Thursday Bram's Newsletter — January 2022 Edition
I’m still writing 2020 on things, but I’ve been informed that 2022 is here to stay. Here are a few things I’ve worked on since the last newsletter.
A new zine for Tu B’Shvat
I’ve been thinking for a while about what it means to observe Tu B’Shvat in a way that doesn’t compound harm. I published a new zine last week on that topic, titled Towards a New Tu B’Shvat, along with a blog post of resources that go further into depth. You’re probably done with your holiday reading for 5682, but maybe you’ll find it worth bookmarking for next year.
A deep dive on Oregon circuit judges
I’m continuing to post digests of local election news at PDX.Vote. I also wrote a longer piece explaining how circuit judges are selected in Oregon, because it’s something I struggled to understand when I first got into following Portland-area races. I’ll be getting into more details about specific judicial races soon, too!
An update on A Portland Christmas Carol
In last month’s newsletter, I mentioned I was working on a fundraiser for the Portland GDC. I offered copies of A Portland Christmas Carol for donations. I’m happy to share that we raised just over $300, after processing fees. I also wrote up the entire process in case anyone else has the inclination to adapt classic stories into fundraisers. While the ebook is no longer available, the Portland GDC still needs financial support. You can donate through CashApp or Venmo.
Other posts and updates
I’m speaking at PyCascades on February 5th about the technology the Portland GDC uses to manage bail and legal support. Tickets range from $10 to $50.
Here’s a list of the best things I read in 2021 (and maybe 2020 because time is a blur).
I shared a thread about Kachka, a Portland restaurant, doing away with tipping on Twitter, as well as another thread about the George Washington statue that stood in Portland until Juneteenth 2020.
Links to other folks’ work you should know about
Cozca, one of the folks facing still facing charges in Portland from the George Floyd Uprising, is dealing with a dental emergency and a major car repair right now, on top of the ongoing strain of getting ready for trial. If you're in a position to do so, please consider donating to her GoFundMe.
For technologists looking to add top-notch hissing to your projects, may I recommend Hiss Garden? Hiss Garden offers easy integration of Hissing-as-a-Service! Sadly, this site is currently a parody, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the creator will build out tooling so that I can automatically hiss at certain elected officials whenever they do something terrible.