The CARL redesign is going a little slower than expected. It turns out WordPress has changed a lot in the past 10 years. I had to watch a lot of tutorials, but I’m starting to appreciate this block-editing system. It’s definitely nicer than fighting with all the random wysiwyg/pretend-Squarespace plugins.

In the meantime, these are all the other projects I’ve been thinking about but haven’t / may never start:

  • 🎮 Stream a cozy sim game & critique it on Twitch. I would compare game tropes & mechanics to the real world with a sustainability lens. Like, why is mining in so many games? What if farming took as long as it does in the real world? Can the mayor give you a discount on land if you become buddies?
  • 🤖 Make a virtual coworking bot for Discord that prompts people to share what they’re working on, why, then sets a timer, then asks everyone how they did at the end. There could be some kind of points system too.
  • 👯‍♂️ Host a monthly meetup for organizers to share what they’re working on & support each other & build relationships. We keep talking about how important solidarity is but there aren’t many opportunities to meet people who are working on different issues. Also, 1:1 networking is hard — it takes time to get to know people and understand what they’re working on, and most organizers don’t have time. A meetup would let you meet many people at once.
  • ☕ Outline a “How to have a coffee chat” guide for organizers & ask others to contribute. This is something that I need for myself.
  • ✏️ Write about virtual coworking & why it’s so great. I’ve been trying out a few different services (like Flow.club, Flown, and Caveday) for the past two weeks and I’m procrastinating so much less!
  • ✏️ Write a guide on account set up for digital privacy & activism. There are a lot of privacy guides out there, but they just tell you to use encryption & VPN. They don’t tell you how to think about risk — like how to set up your accounts, whether you should use your real name, how to keep information separate, what are the tradeoffs — do you have to create a whole separate identity? etc.

Watching/Reading

  1. Organizing inspiration & lessons from an interview with the members of the SNCC Research Department — this is how people pushed society forward!! 💪
  1. How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Download the ebook for free from Verso with the code pipeline.
  2. Books on community organizing & communities of practice. My thinking is that in order for CARL to be successful, we need to mash up strategies from both types of groups.

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