Mastodawn

Jess the Dessert Geek Feb 3, 2023

As a heads up in case of technical chaos I'm moving instances over to weirder.earth, fingers crossed I get this all right?

Jess the Dessert Geek Feb 3, 2023

Dr. Lucky Tran

Feb 2, 2023

Masks work, but aren't magic. They can't instantly end the pandemic alone. Anti-maskers exploit this nuance to trick people into not wearing them.

But you make a difference in every space you wear a mask, by making that space more accessible to higher risk people. That's huge!

#COVID #COVID19 #PublicHealth

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Jess the Dessert Geek Feb 3, 2023

Like seriously, if you're lost on something going on from the US government, 95% of the time there's a GAO summary for that.

"I want to know if there are recent updates to Covid spending recs." There's a GAO for that! https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-105713-highlights.pdf

"How was the US spending in X department last year?" Here you go! https://www.gao.gov/tracking-funds

"I don't get this tax bill-" GAO. https://www.gao.gov/topics/tax-policy-and-administration

They don't cover everything, but it's often really thorough when they do, and again, nonpartisan.

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Jess the Dessert Geek Feb 2, 2023

I took a GAO writing workshop in grad school, and it bothers me so much that this huge pile of really accessible government knowledge is still so unknown. They write for government officials they know are going to skim even the one page summaries, so there's rarely much technical jargon in the one pagers, and it's always really visually easy to read. Like this should be standard education, and yet it's not.

Jess the Dessert Geek Feb 2, 2023

Have a Really Cool US Government Resource that I wish more than govt/public admin types knew about: The Government Accountability Office.

The GAO does nonpartisan summaries of various laws, research, and more, and when possible will have a *one page* executive summary with recommendations. If you're feeling lost on a topic or bill, likely there's a resource & summary for it on the GAO website.

And you can access all their work, right now, for free! Get that knowledge! https://www.gao.gov/

U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO)

GAO provides fact-based, nonpartisan information to Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates federal spending and performance.

Jess the Dessert Geek Feb 2, 2023

Everyone should go read @mekkaokereke's great threads going around for #BlackHistoryMonth, but also he reminded me of something that I felt is a somewhat hidden starter info source: Crash Course put out a whole course in 2021 on Black American History, taught by Dr. Clint Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPx5aRuWCtc&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNYJO8JWpXO2JP0ezgxsrJJ&ab_channel=CrashCourse

Given how little is taught in schools, I'm glad it's here as an additional resource. There are 51 videos, so it might be a good way to add Black US History into education for a whole year?

Crash Course Black American History Preview

YouTube

Jess the Dessert Geek Feb 2, 2023

mekka okereke

Feb 2, 2023

Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !

I'm still not ready to talk about Black history. I want to talk about white US history.

Q: "Why don't Black people build any generational wealth? Newer immigrant groups seem to be doing just fine? Must be a lazy and shiftless people!"

A: Because for most of US history, white folk have *intentionally* destroyed the wealthiest Black neighborhoods in the US and stolen all the wealth.

Greenwood. Allentown. Seneca Village. Rosewood. Freedmen's town.

1/N

#BlackMastodon

Jess the Dessert Geek Feb 2, 2023

Beast of Bourbon 🩷💜💙Feb 2, 2023

In honor of #BlackHistoryMonth, here’s a great article about #SojournorTruth’s famous #AintIAWoman speech. The version many of us read in school was actually written by a white woman nearly *twelve years* after Truth’s speech. Frances Dana Gage took Truth’s words and rewrote them in a clunky Black slave dialect that undermined the perception of Sojournor’s intellect and played into the folksy (and deeply racist) Mammy trope.
https://www.thesojournertruthproject.com/compare-the-speeches

Compare the Speeches — The Sojourner Truth Project

Hear The original historically accurate "Ain't I a woman" speech by Sojourner Truth. Read the incorrect Elizabeth Gage speech as you listen to the correct original speech by Sojourner Truth.

The Sojourner Truth Project

Jess the Dessert Geek Feb 2, 2023

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moving to @ni.hil.ist Feb 2, 2023

also, if you've seen a toot from a certain popular account saying they're going to talk about white history during BHM because "everyone knows black history" already 🙄

you might want to snap up "
The History of Black Studies"
by Abdul Alkalimat.

Alkalimat is one of the founders of Black Studies.

The fight to establish BHM & Black Studies are intertwined political struggles many don't know but should, esp in light of attacks on it at all levels

https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745344225/the-history-of-black-studies/

#BlackHistoryMonth

The History of Black Studies

A surge of African American enrolment and student activism brought Black Studies to many US campuses in the 1960s. Sixty years later, Black Studies programme...

Pluto Press

Jess the Dessert Geek Feb 2, 2023

Today's tea is a return to Chetna Makan's masala chai recipe, though testing the Diaspora Co CTC Assam. My spouse made it and upped the ginger and cardamom this round, so it's hard to really compare it to the One Stripe Chai CTC Assam, but they've both been making really strong cups of chai.

One of these days I'll do a proper comparison of just the teas, but not today. Today is for chai and a good book.

#Tea #Chai #Food