Solidarity forever
I don’t know if I’ve ever spent an entire week doing only things related to labor organizing.
As I mentioned last week, I am starting a new position soon. I still haven’t gotten the go-ahead to formally announce, but I feel comfortable saying that I’m going to be the Library Director for a music conservatory. Because I’m going to have some degree of hiring/firing power, control of a budget, and a lot of decision-making power, I’m going to be a class of employee who can’t unionize. I’m gonna be The Man.
I only got to be in a unionized position for two and a half years. Leaving my union makes me break down sobbing when I think about it. I grew up in a strong union family. My grandpa was a coal miner, meaning I went to a lot of United Mine Workers of America picnics as a kid. My current position is the first unionized job I’ve ever had. The graduate employees when I was in grad school were unionized, but the library school students were put into a class of graduate employees who could not join the bargaining unit. I joined the union, but I was not unionized. When I finally got a union job, I was so proud of myself. Eventually, I became our library rep, and a little later, the Executive Committee invited me to take a position on the committee. I couldn’t wait to tell my dad.
Some of the most fulfilling work I’ve done has been with my union. It lit a fire in my blood that hadn’t been fed since I supported a non-tenure track faculty strike in grad school. I watched the movie Pride with my ex in the fall, and I cried the whole time. The hope and purpose that solidarity and labor organizing gives me is unlike anything else in my life.
I’m tearing up writing this.
On Tuesday, fellow members of my union’s Executive Committee took me out for celebratory goodbye drinks. I felt so loved and appreciated. The next day, I flew out to the 2022 Biennial AAUP Meeting as our chapter delegate. For the rest of the week, I was around nobody except for labor organizers. I voted for council members and a nationwide AAUP/AFT affiliation, on behalf of every single person in my collective bargaining unit (more than 400 people).
When I got home, I realized…that was it. This upcoming Friday will be my last day as a union employee for the foreseeable future. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all this fire. I don’t know how I’m going to meet this need in my soul.
Solidarity forever, comrades. Nothing can ever stop me from being in the fight with you.
✒️ What I’m writing
I’m still in full Cronenberg-mode, so I wrote a few notes about our relationship to our tools and took it in a very embodied direction.
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Trusting our tools means trusting the people who built those tools
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Using a tool creates a sensual relationship between its users and its creators
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The mind is also a tool which we trust and with which we have a sensual relationship
🎨 What I’m creating
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056 - The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover feat. Kayte - librarypunk
My podcast had Kayte on to watch the film The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. It was a blast. It got me thinking about the phrase “information diet” which gets thrown around in the personal knowledge management scene. It’s a term I do not like at all, but it was an interesting framework through which to watch a film where food and consumption plays an important role.
📖 What I’m reading
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Atomic Habits by James Clear
I finally finished this book! I need to go through all the supplemental worksheets and whatnot with my ADHD coach. I found its methodology for habit formation interesting, and I’m excited to see how helpful it is for me.
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Digital Zettelkasten: Principles, Methods, & Examples by David Kadavy
This was a short book I skimmed at the end of one of my flights. It was okay. I already knew a lot of the information in it, and I disagreed with some of the explanations given. However, for people interested in the Zettelkasten method, it’s a great place to start if you don’t want to invest in How to Take Smart Notes.
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Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
I only just started reading this, so I don’t have much of an opinion yet. I took the course in the spring, and I imagine the book will be some version of what I learned but without the live support of mentors and a community.
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Bad Gays by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller
Again, only just started. Bad Gays is my favorite podcast. Can’t wait to read the Mishima chapter.
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Before Ideals Comes The Body: A Cronenberg Retrospective by Jon Greenaway
Reading this inspired much of the writing I did in the past week. Jon is brilliant, and I love the way he walks the reader through Cronenberg’s explorations of the mind and body. If you read one thing this week, make it this. Also, listen to the Horror Vanguard podcast and support Jon’s other work on Patreon.
🎥 What I’m watching
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The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) dir. Peter Greenaway
Insert “yes…ha ha ha…yes!” sicko meme here.
I adored this film. I can’t remember the last time I watched a film so decadently lush. If you can stomach (ha) a little violence and a pretty fucked up murder scene, seriously check it out. I cannot stop thinking about how the film conveys information and what it says about different modes of information transmission. The moment when I first realized the costumes changed color depending on the room the characters were in, I gasped. I can’t get enough of how the film portrays intimacy and the way tenderness is communicated between people.
🎶 What I’m listening to
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Ugly Season by Perfume Genius
I was tickled pink to see this notification in my Spotify a few days ago. I love Perfume Genius. Saw him live a few months ago. This new album blew me away. It’s so experimental, yet reminds me a lot of his earlier lo-fi work. I’m not a music critic by any means, so you should read Pitchfork’s review if you’re curious.
🐈⬛ Obligatory pictures of 👑 Arthur
I haven’t been away from Arthur this long since 2020. It was torture.