📙
I recently read Judith Jarvis Thomson's A Defense of Abortion which covers all it's bases, arguing on multiple fronts that abortion is murder, and is good. Which I feel isn't a common argument. Will have to do a deeper read later.
Feb 13, 2025
Related Recs
〰️
1. The crane wife - really popular a couple of years ago, a fantastic personal essay about relationships and a field-trip https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/16/the-crane-wife/
2. Why keeping a pet is fundamentally unethical - very interesting essay, I don’t necessary agree with the premise but I think it made a great attempt and has changed how I see pets and our power in relation to other beings in https://aeon.co/essays/why-keeping-a-pet-is-fundamentally-unethical
3. Is Justified True Belief Knowledge. This is really cool philosophical (logic) paper, and i am bringing it to you in two parts - read the link first, it is an explanation of the paper (for those of us who are not philosophers). then read the paper itself (search The name of the essay in google- east to find a pdf) https://jsomers.net/blog/gettiers
4. Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native - fantastic essay on what it sounds like, by Patrick Wolfe, the originator of the field of settler colonial theory. For me (stem guy, no arts background) it’s pretty confusing and dense but I keep returning to it and taking a little more every time, especially bc of the great Australian specific analysis. PDF easily available online
Sep 30, 2024
📚
i see you are reading machiavelli and i expect others can/will recommend you other classical political theory so i will recommend a mix of things that are not! those works can be useful but definitely should be read alongside a variety of other voices and perspectives
books:
- A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn - solid history book that intentionally avoids the nationalist lens in mainstream depictions of US history
- Our History Has Always Been Contraband ed. by Colin Kaepernick, Robin D. G. Kelley, and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor - great intro to Black social & political thought and the history of Black Studies
- Normal Life by Dean Spade - very dense, a critique of the gay rights movement by a trans lawyer
- Mutual Aid by Dean Spade & The Care Manifesto by The Care Collective - accessible, short books that criticize contemporary social services and div of labor in care work
- Elite Capture by Olúfémi O Táíwò - critique of identity politics
- Transgender History by Susan Stryker - very accessible book on the history of trans politics and culture
- The Souls of Black Folk by WEB Du Bois - foundational text for critical race theory
a few books on my tbr list i see freq recommended that you may find useful:
- A People’s Guide to Capitalism by Hadas Thier - more accessible than Marx etc
- Abolition. Feminism. Now. by Angela Davis, Gina Dent et al. - the overlap of feminism and prison abolition
- The Case for Open Borders by John Washington - self-explanatory
- An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz - self-explanatory
- The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan - of its time but foundational 2nd wave feminist text
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein - self-explanatory
- Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics by Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick - criticism of progressive left-wing politics inability to be consistent on Palestine
some other misc media:
- Democracy Now news station/podcast - far better than most mainstream media IMO
- 5-4 podcast - fun, accessible critical analyses of supreme court cases
- Southlake podcast - case study on modern right-wing school board politics in the US
- Amended podcast (i have not finished yet) - more nuanced history of women’s fight for equality
- The 1619 Project essay collection - uses a critical lens to analyze American historical figures and events
- Working Class History & Making Gay History podcasts - self-explanatory
- 13th documentary dir. by Ava DuVernay - looks at the US prison system and the central role of racism in its construction/maintenance
- Crip Camp documentary dir by James LeBrecht and Nicole Newnhan - follows part of the disability rights movement
Jun 17, 2024
📖
doing my readings and every time i just come back and think about this essay. probably one of the few things in my entire undergrad that stuck out to me.
Feb 6, 2024
Top Recs from @witty-white-goose
🫂
Sometimes I think people miss the social part of asking people questions, if the person knows the answer or not there’s a lot of opportunities for jokes, improv, information, and researching together.
Feb 12, 2025
Experimenting with a marker with a cut off tip I found.
Fun Fact: When these berries ferment birds eat them and get drunk!
Feb 24, 2025
🌲
I'm not a poem writer, but I do enjoy creative writing and I've found when I'm facing any form of creative slump going somewhere new is always helpful. Taking a walk and observing the architecture(historical context of the neighborhood), sitting in your local library, a shower/bath, visit a restaurant, a park, take a break and go hang out with friends with a notebook tucked in your bag just in case.
Changing scenery always does me wonders.
Feb 11, 2025