Draft written summer 2021 So, Vox published an incredibly frustrating — but revealing — “Well, actually, we need the police” article yesterday (link in comments). And I’m going to break down why the article doesn’t say what it thinks it says, but instead demonstrates the fundamental bias and fear that animates such arguments; and toRead moreRead more

Below is my resignation letter from the Los Angeles Public Library Cybernaut position, a role supporting patrons’ technology needs in the library computer center. This letter was sent to LAPL leadership as well as my supervisors. Names have been redacted here for privacy. I worked in the role for less than a week when theRead moreRead more

Originally posted on Facebook on May 3, 2021; edited to embed links (links originally posted in comments due to FB algorithms). #DefundThePolice has been the hashtag and slogan by which many people have come to know abolition in the last year. And that’s great! Defunding the police is an important part of constraining police power,Read moreRead more

Originally posted on Facebook on March 18, 2021. yes there will probably be a longer essay forthcoming but until then: i see a lot of folks responding to the shooter’s claim that his murderous rampage was about sex with “no, it’s about race.” and that’s not wrong, but it’s also not at all a contradictionRead moreRead more

Originally posted on Facebook on January 14, 2021; edited to embed links (links originally posted in comments due to FB algorithms). So Shaun King seems to be making the rounds for his “Hey Enough Time Has Passed For Everyone to Forget That Time I Used Chadwick Boseman’s Death to Shill My Book, Right?” Redemption Tour.Read moreRead more

Originally posted on Facebook on January 6, 2021. also let’s be clear what the real “threat” is to these insurrectionists: because it’s not just losing trump in the white house, or gaining joe. their real fear has nothing to do with replacing one white male septuaginarian with another, and everything to do with someone whoRead moreRead more

Originally posted November 4, 2020. I know many of you are still anxious about results yet to arrive, so: let’s highlight some results that we know. Because here in Cali — especially here in LA — there’s things worth celebrating. Prop 17 restored full voting rights to formerly incarcerated people. Prop 20, which would haveRead moreRead more

Originally posted on Facebook on November 2, 2020. Anxiety around the election might be peaking now, but it’s been building for months. Various groups have been hitting the same theme: we must defend our elections; we must protect democracy. And — I understand the impulse. But just as with the urge to end the pandemicRead moreRead more

Originally posted on Facebook on September 13, 2020. I’ve been thinking a lot about accountability lately; this essay was already half-written when Jessica Krug’s Dolezal’ing made headlines, and loathe as I might be to give any more space to that particular brand of nonsense, her story encapsulated so many of the ideas that I wasRead moreRead more

Originally posted on Facebook on August 11, 2020 (quick) thoughts on kamala: – having a woman of color on the national ticket is not nothing. – it’s also not much. biden won the primary in part because of a belief that a straight white man still defines electability. but it is cool that his electabilityRead moreRead more