"Storytelling is inherently political"

"Storytelling is inherently political--and you have to draw your lines as to where your politics are. Even if something seems like a step forward in your career, if that's so many steps back in your perspective or your morality then you're losing the very thing you might have inside you that might be worth sharing with an audience."-Brit Marling

Those first four words stayed in my mind for years--to me, politics is about the articulation of desired action (because face it: a lot of politics is about how people say things and look rather than what actually needs to be done and how).

We might not think about it, but sharing a bedtime story says a lot about what someone believes or wants to believe:

That a child might trust in the vision we share with them. That we have the right and duty to take time with someone we care about to create or visit a world that few people get to see.

But if we're to believe the rest of the quote, you must expose yourself to new challenges and responsibilities as a storyteller:

It implies there's a level of will and preparedness you (and your community) need to muster in order to stand by what you care about to maintain those boundaries.

Sometimes you won't have the strength to do it on your own, but if you're fortunate, there will be folks who choose to stand up for the same because they know the story also speaks the truths found in their own lives too.

Sometimes, the best stories to tell are the ones you craft and share together.

......

"Storytelling is inherently political--and you have to draw your lines as to where your politics are. Even if something seems like a step forward in your career, if that's so many steps back in your perspective or your morality then you're losing the very thing you might have inside you that might be worth sharing with an audience."-Brit Marling 16:25
https://youtu.be/1H79-O1IxFA?t=985

I've heard this before but at the time just the first four words stood out: "storytelling is inherently political."

Hearing the rest (and finally 
I think in past moments my hesitation to stake claims

was out of conflict avoidance--

while I can muster what's needed to defend my position

I wasn't confident that I'd have the energy to at the time

Growing and Healing: Every Day on Earth

Trauma forces disconnection which can be seen in landscapes, our human and ecosystemic communities, and even among collective and personal identities. But relenting disruptions can often transform ecosystems the most to become places for life:

After a prairie or woodland fire, Jack Pine cones open up to release their seeds only when there's fire present. The Kirtland's Warbler will only breed and nest in the new Jack Pines that emerge from freshly burnt prairie land.

A tree falling in the middle of a Sugar Maple forest allows more light in and many plants that were previously crowded and shaded out take its place.

And while so many people tend to associate trauma with the destructive process, we often fail to shift our gaze from the terminal moments toward the cyclical progeny it can point to.

Healing is a restorative form of growth that happens when there's respite from harm that inhibits our capacity to care for ourselves and each other.

Health speaks to one's capacity to take care of their self. And wealth speaks to collective health--our capacity to take care of ourselves, each other, and everything that supports that process.

Prosperity happens when nourishment is manifested as a result of healthy growth. And hunger without extreme keens our intuition for seeking appropriate nourishment.

The difference between healthy fulfilling organizations and hate groups is surprisingly narrow: both will utilize sense of purpose, progress, and meaningful connection.

But hate groups eventually force dependency for connection among their membership and limit the scope of purpose in ways that intentionally preclude "others" while playing on ambiguity enough for it to seem innocent or a dualistic good and bad with biased emphasis on only one side and denial to the other.

Healthy organizations, in contrast, encourage emancipation and meaningful connection within and outside of the team. They allow for growing up and out depending on their role in the environment.

The pandemic is a crisis that highlights a myriad of ongoing crises--and in many circles, you might even come across the phrase "disaster capitalism"--where people choose to exploit crisis for maximum near-term profitable gain at the expense of others.

But a contrasting path exists too--disruptions can be creative as well. Whereas the news and traumatic events are often shaped and exploited for manipulative purposes without genuine solution, creative acts function as a kind of exercise in gratitude:

They frame a chosen reality (or multiple realities) with uplift, elicit our being, inspire, and tend to empower people toward relevant and significant action.

Whether in the West African Tradition of the Jele, Celtic Bards, or singular storytellers, minstrels, painters, and warrior poets of many cultures over -- people have chosen to bridge the momentary tragedies and triumphs with creative acts that let us dance between the work in our day to day lives and the magic that manifests a timeless sense of wonder for lifetimes to come.

So what do our narratives for post-traumatic healing look like? It's likely a way of being that allows for independent and collective sense of purpose, progress, and connected relationships to flourish.

For sustaining prosperity, any act will tend to have characteristics that allow for creative, comprehensive, and continuous existence at appropriate scale.

At what point do we recognize the growth that's inherent to our healing?
What will be done for prosperous growth to happen?
As a person?
As a people?
As a population?
As a place?
As a planet?

Seeking answers to any of the above questions brings us into sacred moments--the ones that connect us to sense of purpose and compel us to live in good accord with ourselves and the world alike.

 

 

 

 

 [ ] kirtland's warbler + cultural burning / indigenous knowledge  traditional knowledge ecology {tending the wild}

[ ] Leila Janah's note on seeking post-traumatic growth

[ ] delivering happiness framework for fulfilling / sustained happiness

[ ] neuroscience of hate

[ ] 

The Call for Cybersecurity, Samaritans and Civics

Last week an associate sought help from being digitally stalked, after sifting through a few guides these were the most thorough I've found for basic cybersecurity.

Hackblossom (very thorough, has a 'cheat sheet' condensed version, but lots of reading to do and can be overwhelming in times of emergency)

https://hackblossom.org/domestic-violence/

Chayn's brief guide (quick, not thorough):https://chayn.gitbook.io/diy-online-safety/english

Chayn's complete guide (I've not yet reviewed it--note that it's a separate link but includes a sort of procedural outline for navigating through all elements and a step for basic risk assessment in the process):
https://chayn.gitbook.io/advanced-diy-privacy-for-every-woman/


WHO'S BEHIND SOME OF THE "REOPEN" CAMPAIGN?
As an example of digital security risks based on current events--someone (not me) found and compiled a list of various websites and IP addresses belonging to the various groups that advocate for re-opening the economy.
There's at least one case of a few names and physical addresses being found (possibly including someone's home), several gun companies and coalitions (which corroborates reports that the protests were quarterbacked by 3 brothers who owned a gun company) and another being traced to being funded by the Nevada Republican Party.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HQnx-RvMM7BrpX1ysgjqzu8XkaDeu0w4gJgTtzB3dfk/edit#gid=0

On one hand, I think of how some native horseback warriors would carry a special stick and  tap an enemy with it in battle as a kind of humane way to acknowledge they've bested the opponent while sparing their life. So when it comes to this kind of quasi(? I don't really know what the official definition is)-doxxing, there's a part of me that just wishes they'd get their act together and that folks would gently tap them on the shoulder (or leave a note at their doorstep). 

Violence often manifests an unusual duality to the spirit.







Use caution with online social media quizzes--or just don't do them:
Given that we're 1) in the midst of a major election year 2) in the midst of a major pandemic that forces everyone to stay at home and use the internet more often if they have access to it and 3) at the cusp of a major economic crisis

This is a key time for gathering information and refining ai + fake social media profile creation.

The Senior Picture challenge, and various personality quizzes are all prime suspects.

[see Ukrainian connection to the quizes]



ZOOM
Meanwhile, the reason for concern over zoom's security vulnerabilities for folks who tend to get lumped into the other side of the political spectrum:


For folks who downloaded the app, it's possible someone could get your own IP address much like the stuff above.  Since the "zoombombing" incidents often targeted PoC

I'm not going to put energy into editing a comment I made elsewhere so here's the basic reason for caution among folks who are often targeted by the Neonazi groups that have disrupted various zoom meetings:

The issue with zoom for people who advocate: to wait and continue trusting a platform where Neonazis already coin the term "zoombombing" for its easy exploits is a serious risk--especially to anyone that's not compatible with the white supremacist agenda. Your fundamental safety and survival outweighs features and nice feelings for professionalism or at least should for people who've historically had the cards stacked against them.

For people whose communities or families have directly been threatened by neonazis, leaving trust to a company with your presence and data--chats, names, correspondence, images, likely user IP addresses and MAC addresses [which can reveal one's personal physical location] too for those who installed--is a serious threat to personal safety and also national security considering the encryption key behavior and where the zoom development division is based or if data gets intercepted and brokered out in unscrupulous ways.

The last item I'll raise is that zoom isn't based on open source principles which probably says a lot about their fundamental paradigm and culture for transparency. That they've repeatedly misrepresented their security assurances -- much of it being architectural and organizational level -- suggests to me it'll take a while to fully adjust their stance.

https://theintercept.com/2020/04/03/zooms-encryption-is-not-suited-for-secrets-and-has-surprising-links-to-china-researchers-discover/

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/03/826129520/a-must-for-millions-zoom-has-a-dark-side-and-an-fbi-warning

 

As always I also need to include a disclaimer: as individuals, I appreciate and respect my international friends. I also know that countries, US, China, Iran, Russia, wherever--don't always act in the best interest of each others' residents (including their own), and remind folks that several of these countries often set up, fund, or even operate entire companies, not to mention often have specialized departments or units where peoples entire full-time job entails adversarial and exploitative activity.

In the U.S., we've seen various tensions and systemic issues in society further amplified and exploited--whether it's racial tension and police brutality, or rumors of chemical plants exploding that rely on digital gossip to spread, or as most of us have heard about and witnessed, propaganda, false news, and misinformation around political candidates.

Should I stay or should I go now?

When to engage, when to walk away; census:


You don't have to stay in the game if you can get out, but you and the people you care about need to be in the position to make choices for dignity to happen as you make and gather players for your own until enough people can step out without becoming dependent.

I personally prioritize a census over any presidential election because so many resources, so much intelligence, and decisions can be generated from it.

Here's where we're at:
Even if/though the US school system+DPS is failing lots of youth and families, the money for them would still legally be required to be allocated to Detroit--so if a group like the Boggs School were to apply, we'd still have access to the funding. Same with hospitals, roads (pothole repair), possibly water infrastructure, and even development for homes etc. leans on census data for justification and funding. I seem to recall a lot of agencies and aid programs are legally tied to allocating aid/resources based on Census numbers.
Census data also informs where election districts/electoral college lines, federal resources, and agency funding are supposed to go for the next 10+ years (folks will still use Census data from several decades ago to look for patterns, trends, etc. and forecasts)-- so there's a big window where the Trump administration won't be in place.
All of diasporic Detroit is not yet ready to operate independent of the federal dollar and most aggregated (including federalized) systems. The Boggs School, Alkebu-Lan Village, and pre-takeover Charles M. Wright Museum aren't enough to service the community's youth and adults in the way they work at this time either. In ten years, comfortably they could do it with good leadership + engagement from folks like us, yes.

But they'd need whatever support as buffer in the meanwhile and the Village and Wright Museum also take some funding that connects to Census data in some way as well, and I've personally used census data to articulate grant-quality content to prove the case for local populations affected by air quality issues around Alkebu-Lan, SW Detroit on workforce/economic development, or briefly with Peace Zones for Life to inform support for returning citizens that still informs my priorities for outreach today.

Funding for private foundation grants that you benefit from using to leverage for the communities you care about often hinge on data from US Census numbers too if we dig deep enough into where and how the granting organizations procure and allocate funding.

The obvious part--numbers and population count are used to draw federal-level election districts, funding allocation, etc.is stuff that's not something we have a strong connection to unless there are lots of people from the community working+influencing that level of federal operation.

But the Census also informs data for things like disease control response, etc. --used by local advocates who definitely don't have capacity/influence to coordinate this kind of assessment at scale and use the data to inform impact.

Maybe saying too much for here but here's a milestone to ask and watch for before we get to the 10 year mark:
When will mutual aid and community organizations can glocalize (defn/charzn: integrate local support with global resources and relationships as I define it--Baba Wayne might have a different angle on the word but likes using it too) and effectively support and scale out something like the Sinai Grace Hospital worker strike + labor shortage without strain, working without any federal/state resources? Absolutely operating independent of a census will probably be less than beneficial until then.

........

Returning for a clarification re: informed consent--the idea of "by any means necessary" is still important for the collective (and sort of in terms of how evolution tends to happen--there's always a beneficial behavior/trait in the right environment), so it isn't necessarily to/on you to do the census if it's not where you're at. 

But to flip extractive/co-optive systems, I (and that may be different from most people) think it's important for having the ingredients to make those choices clear and available for others to decide on rather than say "you have everything needed to make a cake, that's your job"--when in reality you know what's needed for you+the realities of the folks that you touch most directly could benefit more from using those ingredients to make bread.

It's like people's bodily sovereignty (my body, my choice) or other things where the reasons for letting people make informed choices with their own consent matter most.

Even when we do our "performance" /storytelling/education/advocacy/djele work:

It's one thing to tell people what's needed and to take action with no rationale/explanation--and that's important in it's on place on the landscape.
It's another to bring out within them that they have and can create choices to navigate future situations with their own sensibilities. 

One can create quick results, another can bring out the leaders within us. Both are necessary tools.

But on the far end to those dualities:

Telling folks what "must" be done as if it's the only way without letting them consider their choices becomes a kind of coercion and is typically how propaganda winds up functioning in toxic ways. 

Leaving folks amid lots of choice and possibility without the granting guidance with one's wisdom from reliable truths is a form of negligence.

So at the end of the day, do you.

But for those who look up to you+those you care about as peers and elders, clearly communicating your action among those you're willing to trust adds to the collective benefit.

As long as the folks who are working toward the same cause know what's on the landscape and what it tends to mean +why/where we're coming from, I like to believe things tend to turn out well. 

If they don't and it's important that they do, that's where work shows up for growing relationships too.

I hope that's not too much, been thinking about a lot of the stuff you asked and haven't been able to speak with anyone to unpack until you made the space with the root post.

Economists to follow now?

https://www.facebook.com/detroiter/posts/10113088102100293

 

Might not fit the bill 100% but:

Aron Betru's a developmental finance professor who probably did the best job at breaking down what's happening now for folks who want to pay attention to the "keep lines of credit open between financial institutions" side of the economy.

For backdrop on the typically qualitative and leftist end:

You're probably familiar with Naomi Klein (disaster capitalism--been on lots of youtube events lately)

Julie Nelson--is a current ecofeminist economist and the author of probably one of my favorite academic papers/critiques of all time for navigating beyond objectivism/subjectivity and that ethics belong in economics + call out how Larry Summers' decision to export toxic waste to Africa and other "global south" countries as an externality is unethical etc.

Gar Alperovitz (regenerative economics -- "if not capitalism or state socialism, then what?"

can probably speak to the gap between capitalism and what's going on in mutual aid networks if he shows up but might might not be very visible/vocal right now; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0ZTRa4yP-Q )

Zizek (talks a lot all the time even on youtube, probably has interesting things to say on the far side of the left that fits in a 8 minute video to give you enough an idea of his view on everything)

On the right: Robert Doar (Currently heads American Enterprise Institute so maybe just monitor their outputs/policy guidance if he's not directly speaking) -- free market, state/federal antipoverty programs, etc.

Fred L. Smith (Competitive Enterprise Institute; take similar approach) -- anti-climate change/environmental regulation

It's worth just diving into the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and read into some of their "model legislation" for states and publications.

They've laid the strategic groundwork for most of the core conservative/economically liberal/neoliberal ideology and business-as-usual market behavior we see. In 2015 when advocating on State Energy policy, I ran into language from their 2008 or 2011 model legislation. The voting + school and other utility privatization movement has about 30 years of strategic momentum--some of it core to the founder's ideology since around 1975.

https://www.alec.org/publication/the-impact-of-federal-state-safety-regulations-on-liability/

And if you can find key thinkers/policy shapers via the Koch Foundation go for them too though a lot of their stuff probably draws from the folks/entities listed above.

ATCQ's space program(s)

Everyone might not be ready to see and hear it, but the messages are essential for everyone to recognize what's at the root of so much struggle.

Listen and observe for the story being told and for the stories yet to be made.

A Tribe Called Quest
"The Space Program"
(feat. Vincent Price)

I'mma deal with a bigger insult, man
The heat, the heat, the heat, the heat
It's comin' down hard
We've got to get our shit together

It's time to go left and not right
Gotta get it together forever
Gotta get it together for brothers
Gotta get it together for sisters
For mothers and fathers and dead niggas
For non-conformists, one hitter quitters
For Tyson types and Che figures
Let's get it together, come on let's make it
Gotta make it to make it, to make it, to make it, to make it
To make something happen, to make something happen
To make something happen, let's make something happen

Word to Phifer
Gonna bring it to the overlord, drinkin' Cisco
Chilling with the gold microphone cords
And we grip our balls every time we stuntin' on tour
'Cause we never bore, responding to the ready crowd's roar
And promoters try to hit us with the art of war
We about our business, we not quitters
Not bullshitters, we deliver—we go-get it
Don't be bitter 'cause we not just niggas
Jarobi, my fiber wove into different cloth
Ain't nothing forbidden, this nigga get his written off
Hardest spit in the city y'all niggas spitting kitten soft
Confused and amazed, shook up with your brain missing lost
They planning for our future
None of our people involved
Pouring Henny and Smirnoff to get it cracking off
Cracking off a Smirnoff to quickly turn to Molotov
Molotov the spaceship doors before that bitch is taking off
It always seems the poorest persons
Are people forsaken, dawg
No Washingtons, Jeffersons, Jacksons
On the captain's log
They'd rather lead us to the grayest water poison deadly smog
Mass un-blackening, it's happening, you feel it y'all?
Rather see we in a three-by-three structure with many bars
Leave us where we are so they can play among the stars
They taking off to Mars, got the space vessels overflowing
What, you think they want us there? All us niggas not going
Reputation ain't glowing, reparations ain't flowing
If you find yourself stuck in a creek, you better start rowing
Used to see the TV screen as the place to land my dream in
And the car stereo where they would promote the show
Optimistic little brother with a hope you know

(Move on to the stars)
There ain't a space program for niggas
Yeah, you stuck here, nigga
(Move on to the stars)
There ain't a space program for niggas
Yeah, you stuck here nigga
(Move on to the stars)
There ain't a space program for niggas
Yeah, you stuck here, nigga
(Move on to the stars)
There ain't a space program for niggas
Yeah, you stuck, stuck, stuck
(Move on to the stars)

Sit and wonder sometimes, I read the paper every day
All these happenings is cycular, just happen different ways
And the president's refined, in her wing she's confined
With about thirty Percocets and five bottles of wine
Carolina nothing finer than a Black woman who climbs
To the top of the State building claiming that that flag is mine
Now, people on top of people, feels like we can't breathe
Put so much in this muthafucka, feel like we shouldn't leave
Put it on TV, put it in movies, put it in our face
These notions and ideas and citizens live in space
I chuckle just like all of y'all, absurdity, after all
Takes money to get it running and money for trees to fall
Imagine for one second all the people are colored, please
Imagine for one second all the people in poverty
No matter the skin tone, culture or time zone
Think the ones who got it
Would even think to throw you a bone?
Moved you out your neighbourhood, did they find you a home?
Nah cypher, probably no place to
Imagine if this shit was really talkin' about space, dude
Imagine if this shit was really talkin' about space, dude
Imagine if this shit was really talkin' about space, dude

Time to go left and not right
Gotta get it together forever
Gotta get it together for brothers
Gotta get it together for sisters
For mothers and fathers and dead niggas
For non-conformers, won't hear the quitters
For Tyson types and Che figures
Let's make somethin' happen, let's make somethin' happen
Let's make somethin' happen, let's make somethin' happen
Gotta get it together for brothers
Gotta get it together for sisters
For mothers and fathers and dead niggas
For non-conformists, one-hitter quitters
For Tyson types and Che figures
Make make make
Let's make somethin' happen, let's make somethin' happen
Let's make somethin' happen, let's make somethin' happen
Gotta get it together forever
Gotta get it together for brothers
Gotta get it together for sisters
For mothers and fathers and dead niggas
For non-conformists, one-hitter quitters
For Tyson types and Che figures
Let's make somethin' happen, let's make somethin' happen
Gotta get it together for brothers
Gotta get it together for sisters
For mothers and fathers and dead niggas
For non-conformists, one-hitter quitters
For Tyson types and Che figures
Make make make
Let's make somethin' happen, let's make somethin' happen
Let's make somethin' happen, let's make somethin' happen
Gotta get it together forever
Gotta get it together for brothers
Gotta get it together for sisters
For mothers and fathers and dead niggas
For non-conformists, one-hitter quitters
For Tyson types and Che figures
Let's make somethin' happen, let's make somethin' happen
Gotta get it together for brothers
Gotta get it together for sisters
For mothers and fathers and dead niggas
For non-conformists, one-hitter quitters
For Tyson types and Che figures
Make, make, make
Let's make somethin' happen, let's make somethin' happen
Let's make somethin' happen, let's make somethin' happen

The danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing!
"We're there!"
"Where?"
"Here!"
A small step for mankind
But a giant step for us
Oompa, loompa, doopa dee doo
I've got another puzzle for you


...
 To muse on the lyrical meanings with others online:
https://genius.com/A-tribe-called-quest-the-space-program-lyrics

Politics, priorities, and proximity.

A while back when we had primary elections I mentioned I'd share my perspective on where my energy for political engagement goes. I appreciate the analysis on power and perspective for the choices and strengths or lack thereof among prevailing parties that S Claire provides here and add some own thoughts that haven't changed pre-pandemic.

Tl;Dr

I tend to focus on hyperlocal engagement. For most of us, our chances at seeing changes in municipal and state government + the odds of you being able to hold elected officials accountable are far higher assuming you actually have the energy, resources, and time to advocate.

If you're among the few people I know who actually work major campaigns/staff at the national level or for Super PACs, do a better job pf championing the authentic and often vocal grassroot priorities that are often raised by Bernie and even Trump supporters in the form of their basic needs and how their trust and voices were historically neglected, betrayed, or outright oppressed.
.......
I think there's something to be said about relevance and sense of connection among many of the disenchanted as the current candidates relate or fail to with them too.
When both candidates have a record of implementing and advocating for policy and causes that created real harm to your community, morality also speaks to proximity and there's a tipping point where it no longer ascribes to the larger impact calculus that comes with a Presidential election.
The most vocal Bernie left advocates tend to come from places where those harms are front and center. They are/were also typically already engaged in front-line advocacy/work that makes their capacity for building long-term power+relationships limited by nature of the crises they've been immersed in and entangled with.

Meanwhile more centrist/liberal/general progressives who tend to be in more comfortable positions for building power are either disconnected from the on-the-ground priorities, or the combative rhetoric and disposition for action among Bernie leftists makes it challenging if not offputting to see how they'll work together in spaces where stability, decorum, and composure might be viewed as key to building relationships and power.

So instead, a lot of folks turn toward hyper local politics or community work as the mutual gap seems too much to breach. At best, you might be able to find heart in swaying state and municipal/city politics.

But in a place like Detroit, people have been fighting for so long that they know the cards are often stacked against their favor unless there's a good personal connection who came from the neighborhoods and can cut through the bureaucratic dysfunction and favoritism that money and status often brings. While I still vote for the sake of recognizing the impacts and lack of accessible and substantive influence at the Federal level, most people wind up looking to their own place and find it more effective for what more or less is localized nationbuilding given the legacy of neglect to their community and people.

A crisis of crises; stories for shifting change

"Let’s chat y’all: do you bring up systemic racism when speaking of black people being disproportionately affected by COVID-19? Do y’all speak on the fact that some living in poverty don’t have access to things such as clean water or affordable healthcare? Do we consider that there are some black people who just CAN’T afford to stay home, and so they go to their essential jobs (who aren’t doing what they can to protect their employees)? Or are we just looking at the groups of people who are caught outside and say “Dang! Black people can’t do anything right 🙄🙄!”?

I genuinely would like to know. " -T

.....

Preaching among far more qualified preachers here but yes. Was on a association of public health professionals +national academy of medicine call yesterday and a lot of the solutions the docs are trying to lean on won't fly in most despotic Afrikan communities given the legacy and betrayal of trust committed by the medical system and US government.

The pandemic is a crisis that highlights the ongoing crises that so many communities were already facing.

The fact that the food system, thread workers, all the minimum/below minimum wage jobs happen to have essential roles says so much about the legacy of slavery and what our country still relies upon for making itself seem functional.

People still pick tomatoes for 50 cents per the crate, and most of them are brown migrant workers who have limited to no legal rights in the US.

Mask makers who have the privilege pf volunteering to create low for the public and maybe some hospitals would be paid 5 cents per hem in the LA sweatshops where my grandmother and aunts worked during the 90s, and about 10 or 15 cents per garment if they worked for American Apparel in 2015.

They're literally subsidizing the externalized cost of incompetence, negligence, and greed among hospital administrators and the Federal government who prop "free market" economic opportunity for exploitation of profit amid crisis over people. Even the mask shortage is an economic reason rather than because of a public health priority.

...

There's a powerful opportunity with a moderately open window to sway folks in say, a suburban setting, to understand and empathize with what it's like to navigate fear and crisis. From this end, the biggest challenge is mustering a gentle heart and emotional presence to guide those fears while handling what's typically more than one's fair share of fragility around race and other iterations of inequity.

.....

There's a professor who shared a really useful framework I think often about for advocacy that informs what kind of skills and information are needed to be effective when speaking to poverty.

Poverty can be looked at in three ways:

1) personal stories --what it's like to experience poverty

2) as a measurement/index/bureaucratic definition for policy

i.e. average median income; academic concepts; government/legal definitions

3) the systems that tend to create the stories

I choose to look at it as a triangle or three-legged stool: you need all three in order to create cohesive systemic change.

We need patience and support to cultivate emotional solidarity and labor to empathize and connect with people.

We need patience, a lot of resources and a certain kind of keen language aptitude to wade into numbers and rules plus advocate without getting sucked into the system's red tape and political favors without losing your ability to step out.

We need patience to identify patterns and see things from small to big picture both as it is plus what the likely trajectory might be, and how to dance with changing or facilitating things that are far bigger than what one person, organization, or even community might usually want to move with ease.

And for most of us, that's something that we have and can practice to grow.

tools for handling stress

[tools for handling stress] Updated the quick-to-slow mindfulness guide to include one of the audio tools I forgot to paste in earlier, and also one of the best guides/workbooks for navigating stress+coping I've found that's applicable for pretty much all kinds of traumatic experience and focused on survivors of sexual assault:

[1] sound/app for resetting+clearing one's mind extremely quickly (rain, storms, waves, fire, wind, crickets, etc.); also great for working or just relaxing:

https://asoftmurmur.com/

[2] recognizing common body/brain responses to very stressful events -- while normally people think of trauma as big one-time disaster accidents, it can also be a product of many slow and subtle events too. "flight/flight" is a mythical duality, freezing is more common, there's also sometimes being compliant with a situation to make due, or freezing/dissociating, and often as last resort and least common is fighting.

The lecture (which you can watch at 1.5-1.75 speed okay) focuses on in-the-moment, but I'm realizing in myself and others that the behaviors can also sort of exist for longer periods of time if you/others don't notice/help redirect them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwTQ_U3p5Wc

[3] Guide/workbook for sexual trauma survivors that's useful for navigating through a lot of general stress and post-traumatic experience regardless of how long ago or recent the experience might have been.

Skim through it to get a sense of what's most relevant for you and choose to do things at your own pace, one at a time.

For those that this guide was intended for [even though it's United Kingdom focused, everything except for specific healthcare/legal system is still valid and useful], treat this more like a manual for how-to-prepare for a marathon. The exercises for working through intrusive thought patterns and nightmares are a really good start.

​​​https://www.reddit.com/r/MenGetRapedToo/comments/ey7uf4/a_selfhelp_guide_for_survivors_of_rape_and_sexual/

[4] Quick-to-slow guide mindfulness:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xWXWNxaWo8Zh8mAZzOVhgWGI0j57aOATw-VadNGBfAg/edit#

From story-to-science

Open story-to-science and Eastern medicine ponderings (this post will be a thread for pasting research and considering science across cultural traditions):

In Ojibwe, the word for medicine--mashkiki--translates to "strength of the earth." [I'll post a video later on that]

Chinese and Vietnamese traditional medicine share a lot of similarities--often changes take an environmental approach over a longer periods of time rather than targeted at one particular ailment, and the effects are often gradual too.

i.e. eating bitter squash/melon a few times a month winds up preventing or flushing out parasitic infections. It's also used in the Philippines as a way to regulate insulin.

Or when ill, agitating the skin with a coin (called "coining" = think of a massage, dragging/scraping the edge of a coin with the force of an itch across your back+front etc. for boosting circulation--most medical pictures on the internet are horror stories of it done wrong) to promote circulation and menthol/peppermint oil + absorption (and maybe circulation too) is a traditional practice that I also grew up with and found useful especially whenever I had respiratory ailments, especially with the flu and fevers.

In the past decade, there's a growing body of Western research showing properties in menthol and peppermint oil that support the practice [will post NIH/other peer reviewed links below].

1) you're increasing circulation, and often decreasing inflammation

2) they have antiviral+antibacterial properties

As I think about the Chinese COVID-19 MediXchange cases, several hospitals noted that they also issued Traditional Chinese Medicine along side with conventional medical treatments that the U.S. is trying to test to confirm now. Vietnam is it's own country with some of its own practices but I wouldn't be surprised if coining with a menthol is part of the mix too. In retrospect, the fact that the most popular ointment I grew up with has Chinese characters all over it probably means that it's a Chinese practice too...

...

And yeah, some folks would consider Asians Eastern, and Native Americans in the "West" (excluding the folks who consider land-bridge migration and pre-colonial African migration part of the history).

But the Ojibwe creation story begins in the East, plus their maps would start with East on top too. So I'm drafting the Aanishinabek brothers and sisters back into the Eastern delegation as this season's top pick along with the Wu Tang Clan.

Story-to-science and Eastern medicine ponderings (this post will be a thread for pasting research and considering science across cultural traditions):

In Ojibwe, the word for medicine--mashkiki--apparently translates to "strength of the earth." [I'll post a video later on that]

Chinese and Vietnamese traditional medicine share a lot of similarities--often, changes take an environmental approach over a longer periods of time rather than targeted at one particular ailment, and the effects are often gradual too.

i.e. eating bitter squash/melon a few times a month winds up preventing or flushing out parasitic infections. It's also used in the Philippines as a way to regulate insulin.

Or when ill, cạo gió--roughly translates to “catch wind/spirit[?]”-- agitating the skin with a coin (sometimes called "coining" = think of a massage, dragging/scraping the edge of a coin with the force of an itch across your back+front etc. for boosting circulation--most medical pictures on the internet are horror stories of it done wrong) to promote circulation and menthol/peppermint oil + absorption (and maybe also circulation if the oils actually do that) is a traditional practice that I also grew up with and found useful especially whenever I had respiratory ailments, especially with the flu and fevers.

In the past decade, there's a growing body of Western research showing properties in menthol and peppermint oil that support the practice [will post NIH/other peer reviewed links below].

1) you're increasing circulation, and often decreasing inflammation

2) they have antiviral+antibacterial properties

As I think about the Chinese COVID-19 AliBaba MediXchange cases, several hospitals including Wuhan's noted that they also issued Traditional Chinese Medicine along side with conventional medical treatments that the U.S. is trying to test to confirm now. Vietnam is it's own country with some of its own practices but I wouldn't be surprised if coining with a menthol is part of the mix too. In retrospect, the fact that the most popular ointment I grew up with has Chinese characters all over it probably means that it's a Chinese practice too...

...

And yeah, some folks would consider Asians Eastern, and Native Americans in the "West" (excluding the folks who consider land-bridge migration and pre-colonial African migration part of the history).

But the Ojibwe creation story begins in the East, plus their maps would start with East on top too. So I'm drafting the Aanishinabek brothers and sisters back into the Eastern delegation as this season's top pick along with the Wu Tang Clan.

 

 

 

 

......

 

 

 

Menthol essential oil vapor as:

1) anti-inflammatory

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2016.00170/full

2) antiviral

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ffj.3252

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6064118/

 

 

See treatments (U.S., Chinese, etc.) and updates in this thread for Health Care Workers:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10112982683270473&id=2256689

Or straight to China's COVID-19 handbook: https://covid-19.alibabacloud.com/

Trad Chinese Medicine for COVID-19

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7128263/

 

Pathfinders and PTSD

The good news is that you're not alone--there's probably a lot more folks who'd be labeled with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress "Disorder" around in high-functioning contexts than you'd think.

And at times like this, a lot of those behaviors actually aren't disorderly--they're necessary for survival, deeply human, and for better or worse always have been in our society given the context of experience many people endured.

But the more I learn about myself and others I've been privileged to know as friends and family-- veterans, returning citizens, refugees, domestic abuse survivors, friends from communities like Detroit that still suffer from legacies of racism and colonialism -- the arc of behaviors and healing from them are also fundamental to everyone's experience.

Dissociation and intrusive thoughts certainly have unpleasant directions--and I suspect they're also not too different from how people slip into daydreams. And literally as of 6 hours ago, I learned there are really sensible tools for changing that.

My friend Onyx Ashanti likes to say "the mind is the programmable conduit for intuition that exists between novelty and memory."

....

[mindfulness]

[neurobiology to trauma/sexual assault]

[guide for sexual assault survivors]

Finding Fitness

About 8 years ago, a friend said "can you make a video of your pushups?" Not one to disappoint, I promptly procrastinated until a pandemic took place to start encouraging my friends and fellow prospective fitness enthusiasts with an instructional video as requested.






As a way to help folks cope with staying inside when feasible, I'm putting together a short series of videos for exercising in cramped spaces as I've come to figure things out for myself.

However, amateur camera work, minimal planning, and marginal formal fitness training beyond a season and off-season of football conditioning led to a very scattered initial set of instructional videos.

Here's a working draft outline of what I intend to cover and the overarching format so that we can all benefit from some clarity.


Disclaimer:
Sleep, nourishment, stress, activity, flexibility, then exercise. If you've got limited access to food, or are juggling lots of stuff like kids and figuring out work don't get down on yourself about fitness. You're probably doing a lot already and the real trick is to figure out ways to make things more digestable and feasible or how to get support so that you can take appropriate care of yourself.


Breathing:
exhale on exertion
counting with heartbeats/breaths




Body:

do the basic exercises, note posture, etc. sense/connect with yourself

Mind:
Did you do what you set out to do qualitatively?
Did you do the numbers you intended to do?
Did you do your best?
Did you push yourself past discomfort?











Spirit:
How has your relationship with your body changed from when you started to where you are now?
Can you take confidence in having done something as a priority for yourself?
What will you choose to acknowledge or celebrate from the experience?


Indoor cardiovascular activity:

Windmills
Jumping jacks [loosen up limbs/general flexibility, get heart rate active]
Jump rope/imitation jump rope [cardio, mild calves, pectoral warm up for crossovers]
Just jumping up and down [engage the calves]
Dancing, or as James Brown might suggest: Get up offa' that thing!




Core
Sit ups
crunches
twist
oblique torques
scissors
flutter kicks
almost dragon flags

Pushups
Basic pushup:
from knees
full plank pushup
diamond [tricep]
knuckle pushups
finger pushups
two-finger/hand pushups

variations

Squats
Pistol squats
Lunges
Wall sits
Donkey kicks
Hydrants

Combination exercises:
mountain climbers - pushups
burpees (run in place, get down, do pushup, jump squat up, run in place, repeate)
down-ups (run in place, drop straight to pushup)

Probably borrowed from yoga with zero breathing context
Pushups+hydrants



mindfulness

Managing chaos: Treat the news like nutrition.

Managing chaos: information flow aka "news"
The news was never designed for empowerment beyond delivering [typically problematic] information and I definitely know there are plenty of folks who set up to capitalize on that--my recommendation is unless working on the front lines, limit media intake to every 2-3 days rather than daily.

On the flip side for medical professionals--since it's not something folks were prepared to deal with, figuring out things like anticipated case load, updates on medical developments, etc. are really important.

But for medical professionals that means they have very few ways to "leave work at work" and that's bound to lead to major mental health challenges.
So here's my parallel to nutrition:

You can limit screen time + set up a kind of media nutrition plan like you would with kids. During the pandemic, unless you're front-lining or the work/community depends on it once every 2-3 days will get you what you need to know with time to digest, discuss, and share. 

Pre-pandemic, I'd say once a week is enough to be up to date on current events since you can start to track patterns and get summaries rather than ride roller coaster theatrics.

It lets you identify patterns (trends across multiple articles), and manage the flow. It's the same reason why high-performing professionals often prioritize specific times of day for email/social media rather than being plugged in all the time (unless that's their job).

There's also something to be said about:

1) identifying what you can do,

2) what your community can do,

3) and what people in your "community*" can do.

(*whatever that means to you)

Everything else that's beyond your agency and only worth noting as part of the landscape but not engaging--and the landscape shifts periodically just as the earth does in real life if you learn how to watch it.

Focus on hyperlocal/things you can control/change/facilitate for everything else.

8 years later, and the lesson learned
from making this epic meal still applies:
it's possible to overdo the good stuff in one sitting.

You can't eat everything from a grocery store at once. Nor would you eat and drink 12 heavy meals over the course of 12 hours daily, would you?

There's a point when you can overdo the good stuff, and the "news" isn't always made with nor presented as good stuff even when starting with raw ingredients like actual data.

The difference here is that "news" is almost constantly being "fed", if not force-fed to you through your news feed.

Given how most of us in the U.S. haven't been taught how to manage media intake, or even portion sizes for nourishing nutrition, it's not a surprise a lot of people might feel fatigued and overwhelmed.

I find myself needing to be just as mindful about how and what we communicate as I recognize the arc of neurological response when it comes to trauma.
...

[[[[ For those who want the actual tool for navigating big messy problems like being in a crisis amid crises--here's a guide to navigating wicked systems/processes I originally made for a symposium:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ZWASyBqmHHcGFyVkxWNTEyYTA/view?usp=sharing  ]]]]




[Below: a previous writing/response for someone who asked "how do you handle all this news?!?]

The best bet for staving media fatigue is to:

1) if your work+community doesn't rely on 24/7 updates, create structure for yourself--a media diet/regimen that's about 2-3 days.

This is often enough to stay on top of an evolving situation while providing sense of structure, time to digest and recognize patterns or areas to discuss conflicting information..

2) Reverse-engineer and create our own public health and community strategy. Localize how we can make a difference with it.

What's our own roadmap for getting our needs met as a community (or block/family/myself)?

Am I interested and with capacity to influence what happens between neighbors?

my block?

the city?

region? etc.

Who else is doing this and how will we support each other without or even more useful, with strain?

What does straining ourselves look like as a community?

So for #1:
I've started a nascent group of folks across 5 states (CA, IN, MI, NY, VT but mostly Detroit area) who've kept their finger on the pulse of news+education about the pandemic and typically have some background in science or organizing.

As I've seen things, here are our priorities:

0) Stay inside when you can to slow the spread/reduce the risk of spreading -- CDC's social distance and mask guidelines aren't enough

1)Educate, prepare, and hold each other accountable for how to navigate the pandemic with credible information

2) Support Health Care workers (advocate for PPE coordination+delivery, food, mental health, making opportunities for life to exist away from the workplace--celebrate, talk about sports, whatever with them)

3) Support ongoing efforts for improving/supporting existing community priorities and crises like water shutoffs, elder care, incarcerated + detainees and returning citizens, advance collective and cooperative responsibility and economics