In the prelude to my last blog entry, I raised some questions about diversity and taste: how do we evaluate the equity of our personal taste? Does that question even make sense? How much of what we call our taste is malleable, the result of environment and choice, and how…
Looking over this list, I see there are still a lot of places for me to reconsider my media intake. Few of the artists I’ve mentioned here are Black, and, although I’m allowed to like the artists I like, the fact that this list doesn’t reflect the diversity of the…
As you can tell by this blog entry, these reminders are as much for me as for readers of this blog. The long haul is hard, but we can do it. This month, the Black Solidarity Fund (via Canada Helps) benefits from donation-matching. If you’re in a position where financial…
This month, I’m focussing on being mindful of who receives my discretionary spending. I’m fortunate to have some money to put toward recreation, so I’m going to focus on paying Black creators. I’m buying Black authors’ ebooks after enjoying them from the library and joining the Patreons of the Black…
Some of the phrases used to dismiss calls for equity for marginalized groups do something weird: they take words that, definition-wise, seem like a good thing, and insinuate that it’s bad. For example, consider the infamous “Social Justice Warrior” (SJW). Opponents use this term to disparage those who advocate for…
Fellow Canadian? Here’s another collection of links for places to support Black Lives Matter in and outside Canada, and great resources for finding Black-owned businesses in Toronto. I’ve committed to be more mindful about where I spend my money–it’s difficult, especially during a pandemic, but I’m getting there! Apart from…
First, Black Lives Matter: if, like me, you live in Toronto, and you’re wondering where to get your hands on some of the books from the links in my last post, you can borrow a lot of them from OverDrive here. If you’re Canadian, you can donate to Black Lives…
My husband laughed at me when I said that I’d stopped watching the first season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine because it had hit an episode with a trope I can’t watch. I mean, he laughed gently, just like the other people I told when they recommended the show to me. But…
(At first, I thought this blog entry might not work during social isolation, since nobody is running into anybody now. But then I realized–actually, this is the perfect time to post! There are no stakes, people can consider the ideas without having to apply them right away, and nobody will…
Let’s get one thing straight: nobody has to write King Lear during social distancing. “Productivity” is not a priority. If your social distancing means chilling and/or taking care of the day-to-day and/or just focusing on surviving, then that’s what you should do. For me, with my individual personality and disposition,…