sam n > Recent Status Updates

everyone deserves dignity, belonging, and safety just because we are alive
cultivate a desire to be beautifully, exquisitely ordinary. practice being nobody special.
"rather than a fantasy of being rich and famous, which capitalism tells us is the goal of our lives, we cultivate a fantasy of everyone having what they need and being able to creatively express the beauty of their lives"

making consensus decision-making efficient/effective
1. create teams
2. create decision-making chart
3. practice proposal-making
4. practice meeting facilitation
5. welcoming new ppl

charity 2/2: unawareness/lack of strategy of transforming conditions that cause the injustice, paternalism/rescue fantasy/saviorism, majority rules by board, depoliticized to retain gov legitimacy, assess work based on elites' opinions, members=donors, meet grant deliverables, maintain good reputation

charity 1/2: service work staffed by pros, grant $ for supplies/philanthropic control, gov regulatns, single issue work, impose eligib crite for srvcs that / ppl into deserving/un recip, set conditions for rcvg help (sober, family status, immig status, no warrants, etc), looking for job/career, pay/decision-making hierarchy,

MUT AID: de-professionalized survival work done by vols, beg/borrow/steal supplies, ppl power to resist government regulations, survival work rooted in anti capitalism, anti imperialism, racial/gender/disabil justice, open meetings/consensus, support ppl facing most dire conditions, giving things away w/o expectations, particip due to passion, efforts to flatten hierarchy, self-determination, radicaliztn

Qs to ask within mutaid grps:
-who controls our project?
-who makes decisions ab what we do?
-does any rcvd funding limit who/how we help?
-do our guidelines ab who can participate cut out primaries/vulnerable ppl?
-what's our relationship to law enforcement?
-how do we introduce new ppl in our group to our relationship to law enforcement,

hospitals prisons and governments ran like businesses
but making everything profit centered actually degrades the care that ppl receive, as businesses seek short-term gains at any expense

solidarity ≠ charity
charity is usually sexist and racist bc it chooses who deserves their $

ppl involved in narrower mutual aid groups often find it expanding due to differing situations that led to the same undesired outcome. for example, racism, transphobia, colonialism, immigration enforcement, ableism, police violence, foster/healthcare system are all causes of homeless or harm to homeless people

most famous example in US was Black Panther Party's survival programs in 60-70s: free breakfast (still runs td!), medical clinics/ambulances, transportation for elderly, school aimed at liberation curriculum for children. meets basic survival needs to EMPOWER not blame impoverished people and broke stigma/isolation
FBI recognized as threat & police urinated on church's food in chicago to neutralize/destroy BPP

forced to rely on hostile systems like healthcare systems designed around profit not keeping people healthy. or food/transporttn systems that pollute the earth & poison ppl.
many ppl report that they have no one to confide in so they don't get help with drug use/mental health/family violence/abuse until law enforcement gets involved, which tends to escalate (not resolve) the harm :(
mutual aid is a radical act!

"mutual aid is collective coordination to on to meet each others needs usually from an awareness that the systems we have in place are not going to meet them. those systems in fact have often created the crisis..." ex: ppl raising money for workers on strike/needed abortions, ride sharing system during montgomery bus boycott, drinking water in desert for migrants, emergency med training, prisoners letter writing..."

Hong Kong protest (of immobilized and coordinated movements) during Covid resulted in untold numbers of lives saved, wow

6. the outermost house by henry beston
7. the lives of a cell by lewis thomas
8. the edgee of the sea by rachel carson (and silent spring)
9. lilly on dolphins by john lilly
10. life on a little known planet by howard ensign evans

for further reading that pushed her to embark on a career of studying animals/natural world:
1. never cry wolf by farley moat "never let the facts get in the way of the truth" (to move readers to action, a book must have facts and emotional resonance)
2. my life w the chimpanzees by jane goodall
3. gorillas in the mist by diane fossey
4. of wolves and men by barry lopez
5. king solomon's ring by konrad lorenz

Thurber, a puppy she didn't expect to adopt right after the death of her previous dog, showed her that you never know what might happen next in life--it could be that something wonderful is right around the corner. and a teacher may find you even when you're not ready to be a student :')

ch10 Thurber (border collie with a zest for life)

- sometimes octopi steal GoPros and cameras from divers and sometimes they tug on the divers' face masks or regulators.
- they take coconut halves to pull the two halves together around them to build a hut.
- they also bring stones back to their dens to build a wall
- they play with Mr. Potato Heads and legos
- after unscrewing jar lids to eat the crabs encased inside, they screw the lid back on afterwards

3/5 of their neurons aren't in the brains but in their ARMS ?? how r we living on the same earth as octopi

from one calculation, an octopus's arms can pull 100x its own weight DAMN

ch 10: octavia (giant pacific octopus) and predecessor Athena

didn't know they had beaks lol

ch8 chris and tess (cont)

ch6-7: dogs named Tess (smart)and Sally (playful), love unconditionally

"don't buy anything thats 109% wool.
u cant be friends w people who call after 11pm."

"never marry a man you wouldn't want to be divorced from" my brain is doing backflips im confused by this sentence

"i envy all asian women. i mean have u ever seen an asian woman whose hair looks bad? no you haven't. why is this?" lmaooooo this book is cracking me up i love being a woman

this is funny

ch 5: ermine taught her forgiveness, awe, appreciation