First Day of Autumn: bittertwist, unexpected but welcomed
Thank you; a small request for help.
Before I begin, I want to thank everyone who's been helping out in any way (with kind words, supporting funds, referrals, etc.) during these layoffs. My former colleagues have information listed about their current job hunting status, please reach out to someone on that list if you have or know of any opportunities for them.
Related, a friend of mine is looking for creative writing opportunities as well as copywriting, graphic design, editing, and research and development. You can learn more from their portfolio page!
Lastly, not a request but an invitation to the tech worker labor conference happening in New York City on 7 Oct. Workers of Code for America, Nava, FindHelp, Bandcamp and the like will all be there!
Returning home and reads
I touched down in Florida mid-morning on Saturday. As we disembarked, I was at the point in Doppelganger where Naomi Klein when she speaks about the increasing harm and platforming her doppelganger has and how much of it seems to be the twisted form of her stances. She also spoke about the tough nature of wanting to communicate in a world that requires one to build a brand in order to exist. This felt really relevant today as the influencer age begins to overlap with that of the celebrity, as written by Emily Hund. This reminds of the nature of work now, where if you're skilled enough, have enough people in your network and are able to summon luck like none other, you can get a job without having things like a degree. At times, having the degree seems to help less, depending on the kind of work. It's oddly encouraging now because people are (rightfully) becoming more anti-corporate—both in the lifestyle and the labor approach. The rise of independent contractors is very similar to that during the pre-Industrial Revolution movement of workers that labor radicals were down for, mentioned more in Private Government; pg. 33 to 34. This hybrid approach—choosing to work independently or working in a collective fashion—is something that's forcing a lot of reckoning in this space, and I'm here for it!
Updates
I mentioned some time ago that I'm working on a longer read about Black capitalism within tech. I've been reading a lot from folks like W.E.B DuBois, Claudia Jones, Robert Allen and Joy Buolamwini. I'll share a link to an excerpt soon, but I'm excited to work on this messaging as we also see the resurging nature of white-collar labor activism. Baldwin, in “The Fire Next Time”, spoke of the Black bourgeois:
The affluent population, which should have been their [depressed Black populations] help, didn't, as far as could be discovered, read, either—they merely bought books and devoured them, but not in order to learn: in order to learn new attitudes.
That line has been sticking in my head as both a call-out to myself (as I do have a book collection issue) and a bit of a litmus test to hold those I come across (do you just like listing off titles or did you read it?) around topics like intergenerational wealth, Black capitalism and the like. I'm hoping that this becomes something that more folks can use as a mirror; a similar one I held myself up to some years ago, and how it's shifted how I choose to show up in the places I can be in.
I'm wiped after a week of high activity—more on that next week. I hope you enjoyed this; I'll update you soon.