Hi all. Last week Alice Wong left us. Alice was a disability justice activist, a MacArthur Fellow, a staunch advocate for Palestine, and an unbelievably generous friend.

Hi everyone, it looks like I ran out of time. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plans to create new stories for you. There are a few in progress that might come to fruition in a few years if things work out. I did not ever imagine I would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more. As a kid riddled with insecurity and internalized ableism, I could not see a path forward. It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin. We need more stories about us and our culture. You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment. Our wisdom is incisive and unflinching. I'm honored to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.

If you're not familiar with Alice Wong, I recommend Steven Thrasher's essay.

Losing her derailed me for the past several days, and I have to admit I'm still not fully recovered, but I appreciated people coming to the video chat on Saturday, where it became an impromptu reflection on Alice's impact on all of us who were there.

I'm taking this week to think about Alice. If you want to read Health Communism's chapter from last week ("BORDER"), that's what I plan to write some reflections on later this week. Basically another try at last week. We'll talk about it on Saturday, since we didn't really discuss the book last weekend.

If you're motivated to make a donation to a charity in her memory, Alice co-founded the Crips for eSIMs for Gaza project with Jane Shi and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Through that charity, they have so far raised more than a million dollars for Palestinians. If you can donate the money for an eSIM for Palestinians in Gaza, I would personally be very grateful.

If you have questions, thoughts, comments, observations, or anything else you'd like to share, please feel free to reach out.

Okay, thanks for reading; more to share on Friday.