I’ve worked with a lot of folks who’ve been through layoffs these past few years, and one thing we do not talk enough about is how often a layoff is received with relief bordering on joy. And what that says about the state of work.
Going to send the rare email-only newsletter later this week, with some (re)reading recommendations for the winter break. Get on the list: https://aworkinglibrary.com/subscribe/
“My body had refused to participate in my refusal (or failure?) to refuse untenable demands. That’s, like, a triple negative. Put differently: my brain couldn’t stop me, so that tiny but mighty intestinal diverticulum did.” https://wordsinspace.net/2024/12/13/the-limits-of-refusal/
Dispiriting, if clarifying, to watch Philadelphia sell Chinatown to billionaire sports team owners, despite massive public opposition. So-called Democratic cities are no bulwark against late capitalism and fascism. https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/live/sixers-arena-city-council-vote-protests-20241212.html
Echoes of Ursula Franklin’s definition of a technology as a practice in this piece about defining AI from Ali Alkhatib: “AI is an ideological project to shift authority and autonomy away from individuals, towards centralized structures of power.” https://ali-alkhatib.com/blog/defining-ai
“Liberalism persists, in large part, through a fantasy that the U.S. government can be reformed to care for us, and that we should focus on trying to get it to do so.” https://truthout.org/articles/our-best-option-for-defending-ourselves-from-trumps-second-term-is-each-other/
“It is useless work that darkens the heart.” https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/living-in-alignment
“What we’re called to ask is why the murder of one man must be described as unspeakable violence, but the systemic denial of life to 100,000 people is an acceptable business practice.” https://www.jphilll.com/p/whats-a-life-worth
Last chance to apply for the speculative fiction work/shop! Applications close in just over an hour. https://everythingchanges.us/workshop/sf
I love Obsidian and think that small, indy, and subscription- (not VC-) supported apps are the way to go. But the dependence on a plugin infrastructure does not hold up when so many of the plugins are obviously abandoned. Absent funding, all infrastructure crumbles, sooner rather than later.
“Thankfully we’re mostly past the collective delusion that work is family, but a workplace is still made up of people, and it is still a community of relationships. This community can also be a network of care if you let it.” https://phirephoenix.com/blog/2024-11-27/values
Applications are now open for the speculative fiction work/shop! This five-week program is for anyone who feels stuck and unfulfilled in their work and who wants to open up some space—and community—to imagine different futures. Learn more: https://everythingchanges.us/workshop/sf
Caring for your colleagues—caring for anyone—makes you vulnerable. But it also makes you human, and alive, and aware of your own collective power, capable of not only standing up to that harm but of building new worlds. https://everythingchanges.us/blog/care-work/
Visionary organizing “begins by creating images and stories of the future that help us imagine and create alternatives to the existing system.” https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/storytelling-as-practice
Realized recently that I’ve been silently saying the word “ammar” to myself when I meet someone and don’t know how to address them. But maybe it’s time to voice that word, to manifest the relation by speaking it aloud. https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/ammari
Too much I could say about this very excellent piece from Erin, but I will start with noting that one way to shape the future of the web is to pay closer attention to the stories we use to talk about it: https://www.wrecka.ge/against-the-dark-forest/
Both the Church & the Republican party commit “a moral error of gross proportion by projecting the specter of [their] own abusive history onto gender minorities as a way of making others responsible for [their] own crimes.” https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/projection
Wrote about dreaming, and propaganda, and networks—and the capacity and creativity we have to get through even the darkest of days: https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/dreaming-awake
Take small steps. Favor reversibility. Plan on surprises and human inventiveness. How to navigate in uncertain times: https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/take-small-steps
Semi-regular reminder that if you have been ordered back to the office, but have colleagues in other offices—you’re still remote. Act accordingly.