Solarpiracy - SolarPiracy

Grieve AND organize.

Good article by David Hunter on how to survive the Trump presidency, both on the personal and on the political plane.

Waging Nonviolence

There is hope — 10 ways to be prepared and grounded for another Trump presidency

The key to taking effective action if Trump wins is to avoid perpetuating his goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion and disorientation.

tip: When you’re at an airport, add “?.jpg” at the end of any URL to bypass the expensive WiFi and access the Internet for free.

I love how you're completely ignoring the fact that the grand jury pored over every piece of evidence available and still made the right decision. Officer Wilson was protecting himself from a thug that wanted to kill him.

Mike Brown was shot six times, including twice in the head which breaks standard protocol for self defense

Multiple eyewitness accounts of the murder of Mike Brown, all stating that the murder was unprovoked and that Michael was unarmed and had his hands up

Owner from the convenience store that Michael allegedly stole from (which is often used as a justification for his murder) stated that no one from his store called the police on Mike, and nothing was taken

First hand account from a friend of Michael’s who was with him during his murder, as well as more accounts from eyewitnesses all refuting Darren Wilson’s claims

‘Officer Wilson was protecting himself from a thug that wanted to kill him' 

If you aren’t totally quaking in your boots at the news of millions of bees dead, yet again, you’re nuts.

Thousand mile long shadows

sorry but i’m gonna post a rant that i wrote, please filter ‘harassment tw‘ if you don’t want it on your dash

Homemaking, gardening, and self-sufficiency resources that won't radicalize you into a hate group

It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that's generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.

Unfortunately, these "self-sufficiency" skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the "good old days," a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.

In the spirit of building safe communities, here's a complete list of the safe resources I've found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.

Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:

Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)

Gardening

Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)

Country/Rural Living:

Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it's like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)

"Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy" by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)

Sewing/Mending:

Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)

Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)

Sustainability/Land Stewardship

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs -- in this case, indigenous American beliefs -- can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)

Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)

Avoiding the "Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline"

Note: the "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use "crunchy" spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.

"The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline" by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)

Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it's a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)

These are just the resources I've personally found helpful, so if anyone else has any they want to add, please, please do!

I just have this mental image of like. All the Studio Ghibli characters in one room. Japanese schoolgirls, skinny pretty wizard boys, magical princesses, children, dragons, spirits, etc.

And then - off in one corner of the room - is Porco “I’d rather be a pig than a fascist” Rosso, swirling red wine in a stemless glass, visibly uncomfortable, and looking like a dad at an anime convention.

And that’s why he’s my favourite.

I am travelling for a long time and I want to download some ffs on my Kindle, can you rec me something good and longer? Just please, I need happy endings. I of course have already put all yours on, to re-re-re-read. Because you are brilliant. Obviously. ALSO PARKS AND REC.

Hahahaha! Yay for all the Parks & Rec love!

Okay, guys, the call is for good, longer fic. I assume you’ve got “Performance” already, right? Here are some other recs: 

Jupiter_Ash’s Tennisverse: http://archiveofourown.org/series/16847

Mise en Place by azriona: http://archiveofourown.org/works/896418

1electricpirate’s Applications and Practices of Basic Arithmetic series: http://archiveofourown.org/works/896418

The Heart in the Whole by verityburns: http://archiveofourown.org/works/301718

Left by lifeonmars: http://archiveofourown.org/works/639976

prettyvk’s Ink Your Name ‘verse: http://archiveofourown.org/series/100784

History, Repeating Itself by gyzym: http://archiveofourown.org/works/179622

flawedamythyst’s Skeletonsverse: http://archiveofourown.org/series/35165

You said longer fics, so I left out some of my absolute favorites because I figured you wanted the really meaty stuff!

If you’re willing to go outside Sherlock and Sherlock-related fandoms, here are my Inception recs: 

toomuchplor’s Steinway!verse: http://archiveofourown.org/series/6054

Patience, a Steady Hand by Helenish: http://archiveofourown.org/works/170021

gyzym’s DomesticVerse: http://archiveofourown.org/series/5589

Okay, guys, what would you add?? 

Let’s say you wanted to glue fabric to wood, but what do you use? What about glass to paper? This to That lets you choose two things you want to glue and lists what types of glue is best. (Because people have a need to glue things to other things!)