of millions of multiracial constituents.ā
White privilege can no longer be a weapon to diminish others; it must be used to concede power to the ones who lifted us first. As several famous Black change-agents said, āWe are the ones weāve been waiting for.ā
White privilege can no longer be a weapon to diminish others; it must be used to concede power to the ones who lifted us first.
Compensate activists for teaching safety and providing care. Listen to organizers; know your rights; come prepared.
Participate in your neighborhood association.
Follow the Community Charter Review process in PDX.
Join and ensure boards hear from the most marginalized, then act accordingly. (Often when BIPOC women join these organizations, they do lots of invisible labor and still end up ignored.)
Vote for the Black activist candidate for Portland mayor. Write-in Teressa Raiford.
Follow endorsements of Black Lives Matter with updates from BLMās #WhatMatters2020.
Challenge broken systems, however large. Question everything, including voter suppression tactics.
Take your mail-in ballots directly to collection sites or mail-in early.
āPledge to Voteā on progressive issues that help Black Americans.
Donate to Oregon Justice Resource Center for reform and support legal services for BIPOC citizens.
Check out this comprehensive list of organizations working to ensure voting access. Give to movement builders like POPMOB.
Share information about election tallying. 45 intends to rush a call before all votes are counted.
Election results will likely be challenged. Make a family plan should 45 refuse to concede.
Document abuses of power from authorities as evidence to support prosecuting misuses of force or teargas.
If harmed, join class-action lawsuits to hold officers accountable.
Challenge every racist rule, one by one, as Pauli Murray, RBG, and others did for sexist and gendered laws for over half a century.
I will not squander my chance to make an impact, however small.
I decide how I exist, not the patriarchy. That is my human right.
While I still have āpermissionā my vote is my power. (Whether that vote gets counted remains to be seen.)
I decide how I exist, not the patriarchy. That is my human right.
We wouldnāt be where we are today without Black womenās ideas, paving the way for equality. Itās time white women act accordingly. We can and should scream āthe house is on fireā, as Black women did first.
Like civil rights leaders before us, we must fight for Black womenās rights. Fight for their freedom, not more privilege for ourselves. As Teressa Raiford said: āIf we elect another [white] person we donāt trust then thatās the same outcome.ā
White women must ādo the workā including questioning bias, self-examination, and reflection.
Channel your rage against the patriarchy and show up for Black lives.
Always listen to Black voices for guidance first (not only from books).
Give them the floor. Quote them often; credit them, always.
We wouldnāt be where we are today without them. Itās time white women act accordingly.
We show everyone: we are suffragists.
We stand up. We say, āI exist.ā
We stand up for our communities as Black women did for us.
We stand with others simply to serve and support their needs.
We do not sit by while the existence of Black people is snuffed out and hard-won freedoms are annihilated.
We persevere when we are ready to quit. We leverage every tool available until we are all equal.
We lift up others. Lift every voice. (If youāre white and donāt know what this is, google it).
If this democracy is to survive another 100 years it must serve and represent everyone.
Giving up is not an option. Period.
Black women, as Carter said, follow a ālong legacy of Black women who built America.ā I stand on the shoulder of my ancestors, Jewish women like Ginsburg, fighting for justice. With her passing, I commit to continue her legacy. I will use my dying breath to stand up for ALL women.
As Janelle Monae said, āThe baton has been passed to us. I will keep fighting in your honor.ā
Do you still doubt one voice matters? Question the feasibility of collective action to create progress or write-ins campaigns? Ask yourself why.
What patriarchal rules do we still believe cannot be broken? Which rules no longer apply?
What is āelectableā or ālikableā or ānormalā or āprofessionalā or āangryā or āproperā? Whose rules define ābelongingā or a ācultural fitā?
Why do I question my right to be counted?
Why do we still define other women or our own ability by standards created by slave-owning white men and complicit white women 400 years ago?
Holding anyone to completely broken sexist, racist standards is not simply unfair; it is unjust.
If American democracy is to survive another 100 years, it must represent and serve everyone.
White women: stop assuming we know better. Donāt expect anyone to conform to only white-able-body-cis-male ways of being in this world.
Learn from Black women. Protect Black activists in danger, like Ragina Gray. Protect Black women like Dawn Wooten who speak out and get censored.
Stop policing made-up boundaries of political imagination.
Listen to AOC: āWe donāt give up when people need us most. Thatās not who we are.ā
What will you do?
In case you hadnāt noticed, we are all running out of time.
Emily is a writer, advocate, and entrepreneur. She is the founder of coFLOWco, a social enterprise consultancy, building the Future of Work grounded in gender equality and racial justice. Emily āLeads with Purposeā because the patriarchy isnāt going to fix itself.
Emily O. Weltman, March 31, 2022
Itās a sticky position: caught between healthcare, the Feds, Big Pharma, capitalism, The President, and Americans wellbeing. It looks like youāve been set up to fail since Day 1, pushed into a job you werenāt sure you even wanted.
No one above you seems to have your back. Biden and Fauci still expect you to act like a good ācompany manā and are nonplussed whenever you donāt toe the line. Itās a safe bet youāve been bullied by more than one person, possibly to make statements you donāt agree with.
Even when you stand your ground ā to work hybrid flying back from Atlanta to your family or hire your own advisors ā and still somehow manage to protect their precious economy, they throw you under the bus.
The New York Times noted, āBiden has presided over a series of messaging failures that have followed a familiar pattern, with Dr. Walensky and her team making what experts say are largely sound decisions, but fumbling in communicating them to America.ā
Repeated by every outlet this past January, they emphasize your lack of government experience, (as if that were bad ā our government is nothing to celebrate at the moment.) CNN echoed youāre āa well-regarded infectious diseases expert with no prior government experience, [who is] now responsible for explaining that decision and other Covid-19 guidance both in public and in briefings with top White House officials.ā
They went on to say āDuring Fridayās briefing, Walensky said that she is working to improve the quality of the agencyās communication with the public.ā
How is that going so far? The virus doesnāt care; neither do most Americans.
I cannot stand the narrative the media spins about you, repeatedly centering āno prior government experienceā when freaking Donald Trump sat in the oval office, winning on a message of ādraining the swampā and vowing to bring in outsiders. The sexism is blatant (and the antisemitism, more subtle, but ever-present.)
The CDC has become the butt of too many jokes. When Trump gutted it like he gutted all essential government agencies, he made that fairly easy. Itās not like Americans had oodles of confidence with the CDC before Coronavirus.
āWhat the CDC does isnāt trying to make a product more appealing to a theoretical consumer. Itās to help save lives, to keep people from unnecessarily dying from this awful virus. Walensky isnāt hocking the āShamWowā; she is a medical doctor telling America how to stay safe.
The problem then isnāt āmarketing.ā Itās clear communication on, literally, a matter of life and death.āāErie News, January 2022
With a pandemic that became partisan, being inclusive can be hard. But, if your Q1 2022 media blitz was supposed to be an opportunity to provide clarity to everyone in Americaā¦ whoops.
Like all women in high positions, you cannot win. What now?
For the remainder of your tenure, however short lived that may be, letās explore an alternative approach.
Just as itās hard for you to watch people ignore science, or for men to push stupid healthcare policies to save The Market, I cringe watching repeated comms and PR debacles. When I see smart women in leadership āfumblingā I cannot sit on my hands.
Why do I care where you spend your budget or who your advisors are? Like you I am smart and practical. Like you I donāt shy away from an impossible job.
Personally, I am invested in seeing you succeed, as a woman, a Jew, a mom, and as a neurodivergent, chronically ill American citizen with multiple invisible disabilities. I donāt want long covid (though I probably already have it) because I already have many of the symptoms and problems associated with autoimmune diseases.
I want to make an impact, too. We both know rebuilding an org that the last administration completely abandoned is tough. We know what itās like to fight to be heard, even when weāve been saying the right thing. And, you know as well as I do, without funding, mission-driven work doesnāt happen.
I too have a visceral need to shout, āPlease listen to the experts; not political pundits or strategists.ā
As a designer passionate about accessibility and the āFuture of Workā I want all Americans to have safe, healthy, and inclusive workplaces.
The social and environmental impacts of using weak messaging, backed up by moderate policies, funded by wealthy (white) institutions passing money back and forth will not help you. It will not help Americans. It will not save our democracy. We the people and our planet deserve to survive, and thrive.
You want people to see you, hear you, and act accordingly. Donāt we all? You must build respect through education, not just PR. We excel at having the hard conversations. We center the most vulnerable and embed equity and inclusion into all content and every action.
Itās not too late to leave a legacy and a story you are proud of, but it will take some investment and even more chutzpah.
Before a solid campaign, like Wellbee from the 1960s, the CDC needs a full brand refresh, starting with the basics: audit and review all content. Redo the core messaging: mission, vision, and values. Truthfully, itās way past time for an overhaul of all of the CDCās content, the full website, and social media, looking at everything from accessibility to visual language.
Donāt skip over the āPledge to the American People.ā To shift your communications (and beliefs) to meet this Pledge, you need to make some significant updates to graphic design, social media strategy, UX, and ensure conscious, inclusive language is used throughout. Youāll also probably have to change policies, but letās focus on brand communications for today.
Image from āWe Were Thereā video series on CDC.gov
The CDC needs a full and deep brand and business audit to review key documents still easily downloadable with outdated information. Most importantly, to remedy the confusion that continues to plague its credibility, the CDC needs an entirely new Communications Strategy.
I am an SME (subject matter expert) and know a lot about communications. My expertise lies in words ā just ask my mom. Jokes aside, I can help you level up the messaging externally and provide clarity on messaging externally.
As your advisor I would ensure obnoxious men who think they know better were aligned on your message before you put yourself on the line. I can navigate the most patriarchal of agencies and the hardest of DEI conversations: I worked in Advertising for š¦ sake.
To be clear, I am not a marketing person. People donāt hire me to sell their ideas. They hire me to tell their story so their ideas sell themselves. As a social entrepreneur and brand strategy consultant, I help authentically build justice into every organization.
After conducting a light Discovery phase, reading through a great deal of CDC content and listening to you speak, I have gathered a ton of valuable observations and created a quick list of suggested areas to revisit and revamp.
First and foremost, you must start by acknowledging that everyoneās life is equally valuable; then shift the CDCās content to support that.
Of course, I prefer you hire me for my valuable perspective and experience before I do what women always do: give any more ideas away and labor for free trying to prove weāre qualified.
Second, stop hiring the well-connected in Washington D.C.
To communicate with Americans you donāt need a DC political strategist with a pedigree similar to yours, any more than Biden did for his State of the Union. A moderate approach to this will not work.
Sure the CDC has money to keep McKinsey consultants gainfully employed, leading its pandemic communications. The same management consultancies and establishment guided every decision for our government based on The Market. Every aspect of our future was not decided from a wellness lens, but a Wall Street one.
You need someone to help you bridge the academic world and the real world; move from PhD language to IRL language.
If you are serious about building trust between Americans and Americaās public health industrial complex, hire new consultants. Period.
Third, align the CDCās mission and brand communications, moving from purpose and PR to policy and practice.
You have a unique opportunity to not only fix a broken institution and improve healthcare, but improve the mental and physical health of the 99% of Americans who work for small businesses (many with no healthcare).
Fourth, decide what the CDC as an org really does; decide who it serves. You cannot have a successful company or civic entity when itās unclear who your primary customer is: Big Pharma or all Americans.
Fifth, use your budget to help those left behind by bad economic practices of the previous administration. The CDC is a very well funded part of the federal government. As the Director, you can use procurement to shift dollars and help the SBA fund diverse small businesses as promised.
We are an SBA Certified Woman-owned business and registered on SAM.gov. Had it not been for a Global Pandemic setting us back a year, we would be B Corp certified. We are experts in designing for inclusion and accessibility. Many of our partners have DMBE certifications and have passed all Federal A11y training.
Are you ready to define your Value Proposition, revise your Mission Statement, and audit all of the CDCs digital communications? Do you want a fresh visual language that disrupts the monotony of the CDCs sad Twitter feed?
Want a new brand guide with all your comms policies and documents in one place? Need all of your websites pages around communications, policies, and mission updated where needed by 2024?
Want to reimagine healthcare communications and design at the CDC?
Hire us first.
We believe access is a right, digital safety is needed, and media literacy is a must.
Together, we are collectively curating content and amplifying creators that move us closer to a Social and Solidarity Economy.
For additional Journalism ethics, we are still processing and deliberating where we stand on bias in the media and who decides which piece is "Opinion" vs. facts...This currently seems highly subjective and mostly facts are written by white patriarchy capitalism and social justice facts are called "opinions."
Until we can take the above and co-create our own Code of Ethics, we will use this as our guide. We cannot say we follow it 100% of the time but we are reviewing this and other journalism ethics policies.
CFPC is co-creating our vision for a more equitable publishing ecosystem. We want to remove gate keeping, and go beyond academia and peer review to prioritize content directly from those with non-traditional backgrounds and pedigree. We respect lived experience as worthy knowledge and collaborate with other communities of writers, journalists, researchers, and fellow new media.
Access to Information
Data Privacy
Media Literacy
Representation
Transparency
Agency & Accountability
Center the Collective
Compensation & Pay Parity
Independent
Truth
1. Media must be democratized and digital access equitable. Essential information for democracy, safety, and wellbeing cannot be paywalled.
2. Your data is yours; privacy is a right.
3. Media literacy is a prerequisite and foundational for a digital age. Teaching it is the responsibility of the media.
4. Representation and centering the community ensures better storytelling. Own your narrative.
5. Financial transparency is required for economic equality.
6. Agency and accountability are features of sovereignty and solidarity.
7. Ethical tech should serve the good of the Collective and not individual gains.
8. Knowledge work is work; our labor is not a favor. Pay creators, reporters, writers, researchers, journalists, media etc. Content is work. Devaluing certain kinds of creating and research over academic, peer-reviewed, pedigree perpetuates class struggle.
9. Research and reporting must remain independent; money should never limit truth-telling.
10. Exposing corruption and hypocrisy is essential for a just society and sustainable planet.
Through consulting, community, creation, research, and speaking, we are changing the narrative. We are redefining our relationship with labor, building a solidarity economy, and designing the future of work, starting with documentation. We are industry agnostic because the siloing of knowledge is what got us here. Can the old guard design the Future of Work? All evidence points to NO. This is your story. We help you tell it.
Consider WHY you are writing and researching to begin with.
"This guidebook is based off of one singular premise: If evidence matters, we must care how it gets made."
"Why Am I Always Being Researched? is one contribution to the collective work of envisioning a more equitable world. It is not intended to be used to generate shame, judgment, or performance. It is not a measuring stick to prove one point of view is āgreater thanā or āless than,ā or that one individual or group is āthe problem.ā The practice embraces voices furthest from institutional power as intrinsically valuable. This is not about embracing community voice when it is a means to an endācompleting a checklist, improving a reputation, helping in a grant applicationāand being unwilling to listen when voices are not saying what we wish to hear. Please do not weaponize the principles here. Freedom lies in the other direction. This is a journey towards more authentic truths. For all of us. Starting with us. This is about ourselves, noticing differently, standing in relationship differently, taking actions within our control, however small or big, and seeing the next step unfold for us. Let us encourage one another and look for the joy in this journey. There is a lot of it."
Emily is a graduate of the 50 Women Can Change the World: Journalism 2020 cohort (Take the Lead) and a passionate advocate for new media, open source collaborations, and accessible design. She is a member of Womenās Funding Network and a board member of Inclusive by Design.
Support Black researchers with funding and cite their research.
Sponsor writers and content creators through patreon.
When you realize you've been re-posting and commenting on their stuff all week, send venmo, paypal, buymeacoffee, kofi.
Provide pro bono services and reduced community fairs for those with the need. Do NOT assume all Black people have a need. This is about payback and actively contributing to economic justice, not "helping the poor."
Support crowdfunding campaigns for Black startups and creative projects.
Read Black authors. Buy their damn books!
Have a list of speakers and people to refer to...Refuse to participate in an article, panel, conference or research team that is all white. Decline the invite and provide them other options, or say you'll do it if so-and-so joins too.
Make sure they get paid. Advocate for your team to get raises and make sure the Black people on your team are making the same as the white people.
Hire a person from the Global Majority for your next project. What for? Hire them to edit, design, code, do data analysis, marketing, PR, content, video, social media, copywriting...and scientists, doctors, therapists, teachers, tutors, lawyers, coaches) because WTAF that is a ridiculous question. Black people can do anything anyone else can...duh!
Subscribe to their podcasts.
GIVE CREDIT ALWAYS. Cite and quote Black people oftenāānot just when discussing race or racism!!
Share their work and check bylines.
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Kara Smith: Writer. Producer. Executive Coaching and Strategic Consultant.
Jupiter Stone:
Lisa Hurley and Elizabeth Leiba: Co-founders of The Great Exhale community launching Juneteenth. Creators, entrepreneurs, experts in marketing and education respectively. Centering the Black experience and Black voices in a new startup community and publishing platform.
Directory of Black and other Global Majority change consultants, coaches, and academics - June 8, 2023
Where can you bank instead of the big banks who won't lend to Black founders? Put your money in Black-owned banks and credit unions.
The public ran out of patience around by Spring 2021. in your job.
Consider your job is talking to people, not at them, and far more often. Put another way, āOne problem is, the CDC usually functions more like an academic institution, excelling at producing detailed reports months after an outbreak or episode. It wasnāt built to provide real-time analyses or communicate complicated, fast-moving science to the public.ā ā
As Bidenās transition advisor for the Covid-19 response, Celine Gounder, said, āā¦one of the most important tools of public health is communication with the public and explaining the whyā¦This isnāt just the CDC ā¦ our government is stuck in this very outmoded sort of antiquated approach, which is more about public relations than it is about real communication and education.ā ā
āā (with its horrible graphic and military typeface) is one of many examples of outdated content. How can you usher in the āFuture of Workā at the CDC with a series like this? It lacks any compassion or accountability for the CDCs many past mistakes. No shade, but it feels like an intern created it.
content covers a broad range of topics because work is as intersectional as we are. Writers and creators produce work grounded in truth, justice, and artistic, personal expression.
Our 10 Principles for Publishing Justice are a WIP (work in progress). We were inspired by the and the work of
Additionally, we want to shout out or colleague Farzin Farhad of Critical Equity Consulting, with Sara Farooqi and Shiva Roofeh, for their work on the "."
is a member of AuthenTech, Good Market Global, Catalyst 2030, and a coop member-owner of Zebras Unite.
Emily is also a signatory of the Womenās Empowerment Principles (WEPs), part of the U.N. Global Compact and a signatory of the and member of .
Portland, Oregon* + beyond.
First and foremost, , the brain child of Erin Corrine Johnson: and .
Madison Butler: . Subscribe to her newsletter. And check out the amazing list of talented people in and other curated lists.
: Writer of Sharon's Anti-racism newsletter. . Buy her book, , too. She's also co-founder of , whose aiming to empower others to lead the way to equality, via a leadership development programme, the . Hire them!
K MatÄotama Strohl: They are a creator who does "work in psychological safety, mental health advocacy and boundary strategy for people who share my identities or lived experiences. I am Black, SÄmoan, Queer, Trans and a disabled veteran." Host of the podcast. .
Pharoah Bolding: "The Worldās Greatest Comic Drawinā HR Consultant"...
And 's fantastic curated lists of Black consultants and DEI experts on LinkedIn.
: Look for Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs)ā "MDI is a formal federal designation for banks or credit unions that are either owned or directed primarily by African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, or Native Americans. Minority depository institutions serve their communities by making a greater percentage of their home mortgage and small-business loans to minority and low-income borrowers than other financial institutions do."
#BankBlack
Choose community banks and bank small. It matters not only to communities but to the climate.
From last June: .
For a longer list of ways to support Black women and non-binary people, see the end of our Spring 2022 Writers Hot List and from "" published in The Ascent ahead of the 2020 election.
It's worth noting two things on this yougov data and information sharing:
The questions are around what makes a Jew in American's eyes.
YouGov is an international research data and analytics group headquartered in London. AND YouGov data is regularly referenced by the press worldwide and we are the most quoted market research source in the UK.
So, not American.
"There are not enough Jewish Americans represented in the poll to reliably measure their opinions on the specific subject of anti-Semitism. But it is worth noting that throughout all weeks of polling on President Trump, Jews are significantly less positive about the President than Americans overall."
The images on all of the data are completely inaccessible. No alt text on static and the dynamic charts use a complex dropdown to toggle through questions. No way a screen reader could do that.
Like every community, we deserve to be the ones to voice and report on our own issues, but in a world where we at most make up 2% of the population, that is not often the case. The majority of Jewish papers, I would argue, are read by Jews. I doubt my friends could name any liberal or conservative publications that are written for Jewish readers.
It's worth noting two things on this yougov data and information sharing:
The questions are around what makes a Jew in American's eyes.
YouGov is an international research data and analytics group headquartered in London. AND YouGov data is regularly referenced by the press worldwide and we are the most quoted market research source in the UK.
So, not American.
"There are not enough Jewish Americans represented in the poll to reliably measure their opinions on the specific subject of anti-Semitism. But it is worth noting that throughout all weeks of polling on President Trump, Jews are significantly less positive about the President than Americans overall."
The images on all of the data are completely inaccessible. No alt text on static and the dynamic charts use a complex dropdown to toggle through questions. No way a screen reader could do that.
Like every community, we deserve to be the ones to voice and report on our own issues, but in a world where we at most make up 2% of the population, that is not often the case. The majority of Jewish papers, I would argue, are read by Jews. I doubt my friends could name any liberal or conservative publications that are written for Jewish readers.
https://coflowco.com/blog
The Beauty of The Collective: Preventing Founder Burnout.
6/7/22 Emily Weltman
Startups and solopreneurs donāt have the luxury to hire 10 peopleāeven 1 is a stretch. BUT we can invest a little more so we donāt keep doing it all ourselves and burnout. Not sure where to start? We got you.
3/17/22 Emily Weltman
When deciding which alternative business model to choose or new tech product to use, your mission needs to be crystal clear. It's worth revisitingā¦ or you will struggle constantly trying to ābuild a business for good.ā Whoās good? Who does it benefit? Does it harm anyone?
3/16/22 Emily Weltman
Todayās rant is brought to you by the letter P.
P is for Pay Day. Today is āWomenās Equal Pay Day (if the data is not disaggregated by race)ā¦Itās not, as I understood it to be, white womenās Equal Pay Day. Who is the default?
Emily Weltman 3/8/22
An #IWD2022 Message from Em. We cannot continue to take a moderate position on racism, GBV, economic inequality, or climate change. There is no middle ground with right and wrong. Women and girls (and non-binary too) are always the most impacted.
Emily Weltman 2/17/22
A recent LinkedIn post by Daniel Smith, MBA, founder of Keepingly.io inspired me to share more of the research I do. In this article I explore Pitchbookās list of 66 Black Founders and poke holes in the āwin.ā
Emily Weltman 2/4/22
Final Friday thought because I want to end on a note about Black History month. We are not doing a major campaign because we can't do everything. We would rather as a small team focus on the authentic ways we are showing up and improve them so Black people can simply be themselves.
Emily Weltman 2/3/22
A welcome message and a note. We need people. We canāt do it aloneā¦and we need to stop trying to. Instead, we need to ask for help and trust in the power of the Collectiveā¦Before I start singing Barbra Streisand, letās hear more about these two rad people in their own words.
Emily Weltman 12/14/21
Your work is part of your story, but itās not the whole story. Whatās memorable are the anecdotes, the small moments that make meaning. The why and who-not just facts, but findings. Discoveries over deliverables.
Emily Weltman 11/10/21
There is always a number. "What's your budget?" is not a complicated question but it brings up so many feels. Yes, I said feels because money is inextricably tied to our hearts and minds. People get funny around money and privilege plays a big role.
Emily Weltman 9/5/21 Emily Weltman 9/5/21
This Labor Day, consider who defines "normal working hours" and āprofessional.ā Capitalism taught us all to overwork. Don't let others pressure you. Take your PTO. Be unavailable. No one can dictate what works for you. A 32-hour workweek sounds solid, but donāt subscribe to any one-size-fits-all work schedule.
Emily Weltman 8/9/21
Discrimination & harassment still run rampant in orgs touting diverse teams. The growth & hiring boom right now is mostly for white men. Pay inequity and wealth grasp are growing.
This is our WHY. When you start seeing injustice everywhere, it's like every day is a "Monday" (fighting for a world of summer Fridays).
Emily Weltman 8/7/21
I am proud to share Philanthropy Impact Magazine published my piece in their 3-part summer series. āSupporting Social Entrepreneurs Is Integral To Supporting Social Change: A U.S.Perspectiveā covers why itās essential to fund MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises) to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). (Re: Give more, faster.)
Hereās some extra context on the SDGs and what Philanthropy Impact wonāt talk about. Please read, share, and let us know what you think!
Emily Weltman 7/1/21
Truth. Americaās hidden history is hard to hear, hard to witness. For victims of colonization and racism, honestly, things are far worse. Celebrate freedom, but donāt ignore the facts.
Use the day to tell the truth. If we acknowledge that the current state of capitalism is just raping and pillaging in a suit and tie, then maybe we can move beyond a corporate culture born out of toxic masculinity, rape culture, and White Supremacy.
Emily Weltman 5/27/21
We have vaccines so technically we are in the future. But, the post-pandemic workplace emerging feels exactly the same for way too many people (toxic, stressful, unfulfilling, high rates of burnout, fake, and all about money). Why? By and large, the ones creating āThe Futureā are the same ones that created the past. Spoiler alert: Itās everyoneās favorite āoppressedā majority: white men.
Emily Weltman 3/8/21
ā¦When COVID-19 hit it was like shining a magnifying glass on every single thing I had written about. And then, schools closed. I kept telling my partner, āI am having an existential crisis.ā How can I be writing about and fighting for gender equality when at home, my partner works 9-5 and I am in charge of homeschooling because he had the job with insurance?
Emily Weltman 11/20/20
Iām not breaking up with LinkedIn yet, but the spark is gone. But this post isnāt really a Dear John letter. Itās more of a Dear Dana oneāin solidarity, thanks, and hope, from one writer to another.
Emily Weltman 11/4/20
This April 30th Medium Post feels as relevant as ever, post-2020 Election Day. As we wait for results remember, we have been here before. āNow, when learning about racial or gender inequality due to the pandemic, I experience many things. Shock is not one of them.ā
Emily Weltman 10/30/20 Emily Weltman 10/30/20
Starting a business is like a revolution. We want to improve the lives of everyone through entrepreneurship. We want women to know their worth and speak their truth. My truth? I am a writer.
Emily Weltman 5/30/20
Updates on our progress towards becoming a radically inclusive workplace. We're on our way with new interns, new policies, business development, and journalism(?)!
Emily Weltman 2/18/20
We want to be safe at work, at home, and in our individuality. Fair pay for equal work is a minimum. We know the stats and have the tools to create more equitable, inclusive workplaces.
Emily Weltman 1/7/20
We've launched! Starting in 2019, coFLOWco takes on gender parity, racial justice, and economic empowerment...one small business at a time.
Like the Onion, Reductress, or McSweeney's, but not.
Laugh so we don't cry.
Flip the Script.
"This is fine."
Before Justice Brown took her oath, the court also signaled the end of the federal government as we know it.
In the past, the Supreme Court has operated on the basis of āstare decisis,ā which literally means āto stand by things decided.ā The purpose of that principle is to make changes incrementally so the law stays consistent and evenly applied, which promotes social stability. On occasion, the court does break precedent, notably in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision, which overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that rubber stamped racial segregation. When that sort of a major change happens, both the court and elected officials work hard to explain that they are changing the law to make it more in line with our Constitution, and to move people along with that change.
Then they killed the planet...really.
Guns and prayer and abortion got most of the attention. But that's not all the Court did.
(list from twitter thread courtesy of Jason P. Steed)
Rivas-Villegas -- SCOTUS reversed the lower court to give a cop qualified immunity for using excessive force
Tahlequah v. Bond -- SCOTUS reversed the lower court to give a cop qualified immunity for killing a man
Shoop v. Twyford -- SCOTUS made it harder to get habeas relief
Brown v. Davenport -- SCOTUS made it harder to get habeas relief
Shinn v. Ramirez -- SCOTUS made it harder to get habeas relief
Zubaydah -- SCOTUS allowed the Govt to withhold information about torture on CIA black sites
Vaello-Madero -- SCOTUS denied SS benefits to residents of Puerto Rico
Cummings -- SCOTUS disallowed recovery for emotional-distress damages in civil rights lawsuits
Patel -- SCOTUS stripped federal courts of jurisdiction to review fact issues in immigration proceedings
Biden v. Missouri -- SCOTUS blocked a federal vaccine mandate
Garland v. Gonzalez -- SCOTUS denied long-detained immigrants' access to a bond hearing
Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez -- SCOTUS denied long-detained immigrants' access to a bond hearing
FEC v. Ted Cruz -- SCOTUS struck down campaign finance restrictions to enable Ted Cruz to pay himself back for loans he made to his own campaign
Egbert v. Boule -- SCOTUS further limited a person's ability to sue federal officers (Bivens actions)
Vega v. Tekah -- SCOTUS weakened enforcement of Miranda rights
Carson v. Makin -- SCOTUS undermined the Establishment Clause, forcing states to fund private religious schools
Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist. -- SCOTUS undermined the Establishment Clause, allowing football coach to have public/publicized Christian prayers at football games
Denezpi -- SCOTUS recognized tribal sovereignty just enough to allow an Indian defendant to be prosecuted twice for the same crime (no double jeopardy), thenā¦
Castro-Huerta -- SCOTUS undermined tribal sovereignty by making tribal land "part of state" and allowing state to exercise jurisdiction on tribal land
Bruen -- SCOTUS struck down NY's 100yo restriction on concealed carry to expand 2A and limit gun restrictions
U.S. v. Texas -- SCOTUS allowed Texas's "bounty hunter" antiabortion law to go into effect
Dobbs -- SCOTUS overruled Roe & Casey, eliminating the federal right to abortion and enabling severe (life-threatening) restrictions on abortion to go into effect 23/25
West Virginia v. EPA -- SCOTUS undermined the EPA's ability to regulate emissions and fight global warming
"And it must be noted that this isn't everything. SCOTUS also did things on the shadow docket -- like allow Louisiana's racial gerrymander to stay in effect for the 2022 election, etc. Just a terrible, terrible, terrible term."
By Kathryn Rubino onJune 28, 2022 at 2:14 PM
Listen Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Stephen Breyer (soon to be Ketanji Brown Jackson) are in an unenviable position. They have to go to work every day with six assholes hellbent on remaking the country to their liking. And they arenāt even good at it.
In his dissent, Thomas claims that COVID vaccines were developed with the use of "aborted children."...See below.
From March: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/supreme-court-democracy-independent-state-legislature.html
And it looks like the case will be heard in October.
Put another way:
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." -JFK
Last night in a groundbreaking story, a leaked document from the pro-beard judges announced what men had feared most.
The anti-epilation law preventing people from banning hair removal is to be overturned next week. The ruling, was penned by Justice Pandora and 5 other Justices who are all BIPOC, non-binary, LGBTQ, and disabled. Not one of them had ever grown facial hair, or had to shave it, but they heard it was easy enough to deal with.
When asked about their position they said they liked beards, thought everyone should have them, plus the Bible said hair was good, so it must be true.
When the hard-earned case for epilation rights is overturned, people will no longer have the right to choose how to wear their facial hair. Beard or no beard, sideburns, mustache or goatee, 50 years of legal hair choice, gone.
The anti-shaving group āBeards, not Bumpsā celebrated years of lobbying and paying off the courts in a statement, āBooyah.ā
On the heels of the Crown Act, people were optimistic in the U.S. full hair freedom was nearly here. Now, guys watch in shock as state after state takes their body autonomy and epilation-rights, leaving men barefoot and hairy.
Reading from the brief, āIf they can grow it, they have to let it grow and grow. If anyone messes with its growth, even a quick buzz when itās only a 4 oāclock shadow, they risk prison.ā
Anything done to ensure their face is healthy becomes suspect. Even those who find it difficult to grow beards are affected. One mom tweeted, āHow awful!ā Then she went back to sleep.
How did we get here?
A Senator (who has never had to shave) noted āItās in the bible at least 10 times. As it is written (by a scribe of King James interpreting some Hebrew from a few thousand years ago) Numbers 6:5 - āAll the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.ā See! There.ā When asked about a dozen other verses where it clearly stated the opposite or only applied to a few people Senator Yoink replied, āI mean, obviously, thatās irrelevant.ā
Many who led the push to ban depilatory treatments warned, āThe new law is complicated; even we donāt understand it.ā
Via an email obtained by BuzzFeeder, the military strongly objected, citing health and safety. āWe must use buzzers and shave heads for hygiene as we've done since lice became rampant in Civil War tents.ā Indeed, reversing a procedure, backed by science and used to keep a large part of the population safe is a dangerous precedent.
But, pro-growthers said āSo? The Civil War was like, not that long ago.ā Instead, they claim a verse in the 2,000-year-old sequel is a better guide for public policy. Originally referencing how Priests should dress in the āinner courtā they utilized āNeither shall they shave their heads,ā to guide their decision, Judge Neato penning āepilation is egregiously wrong. Case closed.ā
Hairless Are Rights for Democracy representative said the fire set to the salon seemed to be sending a message to get on board. But, H.A.R.D. activists noted the reason behind outlawing epilation made āno fucking senseā as ā[to not] shave their heads'' was used out of context. Ezekiel 44:20 actually reads, ānor suffer their locks to grow long. They shall only poll their heads.ā
A legal expert with no knowledge of hair growth said, since it was 2022 and no one knew what āpoll their headsā meant anyway, they should get to choose. Judge White T.F. concurred, even if she couldnāt grow a stache, āthe no-shaving thing was the only choiceāāa choice, which they made, for everyone else.
Speaking at the courthouse, Justice Pandora, a Black Queer femme said āAs a Christian, I believe that God is the one that chooses hair growthāāānot politicians or justices. But, since I am a justice, Iāll back God on this one.ā
The 35% of Americans who donāt follow Christianity are left scratching their heads, several of whom now stroking growing chin whiskers.
VP Embarrassed speaking to press: āWeāre seeing extremists criminalize people just for making decisions about their own bodies,ā and closer remarks with āthis senate clearly doesnāt represent the people. Votes will save you next time.ā
In a pro-beard world, razors get rounded up and put in giant stock piles under lock and key. The barber shops and Quick Cuts all close, even for haircuts; buzzers are confiscated. All clippers banned. Even ordering scissors by mail is under threat.
Hair stylists could be fined for a trim, even if itās unrelated to the beard. Barbers are suddenly added to watch lists. If neighbors suspect a stylist is helping someone, thereās an online form for a $10k reward from the state.
For half the country, access to a professional trim is no longer in town, certainly not one they could afford. If theyāre wealthy, they could go to a salon out of state, but who can manage that? (The average American has $400 at most when a crisis hits.)
Then what? Maybe theyād cut their hair at home or a friendās house. Thereās no guarantee someone would get it right. Picture a bunch of men with lopsided bangs, or worse, mullet and goatees.
Stuck with screwed up facial hair, everyone judges them but no one offers financial support. A botched home haircut could lead to complications. They might find their hair wonāt ever grow back which could be devastating.
Navigating a world without facial hair options is tough. It can be hard on the body. Beards might get in the way of how they go to the bathroom, eat, or sleep, and it only gets harder.
When questioned, Justice Goldie Locks said āThatās not the court's problem. We donāt make the rules; God does.ā
But, the effects of growing a beard reach far beyond self-care. For example, anyone who needs to travel is screwed. Airlines donāt allow beards past Santa length. What then? When does a beard reach Santa-length exactly? Pro-Trim advocates want the Senate to review the definition. Speaking to one expert in the North Pole, Elf #73 said, āSanta is in all of usā¦so before you see stubble.ā
And then thereās work. According to people on LinkedIn, those with beards applied for an average of 500 jobs in 2021. Despite hearing of a hiring and economic boom, one dad with a salt-and-pepper beard said āHow many times can one hear how theyāre not the right āfitā simply because of your bodyās biological functions?ā When asked if he was still looking. āFor now, I enjoy quality time with my children. They love to see what they can hide in my beard.ā
Another hair-saddled man shared "Job interviews are soul sucking; We get judged for our appearance, not our qualifications.ā
[Pretending to listen] āThey question if we can even handle our beard and a job? āThis guy needs to get his life together. Couldnāt he find a way to not grow a beard?āā
Itās true, a beard is a lot of responsibility.
Even for a person with a fresh beard, hiring managers are biased. āPeople look at me and think, sure that beard seems fine now but what about later? Soon enough, that beard will be full of soup and crackers; who wants to deal with that whole mess?ā
Of course, hair growth is only harder during a pandemic with all the mask-wearing.
One guy we spoke with said, āYeah, duh. We said for decades forced-hair growth is hard AF but no one listened.ā
Vidal Sassoon noted, āIn a world that makes you grow a beard but gives you zero resources to care for it, itās hard not to feel behind.ā
Besides losing opportunities, the hair-full loses all āfree time.ā Outside of work fighting more pro-beard legislation, or taking care of everyone else is not paid, but itās work. Of course, the non-bearded have ārealā work to do.
Having facial hair you donāt even want sucks. It might cause financial loss, but itās the sense of losing yourself that breaks you.
In a pro-beard nation, it makes perfect (non)sense that hair has FULL rights which supersede the face it grows on. But what does that mean in practice? Well, if it turns gray, or loses his hair, a guy might face charges, whether or not heās at fault. Using rogaine to prevent hair loss might sound ok, but some states are unsure. With the laws as vague as their understanding of female anatomy, suppliers could face huge fines; many have decided it's not worth taking the risk.
In a society that values men only for their ability to grow beards, balding is obviously bad. What about the ones who are thinning on top? Should they let a patchy beard grow, even if it's a hot mess? There's really no choice at all. If he just says screw it and shaves his whole damn head, he could end up in prison for follicide.
One partner finished her rom-com before responding, āTotally unfair. Can you believe this country?ā As the musical montage played, her partner stared out the window, afraid and nearly catatonic.
Shaking her head, ZZ Top's wife said āI know! Itās the worst. But what can I do? I'd help if I could."
A late poll, tells a different story: Conservative non-bearded care more about themselves than they do human rights. When asked about the poll, the leader behind the movement "Free the Face, Hide the Hair" said āItās pretty fucked up because 60% of all Americans want epilation rights for all, coded into national law, including 80% of those who can actually grow facial hair.ā
Charged with Follicide almost sounds impossible? He lost his hair, not by choice, but because his body stopped growing hair cells normally. Now, heās lost time to grieve too, fighting murder charges. Living under house arrest because your hair stop growing is a tragedy, but one that does happen in this brave new world.
One guy shouted at his phone, āWhat a goddamn nightmare!ā His friend, also enraged, shouted, āRight? Itās not like all āGrowersā wanted to grow it.ā Itās almost unimaginable.
As he put it: It was his head, wasnāt it? Wasnāt the hair on his face also his problem? Why wasnāt it up to him to remove? Didnāt his face have rights? Didnāt he have a choice about what to do with his body, like women do with pregnancy?!
Of course pundits will say, a beard isnāt the same at all. Itās not a placenta, an amniotic sac, an umbilical cord, or an embryo and then a fetus.
Youāre right, growing a beard does not compare to growing an extra organ first, in order to grow another human, give birth, and care for a full person with needs. Of course, a beard is not a living, breathing, human baby. (Neither is a fetus.)
Still, letting someone control the hair on your head sounds like science fiction. Itās inconceivable! Terrifying!
Imagine this happened in your state.
Do you think men would ever stand for this type of control?! Not for a single second. They'd strikeāāleave their home offices and take to the streets.
Some would call for withholding fur-faced kisses.
āHands off our faces!ā
āBarbers save sideburns.ā
Ridiculous right?
Within days, thereād be a bearded revolution.
Iād bet our goddamn lives on it.
Want to support this work? Donate to FLOWLab (tax deductible), join as a member, or feel free to buy me a caffeinated beverage. The patriarchy is exhausting.