5 Things / Cringe
Today begins Pride month and our team has a bunch of workshops coming up (respond to book one!) In our planning sessions, a common theme is people being afraid of saying the wrong thing, of getting the LGBTQ letters wrong, or out of order. So they say nothing and the great disconnect continues.
5 Things / Connection Matters
I think it bears repeating to remember to create intentional space for connection before content.
5 Things / Remembrance
This week was (and still is through today) Trans Awareness Week. This week culminates in the Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR) tomorrow, on November 20th. TDOR was started in 1999 by a transgender advocate as a vigil to the memory of Rita Hester who was killed in anti-transgender violence. The somber nature of the end of the week stands in contrast to the prior 7 days when trans people (and cisgender allies) educate and take action.
5 Things / Nextdoor nudges
This week I learned that the Nextdoor app added nudges to the user experience to reduce racial profiling and online bullying. The app prompts users who appear to be reporting a crime to consider whether what they're seeing is really a crime (walking in a neighborhood isn't, for example) and to not rely on racial description in their reports. Nextdoor encourages users to provide more unique and complete details, such as clothing, tattoos, and facial hair.
5 Things / rest is revolutionary
Rest. That's what I needed most this week, and it seemed to be a common theme in my network. Indeed "August is like the Sunday of summer." Long ago I was an aspiring documentarian, so my rest included watching the documentary on Olympians' mental health, the one on WeWork, and all of the 100 Foot Wave. They're all great, although The Weight of Gold was devastating.