June 2020 Reading List! (Patreon)

Articles

We Need to Rethink Our “Pics Or It Didn’t Happen” Approach to Activism - really incredible article by Yomi Adegoke about online/offline activism, doing behind the scenes work and the assumption that if a black person is silent it means that they don’t care. And sometimes for their own safety, health and energy, black people step away from social media. Really powerful.

Podcasts

Doing the Anti-Racism Work - Layla F Saad (Ctrl Alt Delete) - I bought Layla’s book and ready to dive into the 28 day challenge. I normally read books faster than that but I like the idea of reading a bit a day and really taking the time for each exercise. She speaks in this podcast about racism, white supremacy and her book and the work it takes.

Videos

White people, you need to do better. - Dot is a small YouTuber and we have several mutual friends so this video of hers appeared in my feed and she’s right. We do need to do better.

5.5 minutes of caring about black people - I love Taylor’s videos, she’s so smart and kind. This is a really powerful video, I hope you stick around and watch more of her stuff.

Tbh that’s the Black Lives Matter related stuff because most of this reading list was stuff I read in May. And most of the stuff I was reading/watching about BLM was on Instagram, I created a BLM stories highlight if you want to see more of that. The rest of the newsletter is just random nonsense videos.

Why The Costumes of Little Women did NOT deserve an Oscar - so this appeared in my suggested a while ago, I think because of all the videos about Little Women I was watching, and then that sent me down a rabbit hole of Micarah Tewers videos. I love her humour, her editing and even though I have no clue about half of the stuff she talks about (fashion, sewing) I love her passion and I’m impressed with her skills and creativity. Watch this video of her making a wedding dress out of adult nappies (diapers). 

What I learned from parents who don’t vaccinate their kids - Jennifer Reich (TEDx) - oh boy this was a powerful one. It’s not really about anti-vaxxers, that’s kind of the jumping off point. It’s about the cult of individualist parenting - how it’s a parent’s personal choices that determine their child’s success, health and happiness and blames parents if things go wrong. Community, institutionalised problems - education, resources, mental health, physical health, need collective responses, not individual ones. 

10 Self-Care Tips for When You Have No F*cks to Give - why do I feel like I’ve already shared this somewhere before? Anyway, Iz is great. Iz is lol. And this video is useful beyond bubble baths and face masks.

My Screen Time is Out of Control (addicted to my phone?) - now I KNOW I shared this in a newsletter from a few weeks ago but ICYMI here it is again. I think overall my screen time has been lower in lockdown but I imagine like a lot of other people it’s gone up over the last week following everything that’s happening with Black Lives Matter. BLM also made me realise how much I rely on my phone and social media for news and education, which isn’t necessarily a good thing because what if (one hypothetical day) I stopped using social media???

Things Girls Should Shut Up About - if you’re running low on self-esteem let Anna Akana give you a great pep talk.

Procrastination SUCKS: 3 reasons why you should FINISH things (or just quit lol) - if you’re running low on motivation let Evelyn From the Internets give you a pep talk.

How to Have a Baby on a Budget - Yasmin Johal at it again with another really great and insightful video. I’m not even pregnant and yet I love content like this and I know I’m not in the same financial situation as Yasmin but I think there’s a lot of really great tips in here for anyone.

“For Good” from Wicked | West End Elphabas and Glindas reunite for Make a Difference - I am loving all of these zoom musicals, casts reuniting. My musical theatre loving heart is just gobbling them all up. I got particularly excited about spotting the actresses who I’d seen play Elphaba and Glinda on stage, especially Emma Hatton. When I was drugged up on morphine post-surgery I scoured the internet for every Emma Hatton video I could find and all I wanted was to listen to her sing.

The best yellow dresses in cinematic history - yep that’s the whole video. Just movie clips, no talking. 

Didn’t Make Sense Not to Live for Fun - I didn’t not like this video. Get it?

The Cast of Community Reunites for Table Read - did you watch and love Community? Well then, ENJOY THIS. TAKE IT ALL IN. I thoroughly enjoyed this, brought back many memories of the show and how much I loved it. Also, when Ken Jeong comes back up with his “I MASTURBATED EVERYWHERE” line I fully broke down in crying hysterics whilst Dan was on a work call sat next to me.