EEDA Newsletter Vol 6, Res 6: AskJAN, Dump Substack, LGBTQ+ Purges, & More
This is a public issue of Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice. Feel free to share it!
Hi friends! The other evening my wife and I watched Butterfly in the Sky, the documentary about Reading Rainbow. I basically cried through the whole thing. That show was such a huge part of the person I am today. Every month on All the Books! I’m basically just channeling my best inner “book review kid” and even the music I chose for EEDA Pod was inspired by the Reading Rainbow theme song. Highly recommend the documentary. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house by the time it was over.
It’s a resource week and I have quite a few so let’s get into it!
Resource 1: Job Accommodation Network
I recently learned about https://askjan.org and holy cow, this is so incredibly useful! “JAN is the leading source of free, expert, and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations.” There’s a hotline but the site is also full of resources. I love that I could look up things by disability to see what kind of accommodations could be asked for. You can also search by limitation or work-related function or a couple other options. An invaluable resource for employers and employees alike. I hope to go through the lists and see what accommodations could be made proactively that could benefit people without them having to out themselves as having certain disabilities, especially around neurodivergence. For example, under ADHD a recommendation is “meetings to discuss expectations.” That’s helpful for everyone, actually! The resource gives recommendations for companies/managers as well as for the individuals with the disability or disabilities.
Resource 2: The effects of anti-Tesla action via Sam Wang
Resource 3: Pressure builds on newsletter company Substack to stop revenue sharing with Nazi writers via NBC News
Please move away from Substack. This is not new news. This has been going on for years. I moved from Substack years ago with all my subscribers intact.
Resource 4: Take One Step, Every Day via CAW
“Change is a practice, not an event. Here's a guide on how to get started changing this world.”
Resource 5: What’s At Stake for Trans People In 2025: A Primer for Allies & Comrades via Kai Cheng Thom
Resource 6: Open-Access Digitized Grassroots Media
Resource 7: The New McCarthyism: LGBTQ+ Purges In Government Begin via Erin in the Morning
New Project: Optimistic Hoarder
My mother was aggressively happy and extremely sad. She bought, collected, scavenged, and hoarded when she was joyful and when she was depressed. She passed suddenly in March 2023, leaving a lifetime of belongings in multiple caches.
This newsletter is my attempt to make sense of things as I, her only child, sort through them one box at a time.
Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice is not the right place for these essays so you can find & subscribe to Optimistic Hoarder here: https://buttondown.com/optimistic-hoarder. I do not know how frequently I will write nor do I know if I will ever paywall it (currently, sign-ups are free).
Recent & Current Reads
Inclusion of a book in this section is not necessarily a recommendation and these books won’t necessarily be added to my Bookshop. Links are affiliate links.
Recently Read:
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
Gentle: Rest More, Stress Less, and Live the Life You Actually Want by Courtney Carver
Anyone Can Play Music: Unlock Your Musical Potential with the Laws of Brainjo by Josh Turknett (out 3/18)
A Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter by Nikki Giovanni
Tea You at the Altar by Rebecca Thorne (out 3/4)
Currently Reading:
A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects by Robell Awake
Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets and the Fever Dream of the American New Age by Leah Sottile (out 3/25)
New Nigeria County by Clare Brown (audiobook only)
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown
That’s it for this week! You can shop many books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. In fact, any Bookshop, Amazon, or Etsy links in this newsletter are affiliate links so if you shop through those, it helps support my work. Or you can leave me a tip on Ko-fi, Paypal, or Venmo.
If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481.
You can find our podcast, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts.