Notices by that one JNL (jordinn@zirk.us), page 3

To act is a choice. To do nothing is a choice. Slow walking a response is a choice. The lesser of two evils: also a choice. Choosing something and then misrepresenting what you chose: two choices.

Life has always been full of choices. Some people want this to remain unacknowledged; the responsibility that comes with claiming agency is uncomfortable, and it's true also that YOUR agency, specifically, could pose a threat.

Our agency is very powerful. It builds worlds. You build worlds.

I'm spending a few minutes on New England's south coast, and continue (as someone from far away from any of these places) to find it hilarious and remarkable that Massachusetts likes to inscribe on rocks and monuments a story of how its white settlers were persecuted by England so they set up a new AND BETTER nation, and Rhode Island does exactly the same but its story is that it was persecuted by Massachusetts.

This is greeted with a stoic silence from MA that I imagine has lasted 350 years

In these parts the MA-RI state line is a wobbly and thrice-contested thing; it is not uncommon for those from the adjacent MA side to be back and forth across it several times a day. Despite this, I have never heard ANY acknowledgement of this history.

Me: Y'all, do you hear what they are saying about you?
MA:As our forefathers instructed, we shall not dignify this with a response

This kind of move doesn't happen as often as you'd imagine- New England really puts the pro in provincial- but for the kids who do relocate MA to RI during their school years, or vice versa, the social studies "founding story" culture shock must be INTENSE. The MA history core curriculum is to this day extremely problematic both factually and spiritually and it's not an exaggeration to say that having it inflicted on our kids was among our 95 theses on leaving. The mythos, THE LEGEND 😂 🙄

I just saw, as I do here daily, a sarcastic response to a headline about expansion of a progressive program, which read "Hmm, vote to make my life better, or vote against my own interests. how to decide?"

THIS. IS. NOT. THE QUESTION. Never was. Not for anyone.

It's "Vote to make my life better, OR *VOTE TO MAKE OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES WORSE*" and people do it because they are told that this is THE ACTUAL WAY to make their own lives better, and this news feels AWESOME to a threat-activated brain.

@inthehands @misc

Black Humanist theologian Anthony Pinn makes this the basis of his work. We create spaces for meaningful liberation- "spaces for the greater practice of freedom," which are real and life-bettering and which INEVITABLY collapse. And, even while they are collapsing, others form. Pinn posits that our ethical and meaning-making work throughout our lives is thus helping to create these practice spaces, even knowing that sometimes WE will fail, and that eventually THEY will, too.

@JaneGray He was my LITERAL LAST CHOICE out of the primary possibilities because he is NOT A PROGRESSIVE and from what I can see, this headline claim is DEMONSTRABLY TRUE.

@JaneGray This is not a winning tagline with a lot of us (and in fact gets to the heart of the disconnect that has some folx lashing out in rage), but Biden has played the hand he was dealt in ways that would exceed every sim you ran, delivered results mostly unheard of, and tried for those (student debt cancellation) that others haven't dared. I don't get personally wedded to (nor personally vitriolic re:) public officials in the way that many seem to, and I'm happy to applaud a job well done.

Bet on people choosing their own near-term comfort the vast majority of the time, even in situations of near-emergency. Use this awareness to set up systems that make actions toward public benefit more comfortable.

I do NOT mean an individual-choice consumer framework, though that does fall under this wider umbrella.

Regulation affects comfort. Taxation affects comfort. Tort law affects comfort. Shame affects comfort.

The status quo, the simple FACT of it, soothes people's neural grooves.

"The Fediverse shouldn't block; we should WIN ON THE TERRAIN OF CAPITAL by innovating and out-competing [one of the best funded companies in the entire world, and one that has literally evolved to enclose and parasitize all competitors]"

is a really stupid take

I want the US press to cover fascists the way they cover Gazans, and conversely to offer profiles of Gazans in the way that they've offered profiles of fascists.

The progressive church deals with this situation ALL THE TIME.

And certainly, there can be something other than "us," "them," and a demilitarized zone in between. It is possible with some donors and in some moments to do some "donor education," and to help people understand that giving really does ask a certain selflessness; it's faith-forward toward the future.

This kind of transformative dialogue requires openness and skin in the game, though. Sometimes it's just not there.

"No" is love.

And in case this isn't clear, let's make it so: this isn't a JEWISH fight anymore than needing to access medical care and use the bathroom safely is a TRANS issue or a WOMEN'S situation.

The content is a distraction.
The content is a distraction.
The content is a distraction.

This is about power, both expanding it as far as possible for one vision (winner takes all and crony capitalism, basically), and also about minimizing threats (liberal institutions etc) that exist for an opposing vision.

What's fascinating here is that none of the institutions involved need these donations. They are, as has been amply pointed out across the previous decade, essentially hedge funds with classrooms attached in terms of endowment size and sufficiency relative to stated mission.

NOTHING EXISTENTIAL IS AT STAKE HERE.

Except for literally everything.

"But people are watching."

Oh, you bet they are.

Including those who are learning that the way to deal with fear and hurt feelings and ruffled feathers is to take the ball and go home. This situation is the crucible that forms your next opponent.

And you get to tell that next person, now, what they can expect from you then.

Is your institution, now and going forward, for sale?

This #MIT /Penn "antisemitism" dustup is a fake fight.

But the wrestling for power behind it is very, VERY real.

And the only way out is to know who you are as an institution--to DECIDE it, right now, sourcing from the best that you have seen, the deepest truths of what you are trying to be together, the future you are not willing to lose--AND THEN SAY THE GRACIOUS NO.

Hold the line, quietly defend your presidents, and recenter your mission again and again.

Let it walk, or lose what matters.

The institutional church has something to share re: this "how dare these university presidents/I'm taking my donation away" fake fight, and it's this: the only way out is to know who you are enough to let the donation walk.

You will be utterly at the mercy of the tempers, feelings, grandstanding and reactivity of those you let control you with their dollars.

The hardest thing to get about this: it's not about money. And it's not about content. It's about power.

#academia

Our seventh grader is required to e-mail my spouse each week as an "update" in social studies. These read like the involuntary communications that they are.

Things I have eaten today, a complete list: coffee; a boston cream donut from Tim Horton's; 'spicy chicken' 99 cent ramen noodles; Ruffles potato chips; half a shortbread cookie; more coffee; eggnog; half a brownie; half a glass of milk.

I do not recommend this. My liver does not recommend this. This is such a diversion from my normal eating habits that I am truly in awe- I don't think I knew I was capable of this.

I share this in the name of science. 😂 abject lack of sleep, high stress, lack of immediately available better options, a tight schedule, and being surrounded by (and offered) these items results in my eating this way.

I am normally a 'makes own vegetable broth from scratch; has a nutritious soup and a casserole in the fridge' kind of person.

IT'S CONTAGIOUS