V

A hardcover copy of In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action by Vicky Osterweil, a white book with a picture of a crow bar and black text in three simple fonts.

“Riots are violent, extreme, and femme as fuck: they rip, tear, burn, and destroy to give birth to a new world.” p. 13

When analyzing any piece of media, it helps to think about PASTA:

Purpose
Author’s bias
Subject and sub-topics
Timing
Audience (intended, unintended)

Album cover for Black on Both Sides by Mos Def featuring a closeup pic of the legend himself.

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, or Alice In Chains.

Me: [sitting on the stoop, wearing an Eagles tshirt]

Everyone walking by: [nod] Go Birds.

Me: [nod] Go Birds.

#GoBirds 🦅

“Sometimes Black Joy is a party to which white people are not invited.” p. 216

“‘Happiness is fleeting,’ he said, ‘but joy is grounded by grief.’ Joy is birthed from hard places.” p. 206

“A Black person who was moving around freely had to be up to no good. Surveillance was constant in spaces white people sought to control or monopolize…And when Black people could not be stopped from moving freely or from achieving the financial success…white people resorted to violence.” p. 187

“Leaving is an act of resistance because so many Black people are stuck, unable to leave the ghetto or hood or other place that has suffered from racist neglect and community divestment.” p. 167

“[Gloria] Richardson knew well that force was an accelerator of change and could lead to revolution. For her and Malcolm [X], force was the ballot and revolution was the bullet…Revolution is what happens when force is denied or ignored. Force is not a request; it is a demand.” p. 162

A nibbled half of a green tomato laid in the dirt beside a black garden hose.

I feel someone’s pain, but for now, the one full-size tomato I’ve seen in my garden this season is still on the vine (and it looks like a pumpkin). #gardensky

Social media algorithms used to be well-crafted to align with our niche interests in order to sell us things, but now, they’re well-crafted to hijack our niche vulnerabilities in order to funnel us down fascist pipelines (while selling us things).

A scraggly, but stout plant growing in the hole of a cinder block.

This scraggly weed showed up after a storm much like Audrey II and grew as fast as Audrey II, too, but something told me not to pull it. Yesterday, I saw little yellow buds under a few of the leaves, and today, in true Audrey II fashion, I found little volunteer tomatillos 🥹🌱✨

“When the Klan realized their own lives could be at risk when they were terrorizing Black communities, racial violence came to a halt…Collective protection is powerful. It not only saved lives but compelled people to reckon with the reasons for needing it.” p. 111

“It changes our perspective on Black women, self-defense, and protection if we no longer see someone like Harriet Tubman as the exception but the rule when it came to security in Black communities.” p. 87

ONLY CARING ABOUT YOUR OWN RIGHTS IS EXACTLY HOW YOU LOSE THEM.

A closeup of a very small, young green tomato on the vine that looks vaguely like human genitals.

I should call them…
#gardensky #teehee

A tweet by Grace Jarvis (@gracejarvisohno) that says, “stop glamorising The Hustle and start glamorising whatever lifestyle this is,” above a cropped illustration from a British children’s book of a smartly dressed mole sipping tea under the cover of a mushroom while it rains and a river rat bathes in a stream in the background.

A tattooed arm extended over an empty garden bed holding a small, pale orange carrot by the greens.

I made pesto for dinner with a handful of garlic cloves, two huge stems of basil, and the greens from this random carrot volunteer. #gardensky

QR code for District Council 33 Strike Fund Donations; yellow background, green text with DC33 logo at the top.

Solidarity forever ✊🔔

“Among the enslaved, protection was about minimizing the violence of slavery: slowdowns, deceit, threats, poison, arson, destruction of property, and physical altercations…Protection is the antithesis of policing because it is about securing freedom, not denying it.” p. 80

A friend that lives in Eastern Kentucky has a school lunch system where she has to put in no more than $120 at a time with a 10% transaction fee for depositing. With her three kids on the account it ends up being about $25 a month just to add money to the account that doesn't go towards the balance

A 4-foot table completely covered with garlic in various phases of the drying process.

From dry to juicy, here is this year’s garlic harvest minus what I’ve used, what I’ve shared, and the small patch I still need to pull. #gardensky #garlicsky

Closeup of a person’s torso leaning against a blue door with peonies hanging on it wearing a black tshirt printed with idyllic lake scenery in white with the phrase, “Enjoy everything right now because it’s going to keep getting worse”

Felt like the right day to wear my new, “Enjoy everything right now because it’s going to keep getting worse” tshirt from @punkwithacamera.bsky.social

Are we doing this?? I have so many…

Whoops. I might have spoken too soon.

a stuffed frog is floating in a red bowl of water . Alt: Kermit the Frog floats limply in a red kiddie pool of water while the hose makes him spin in circles.

I’m having a minor outpatient medical procedure tomorrow for the third time in my life, and for the first time in my life, I’m >50% sure that my ride to and from won’t flake on me. Anesthesia, here I come!

Row homes and trees and power lines on hilly streets making angles and lines and textures in front of an electric orange and pink sunset that fades upward to a deep purple evening sky.

Yesterday’s sunset will be hard to beat.

Six braids of garlic, fresh from the ground, arranged with bulbs toward the camera.

Today’s harvest 🧄

“Justice is not about profits and payments but about forfeiting an identity and position that are grounded in domination…white scholars have ignored or dismissed a rigorous discourse in violence because to engage would be to indict themselves.” p. 21

“Y’all straight begged for this weather. Now look at y’all. Musty.”

I begged for this weather. I am musty. And I am not complaining.