starless @starless@pixie.town

@thufie

Idk how familiar you are with local homelessness politics, but they're very hardcore. We tried to get the police to stop violently evicting encampments earlier this fall. The measure failed.

Most activists I know that work on things like this burn out in under a year. Being able to safely and continually fight this fight is very important, and I worry that the approach you outline won't work for most people who read it here.

Anyways, here's the basic story:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/10/20/minneapolis-city-council-declines-pausing-homeless-encampment-evictions

Inviting folks into private homes seems fine until it's been a over week and the temps are 'only' fifteen below zero and there is still someone living in the living room you work remotely from.

I've dealt with situations like this on my own in the past, and it's just too destabilizing for me. It's too self-destructive. Not to be a filthy moderate or whatever, but it *really* fucked me up.

Heater bloc donations, jacket/warm gear funds and donations, asking/pressuring churches, hotels, shelters, and public spaces to keep their doors unlocked through the night, and political organizing work are things that might be more accessible, even if you don't have space for another person in your home. If time is easier to donate, software work to create and maintain an inventory management system and text line for Southside harm reduction are also needs.

The militant destruction of encampments is, in my opinion, a much greater threat to safety and autonomy than the temps themselves. It is disgusting, expensive, unprofessional, inhumane, unethical, and illegal, and yet there continue to be violent raids on encampments in Minneapolis. To me, personally, this is the systemic place where the most violent of injustices can be allayed. If we do not de-criminalize living in a public space, people cannot stabilize their lives. These evictions are violent, traumatic, and unnecessary.

I hate to push back against your very simple demand, but for local folks, please: ask yourself if you can realistically help someone through this. Before inviting someone into your home, decide with yourself and the people you live with what boundaries you are comfortable with, and be fucking honest with yourself about what you can and cannot safely do. Do the other person the service of knowing yourself and your own shit without just assuming that you can help them with theirs. It's often simpler to organize your friends together to help pay for a hotel room.

Here's some background context from someone who helped get that violent anti-encampment, anti-person measure discussed, organized the major protest and encampment, and was in the room for the discussion:

> They voted to not vote on our demands this morning. It was complicated bureaucratic bullshit. They voted just before that vote to change the entire structure of the city govt to give the mayor all of the power - and then claimed they no longer had the power to direct city staff to stop destroying encampments. They literally voted away their own power so they didn't have to address this issue. [...]

> It's disturbing that they changed the city structure like that even without their militant response to homeless people. Nobody knows how this new system is even supposed to work. When the council had power, they were the democracy-- the legislative body. But the conservative members voted to give all of that away to the mayors office-- essentially like Trump skipping any kind of scrutiny by making a ton of executive orders. [...]

> [MPR] didn't talk about how the council made themselves obsolete just before the moratorium vote, so the bit about questioning whether it is within their purview to tell staff to stop burning camps is a distinctly smug and gloating move from the councilmember who represents the richest and whitest ward in the city.

Anyways, if the revolution is not inclusive, it's not the revolution. There's a hundred different ways to fight this fight. Fight the best way for you.

@rolltime incredible event name, tbh

@nursejulie818 @MerlinJStar@weirder.earth

Hey, Merlin never promised a to-do list, they just have this great thread with info. Just, uh, fyi. And who is 'we'?

From an emotional perspective, it's convenient to hear about a problem, and then feel better since someone has "solved" it, but like... Is that actually a strategic move for someone to invest their time laying this out? It feels like you're asking for someone to do some extra work here for you.. Right after they already did just that.

So, I'm gonna take some guesses, and do some work for you. Hopefully I'm not totally outta line.

From what Merlin's said, the implied solution here seems straightforward: treat black people like they belong, especially in queer spaces. If there is a 'belongingness dial', turn yours further up, by default, for black people in queer spaces compared to where it is now. If someone is in a space, trust that person to know if something there speaks to them. Hold space for narratives of trans experiences that aren't white mtf experiences. And also, help nurture black-lead / black-centered trans spaces.

This seems like real simple stuff, and it's so easy to say that, and I mean this in the nicest way, it's notable to me that you didn't put the pieces together on your own. You might ask yourself why you're asking them to do more work for you, you know?

And my follow up to that is: even if they laid it out for you, how much would you do to change these interactions? Could you? Would them guiding you through this process result in a tangibly safer community, or would it just result in you feeling more reassured that this problem is 'solvable'?

Sorry to come at you swinging like this (hi, nice to meet you, my name is Starless), but this was a pattern I saw a lot of a couple of years ago, and it reminded me a lot of an older trolling tactic called "sealioning". It's not that asking questions is bad, but piling on questions on top of a lovely 'fyi' kind of a thread can belittle the work of compiling a thread like this. It can also be overwhelming for the author.

... And again, why is it so important that you, personally, have "action items"? Are you, personally, the most strategic person to explain a solution strategy to, or could someone's time be better-spent?

I love that you care enough about this want to do something, but maybe start by asking yourself why your response was to try to get *more* labor from the author. Also, when you say "we", who exactly do you mean? Why not just say 'I'? (rhetorical)

Anyways, again, I apologize if I came at you a bit strong, but this stood out to me as a bit of a 'teachable moment', and I hope you find some space to let it percolate a little. Don't obsess over it, just let some of those questions sit a little bit when you have a few minutes. And hopefully, they'll combine to make a gentle little 'push' that stays inside of you and encourages you to find ways and use your own agency to help resolve issues around you yourself.

Also, genuinely, hello, nice to meet you, my name is Starless. I like to find cat pictures to show to my girlfriend and to paint watercolors. I hope your day is kind to you.

@fack I've been wanting to go to Detroit for a couple of years.

Is this every May? It looks rad.

My morning cappuccino has a little heart in it!

@pandemoniumcrutch wow, this sounds amazing. I've never seen PT treatment transition like that. I have hypermobility issues with partial patellar subluxation.

Do you have any advice for finding a PT who is willing and qualified to treat via any strategies other than strengthening?

@fack I know this vibe well. I try to throw a dinner party every time I make soup.