Fennel & Dill 23

This is my eleventh week in quarantine, since I was in Japan when the Bay Area shut down. COVID is still scary, but it’s been an even harder week due to police violence against black Americans, murdering multiple people and assaulting countless more. Fuck the cops. Fuck the violent, racist state.

With that said, I will go ahead and share some links, as usual, with a few that may help you grapple with what’s happening right now. Take care of yourself, your friends and family, and especially be in solidarity with black and brown folks who’re consistently targeted by state and individual white supremacist violence.

Links

• Here’s a book on White Fragility. Read it if you’re white, or have white folks around you or in your family. I’m picking up a copy on recommendation of some rad folks I know.
• Here’s an album I’m listening to a lot these days while I try to sit and feel things.

• When I lived in Portland, I spent a lot of time going to a sangha with other folks where we meditated and learned about Buddhism. I can’t say that I always loved it, but it was definitely helpful. If you live in the East Bay, or just want to go to one regularly, here’s some classes to check out.

• If you want to imagine the future, a great way to start is by reading black women and Afrofuturism. So much of sci-fi is white and colonialist as fuck, and exposing myself to authors who are neither white or men is something I’ve really valued over the past five years.

• This week I wrote about my baking adventures. It’s been a really nice thing to make bread constantly in order to feed myself, and have a small project that delivers little victories every so often.

• While working on my site over the past few weeks, I thought a lot about the handmade web of the past—before the time of large social networks with shitty policies. If you haven’t built your own website or newsletter in a while, maybe give it a go. It’s pretty fun.

I know the note at the top was somber, but it’s time for being somber. Thank you to anyone who is donating, supporting folks, protesting, or otherwise involved in this pivotal moment in US history. I fully believe that if we stick to this fight, we can change things. If you’re reading this, even if I don’t know you, just know I care about you, and I appreciate your attention. Thanks for being part of this slow newsletter social world. Keep resisting, space cowgirls~