Just Putting This Here Where I Wont Lose It

You are Not Lazy or Undisciplined. You Have Internal Resistance.

Why you can’t just do it, and what to do instead

Just putting this here where I won’t lose it…

Indigenous Science Saturday

This week we focus on Native American ways of scientific knowledge with three publications from our Native American Literature Collection. The first is a 2013 publication by UW-Madison plant ecology PhD and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry professor Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, published in Minneapolis by Milkweed Editions. In her book, Kimmerer, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, focuses on plants and botany as seen through Native American traditions and Western scientific traditions by foregrounding alternative forms of Indigenous knowledge outside of traditional scientific methodologies. Critically acclaimed, the book was on the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post bestseller lists and received the 2014 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award.

Standing Rock Sioux educator, academic, and activist Vine Deloria, Jr.’s 1997 book Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact, published in Golden, Colorado by Fulcrum Publishing, while quite popular, has been critically panned for privileging Indigenous belief systems over scientific evidence. In the book, Deloria presents a critique of Western scientific models of Native American origins and the idea that Indigenous peoples were partially responsible of the extinction of North American megafauna. Deloria likens the dominant migration theory to “academic folklore.”

The last example is an early issue from our collection of Winds of Change, the magazine of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), a nationally distributed magazine focused on “career and educational advancement for American Indians/Alaska Natives/Native Hawaiians/First Nations, with an emphasis on STEM,” founded in 1986 and still published five times a year. We are particularly fascinated by the IBM advertisement on the back cover of this issue for “Native American Craft,” promoting the engineering manufacturing of Cherokee Nation Industries, today owned by Cherokee Nation Businesses.

View more Science Saturday posts.

Getting Involved Masterpost

I’ve been compiling links to resources and organizations that are doing important work to support the most vulnerable people during this pandemic. If you’ve been feeling helpless to fight all the awful things that are happening, here’s some ways you can help. Do what you are able to - donating, volunteering, protesting, joining a union, contacting your government representatives, and simply spreading information are all good actions to take right now.

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief - resources for getting involved in mutual aid efforts. https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/collective-care/

Mutual Aid Hub - map for locating mutual aid resources and groups in your area that you can donate to or get involved in. https://www.mutualaidhub.org/

Never Again Action - organization fighting against ICE detention centers. https://www.neveragainaction.com/

Feeding America - all food banks are in desperate need of support right now, donate or find your local food banks here. https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank

Black and Pink - organization for prison abolition and support for incarcerated ppl who are LGBT/HIV+. https://www.blackandpink.org

Movimiento Cosecha - organization for undocumented immigrants, in need of donations. https://www.lahuelga.com/

Indigenous Mutual Aid Directory - resource for indigenous-led mutual aid groups. https://www.indigenousmutualaid.org/

Covid-19 Resources for Undocumented Immigrants - google doc spreadsheet of resources for uncoumented immigrants. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18p9OSlLpSYanIoUC-gEbhVbRMYVUfw4wyrixa9ekGdc/htmlview?fbclid=IwAR0euDbk5OiWd7EgBPKUPm01wCjCb-Z8-KiZK4EBlR53J0VNpVvQYTJy4eY&sle=true#gid=0

COVID-19 Sex Worker Harm Reduction Resources (U.S. Based) - google doc of resources for sex workers. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GpmUbu7UDCKtbnsBwImFLQtXzHLlZ6FYPY_NjJvyiFs/edit

It’s Going Down - information, news, current actions, and resources about anti-capitalism and mutual aid. https://itsgoingdown.org/

Detention Watch Network - coalition against ICE detention camps. https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/covid-19

Amnesty International - campaign to end human rights abuses. https://www.amnesty.org/

Food Not Bombs - organization providing food and supplies to people in need. http://foodnotbombs.net/new_site

General Strike 2020 - information about the general strike that is being organized in many places on May 1st, as well as other labor and rent strikes. https://www.genstrike.org/may-day-guide/

IWW - International Workers Union https://iww.org/

ResistBot - service that makes it easy to contact your representatives (USA) about important issues. https://resist.bot

Please reblog this, and if anyone has more links to share, please add on!

Your daily reminder you can download a FREE copy of Stone Butch Blues off of Leslie Feinberg’s website

Places To Post Original Fiction

1.)  Commaful – a friendly and supportive writing community, smaller but denser than Wattpad, and far more active and engaging.

2.)  FictionPress – original fiction’s answer to FanFiction.net.  If you’re familiar with that format, you’ll be familiar with this.  

3.)  Smashwords – an ebook publishing platform that also welcomes short stories, and collections thereof.

4.)  WritersCafe – old-school but solid, with an active community and plenty of contests/challenges to get the creative juices pumping.

5.)  Medium – a place where you can post, essentially, anything and everything.  Articles and non-fiction are its biggest market, but fiction is welcome as well.

6.)  Booksie – less community-based, with fewer interactions and comments.  However, it still attracts great talent, and can be great for authors who are shy and don’t want to get bombarded with interaction.

7.)  RoyalRoad – a rich community, with a strong emphasis on mutual support between authors.  Focuses on web novels, fanfiction, and original stories.

8.)  FanStory – an oldie but a goody.  Don’t be fooled by the name – it seems to be predominantly original fiction, and offers contests with cash prizes. 

9.)  Young Writers Society – as the name suggests, oriented towards writers in their teens and twenties, but is by no means exclusive to authors of this age bracket. 

10.)  Wattpad – Wattpad provides users with the opportunity to post original fiction and gain a loyal following.  It’s not for everyone, but some people swear by it.  

On that note, you can also post original fiction to AO3 and FanFiction, but as they are predominantly for fan works, I decided not to include them on this list.  What’s your favorite way to post original fiction?

Happy writing, everybody!

Before You Follow

This is a list of things I am or believe:

Ship and let ship

Your Kink/Ship is Not My Kink/Ship and That's Okay

You don't have to be a part of an in-group to like things made by and for that group

Pro-fujoshi/fudanshi/fujin, pro-himejoshi/himedanshi/himejin

You're allowed to self-ship however you like

Anti-harassment, anti-censorship, thought crimes don't exist

Prisons are obsolete

All peoples deserve equality and equity; fuck bigotry

Radically inclusive, radically compassionate

Different forms of oppression exist and intersect on many axes

I ❤ anarchy; fuck capitalism

Indigenous peoples deserve sovereignty over their land

All bodies have worth; this includes fat people and disabled people

Everyone deserves bodily autonomy

Pro-choice

I block liberally; don't be an arsehole