Thursday Bram's Newsletter — February 2022 Edition
The last month flew past. I did manage to get a few things done since the last newsletter, so here’s a few links to look at!
A talk about scaling up legal support with no budget and no time
I delivered my talk about the Django app we use to organize support for protestors arrested in Portland during the George Floyd Uprising. PyCascades already has a video up and I’ve posted my slides and script from the talk. This 30-minute talk represents countless hours of work by a full team of people and, if you find it valuable, I encourage you to donate to the Portland GDC because protestors are still dealing with legal fallout. You can donate through CashApp, Venmo, or by mail to PDX GDC, 2249 East Burnside Street, Portland, OR 97214.
A Python unicorn chaser
You can probably guess that my talk is a rough one to get through, given its topic. Since I had a short story I wrote for Our Python, an anthology of fan works about the Python programming language, I went ahead and posted it. It’s short and sweet, so it’s a good follow up to such a hard talk. The story is titled “Backwards Compatibility” and is available on Archive of Our Own.
Campaign finance in Oregon
Over at PDX.Vote, I’ve been posting regular digests of local political news. I also wrote a deep dive into how political campaigns are funded in Oregon — the shortest summary is that politicians can do basically whatever they want around here, because Oregon is one of only a handful of states with no restrictions on campaign contributions.
Other posts and updates
I created a list of writing style guides on Bookshop.org, including 2022 editions wherever possible. My past lists of style guides linked to a terrifying capitalistic juggernaut and I didn’t like that.
I wrote a Twitter thread about what sorts of articles and other media I’m interested in commissioning for PDX.Vote. It also covers pay rates and how to submit pitches!
And because I enjoy intercalary periods a little too much, I also wrote a Twitter thread about leap years in the Hebrew calendar and how Adar I and Adar II work.
Links to other folks’ work
If y’all have been following the events in the Winnemucca Indian Colony, you may have come across Simona Bearcub’s tweets. Simona has been on the ground to support Indigenous elders in protecting their homes. She has a GoFundMe campaign to cover some her expenses. I know Simona and can vouch for her (to the point that I was comfortable with helping set up the GFM). Please consider supporting Simona with a contribution. And if you haven’t been following what’s happening in the Winnemucca Indian Colony, I’d recommend this article by Sean Parsons and reading through the posts on Newe’neen So’ko’pa’s Instagram account. Elders at the Winnemucca Indian Colony are also asking for financial support.