What Sucks This Week

It’s “fire season” in California, where I live, which means that at this moment there are roughly 6 large forest fires blazing in a 50 mile circle around where I live. That, consequently, means that literal ash is falling from sky, covering things, in a miniature version of what happened in Pompeii in 79AD (on August 24th). It’s making it hard to breathe, to the tune of “worst air quality on Earth”, which means we have to stay indoors, during a heatwave in an area where no one has air conditioning. If you do have air conditioning, just know that recirculated air increases the risk of contracting COVID-19 (in public buildings). So that’s all just peachy. 2020 seems to have a never ending bag of awful tricks, and it makes me wonder if the worst will happen in the coming months. I don’t want to think about what the worst IS, but I am bracing myself.

Part 2 of our discussion of the fallout of protests surrounding the death of George Floyd and others. There have been ripples felt across the world, with similar protests happening across Europe. The effects have even been felt in Sudan and across the Middle East. This is especially poignant because of the death of Sudanese-American Yassin Mohamed at the hands of sheriff’s deputies in Central Georgia. We’ll discuss the background of racism that has lead people to ignore these events and much more. #BlackLivesMatter

With the country seething and roiled with protests against police brutality towards black and brown people, I wanted to put down some of my thoughts. That’s mostly about the state of the protests, and the white folks I’ve observed participating. While their hearts are mostly in the right place, there’s a patina of white privilege that colors the protests and their behavior during those protests. Give it a listen and let me know what you all think.