Updated: Jul 30, 2020
Abstract:
If you want your ass kissed when you’re being told shit about discrimination, this is not up your alley and you are why we have this compilation of personal rants.
People say all the time, why don’t you write more personally on the blog?
As Bilbo Baggins would say, “I don't know more than half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”
I write about shit that triggers me which is hard to do. I try to keep my emotions out of it so that I can be the solution and use my platform as a place to share all the information I wish I had before.
Easier said than done. I am the type to tell people to suck my fucking dick from the back.
Emotions don’t invalidate facts. Facts don’t invalidate emotions. Our toxic patriarchy has created an environment where quantity goes before quality so that money can go before people. We don’t have conflict resolution because we are repressed as a society in order to be controlled.
My research can be summed up by intersectionality: the idea that our society is based on a system that uses overlapping discrimination to allow a select few to benefit off of the majority's struggles.
Jumping from thought to thought, it does not all seem related on the surface. Stay with me here. It is all connected. We just have to put the pieces together as we realize their meaning.
Properties of Sound:
Information from the Sound Properties and The Waveform View chapter of Dan Hosken’s An Introduction to Music Technology. Check out noladeafchild.com/reading-list or noladeafchild.com/online-classes-list to find resources for more info.
Sound involves three components: generation, propagation, and reception. Which is amusing to me as my friend Eyona Nelson was just telling me that my messages have to be palatable in order to be received.
There are corresponding perceptual and physical properties of sound: pitch/frequency, loudness/amplitude, timbre/waveform, articulation/amplitude envelope, rhythm/transient patterns. What happens in the world is not what happens in our minds.
Dan Hosken says on page 19, “In the act of perception, our ears change the physical properties of sound in various ways, such as emphasizing certain frequencies, and our brain analyzes the perceived sound properties in relation to perceptions it has encountered before, such as identifying a sound as the harmonic interval of a perfect fifth played on a piano. In addition, the ear can be fooled. There are a variety of aural illusions in which the brain’s perception of sound differs from the sound’s actual physical properties.”
The idea that people have different thresholds of hearing is a case study for how we all perceive the world differently.
Deafness:
Got my hearing aids 2 years ago. The first time I put on my hearing aids I was overwhelmed with sensory overload and not understanding the new information I'm processing. It was fun experiencing everything new in a thrilling way, but it was still hard to communicate at first.
The joy came when I heard new sounds for the first time like the wind, the rain, and my favorite songs in stereo. The joy came as I learned about how my hearing aids work, as I began to understand that the hearing aids can't give me back my hearing, but it can convert sounds into frequencies my brain can understand. This is why the assistive device is useful because with just hearing aids the frequencies are muddled with everything else.
So with my Roger Select I have an omnidirectional mic that allows me to hear specific things. I can also connect it to my phone, TV, any computer, or most audio interfaces. It's pretty cool because before it was very hard for me to talk on the phone or hear anything in conditions where I cannot control the sound. Without my hearing aids, especially in group settings, I am mostly just trying to figure out what the fuck is happening which puts me in my head.
I believe sound is a natural balance that hearing tech gives me access to. Not having hearing tech is a struggle to communicate with people that do not sign, but is otherwise simply another way of existing.
I don't like most videos of Deaf people hearing for the first time because I believe they are often ableist as fuck. But between overthinking a video of me hearing Music Never Stopped for the first time and lyrics to Sound of Silence, I do think that Deaf people experience the world and perceive frequencies through an intimate mind body connection that can be easily understood through sign.
Taking off hearing aids at the end of the day feels better than taking off a bra, heels, or anything else I’ve ever had to wear for 12+ hours at a time. I love being able to fully experience sound more than anything in the world. I have loved being able to tune in with my hearing aids after years of speech therapy, surgical procedures, trying/being told I can’t use hearing aids, and not knowing what is happening in social situations.
But no one tells you about the sensory overload. No one talks about how it feels like you have q tips in your ears all day/how uncomfortable it is. When I try to speak up about how much I go through to communicate with people I feel isolated by, I feel like it doesn’t matter because the people who can actually hear don’t want to listen. Don’t want to learn.
I wish the world had access to sign, because I wish people would communicate with me in a way that is comfortable for me too after everything I go through to talk to them.
“BuT yOu DoNt LoOk DeAf"
"BuT yOu CaN sPeAk"
"BuT yOu KnOw WhAt We SaY sOmEtImEs”
Watch this: https://youtu.be/Q3eMg55igZ8
If you take Deaf issues seriously, I appreciate your basic sense of humanity. Everyone else, 🖕!
Do you have access to a DAW? You can simulate my hearing loss by applying the following to an entire song... First cut out the sound above the following intensities and frequencies: 15 dB at 250 Hz, 20 dB at 500 Hz, 10 dB at 1000 Hz, 5 dB at 2000 Hz, 10 dB at 3000 Hz, 15 dB at 4000 Hz, 20 dB at 6000 Hz, and 35 dB at 8000 Hz (I prefer graphic EQ as hearing loss isn’t linear). Then pan your mix all the way to the right and bring your gain down half way.
If you can understand how much I miss out on, please use this experience to make an effort to communicate with me or any other Deaf person. Relying on body language, emotions, and lip reading along with any sound or vibration I can process makes me an emotional person because I am using those emotions to figure out what the fuck is happening. My mind just interprets information differently.
I pretty much cannot hear a third of the alphabet even with hearing aids. Had a magical moment realizing more specifically what I can and cannot hear. So you know what I understand, some sounds I can't hear at all are f, s, th, k, and sometimes I also have problems with z, v, p, soft g, and h.
The rest I can tell the noise is happening. It is just hard to make it out because it is only through my right ear. Because my Deafness is gained at various decibels across frequencies, sometimes yelling does help and sometimes it doesn't matter because the Deaf gain is so high I still can't hear.
The lexicalized sign for I love you is my favorite sign. #ILY means to represent I, love, and you simultaneously. Love is what connects you and I. My name is Alexis and I am short. To shorten a sign means to lexicalize it. For those who don’t know, #(insert word) means to fingerspell if you are ever reading an English notation of ASL.
I got this tattooed on me to remember to love myself and my body. For Deaf pride. To give my ass a hand. To wear my heart on my sleeve. To show others love. To communicate. I also really love the fact that the Illuminati sign is ASL for vagina upside down. I call it the backwards ass pussy.
Watch Your Tone- How I Perceive You:
Deaf Discrimination:
Where is the Deaf Pride Month at? Every month is Speech and Hearing Month. How about a Sign Language Month? Better Speech and Hearing Month is like having a Straight Pride Parade fuck all ya’ll still.
PSA: if you use a disability as an insult, I will not kindly explain to you the problem. I will go off on your ignorant ass.
Body language and facial expressions are essential to sign language. Deaf people have a very hard time getting interpretation for live events. If I see you making fun of sign which is discrimination we will have words and fuck you.
If you say things like fall on deaf ears and you legit don't understand why this is offensive please read through what I share. Hearing people don't get to have an opinion on Deafness ever. Learn sign! If I see you call Deaf/HOH people impaired I'll go off. I don’t fucking care who you are!
An aggressive reminder to not use Deafness as an insult in any form including hoh/tone deaf/impairment slurs. Stop using Deafness as an insult. Not knowing any better isn't an excuse. Being Deaf does not make you dumb just like being hearing doesn't make you smart.
Would you stay in a relationship with someone who used your name or identity as a negative word for an insult or to explain that something is wrong as part of their everyday vernacular? Someone who when you said it makes me feel bad that you use me as an example of something being messed up told you to just be less yourself/get over it. No? Then why do you expect me to do the same about Deafness?
Medical community, Deaf people complaining about audism in medicine are no different than us complaining about how much we pay for healthcare. It’s about systemic issues and how individuals make up the system. Who else should Deaf people talk to about their healthcare if not their healthcare providers?
Let's talk about intersectionality via the Deaf experience. Please watch this video on giving birth while Deaf and Deaf culture: https://youtu.be/Y45RbeeGf9Y.
Systemic issues in discrimination are intertwined. Violence against one of us is violence against all of us. Please research or ask me about Deaf identity, Deaf culture, the indigenous Deaf, history of sign, audism, and Civil Rights Movement.
White people isolate the Deaf. If it weren't for people of color we wouldn't have sign language, protection under ADA, or Deaf Communities. Ableism is a product of white privilege. Deaf pride is inclusion. Same construct for adaptability goes for ethnicity. White people colonize and appropriate so there is no white culture only white privilege. Protect people of color. Protect culture. Reject dehumanization.
I am really starting to hate hearing society. Specifically white people.
Unapologetically Regressive- Examples of Audism:
Black Civil Rights Deaf History in a nutshell:
Deaf isolation itself is the fact that hearing society is based on oralism vs Deaf culture is based on sign equity. Basically sign languages have been around for all human existence and before colonialism most people used sign intertwined with speech. Then in like 1800 some French dudes that were murdering, raping, and enslaving the fuck out of Native America was like let's include their signs with French, and thus ASL was born.
Relevant side story, audism began with Aristotle. He used to teach you can only learn through hearing so Deaf people were incapable of functioning in society. Well Alexander Graham Bell became a thing when he made the phone, right? Only he wasn't trying to make a phone. He wanted to make hearing aids, but he failed. But even though he didn't make what he wanted, the same radio frequencies used from phones are how hearing aids work so without him we wouldn't have modern hearing tech for the Deaf. But Bell was also really into Aristotle's theories on audism and he basically started the oralist movement and eradicated sign from our mainstream society when he got big on the phone.
It was around the same time we have heightened Black isolation in the Deaf community as discrimination is intersectional therefore so is equality. Too many Deaf whites had taken pointers from Susan B Anthony and fought for white equality over Black lives and Deaf equality. And so ever since then Deaf people have not only had language deprivation in our society we also don't have equitable access to barriers of entry in education, legal aid, healthcare, life. Especially social situations.
What access we do have Black Deaf people achieved for us off the Civil Rights Movement through the ADA, as Black people not only fought for people of color but Deaf rights and people of all abilities/backgrounds. Even still hearing society has labelled us as impaired, and dismisses our capabilities to even give us remote opportunities for equal rights, which is a form of discrimination itself. It is only due to Black and Indigenous Culture, Protests, and History that Deaf have been given any opportunity to succeed. So from the Deaf perspective, Black Lives Matter. Black Lives know true equality. Black Lives know peace. Same can't be said for white people.
Why is there Black ASL? Many reasons that are all connected. First of all, look at the origins of sign. Sign (like everything else about humanity) goes back to Africa. Everything about language has been transformed due to geographical, cultural, political influences since the first human. White people were kidnapping/enslaving/how the fuck do you deduce the horrors to one word (you can't) people of color 100 years to 200 years and even after ASL/BSL/FSL/any modern white sign was formed depending on where we are at in our colonization timeline (side thought: even if colonize is meant to summarize, it whitewashes atrocities through cognitive dissonance).
Alright now back that ass up in the timeline. Pre Aristotle most communities integrated sign with verbal communication (Deaf people were even given special treatment as massage therapists cause baby we know how to read ya body). But then this ableist ass bitch probably couldn't get a happy ending. He taught some bull shit about audism that white people used as a way to eradicate sign from mainstream society and marginalize Deaf people. And that's how Deaf isolation became normalized.
Moving forward from ancient times through the middle ages to modern times these ass holes began to get bigger and bigger on this empire bull shit, which led to using discrimination (mostly racism) as a means for power and control that has yet to end. And white dudes who love playing devil's advocate about issues that don't impact them decided ArIsToTle was a genius. Dude thought the world revolved around Earth and we wanna place our faith on how Deaf people learn in him, but not from Deaf people yet that's not ableist? Okay. I see a "logical" pattern in our society.
Anyway for a thousand years there sign was not really taught or encouraged in what became white countries as it continued to flourish among Black and Indigenous communities all the way until they were impacted by colonialism. Then white people were like damn we need to figure out what the fuck they are saying so we can fuck their shit up a little more for ourselves. After that some of em were like oh we care about our white Deaf people now so let's educate them in sign.
So we get some Deaf schools and "human rights organizations''. The National Association of the Deaf has claimed to be the oldest human rights org in the country (since 1880), but they only ever fought for white Deaf up until after the Civil Rights Movement (only doing the bare minimum of what they were required to do to support Black Deaf). Black Deaf isolation has sooo many fucking layers. And then between Civil Rights and white people initially realizing this is a cool thing we can use to connect with each other personally, AGB advocated for oralism and basically erased sign education (except for like 2 schools at that time).
Any progress that had been made for white Deaf people between 1800s and 1900s was stifled up until Black Deaf people pushed for all human rights. Which was essentially a small percentage of white people in charge creating stipulations to make legal loopholes for what they have been doing. Okay now that you got the separation of ASL from other signs, history of sign, how we became an audist society, the use of limiting information as a means of control, advocacy, let's put that into context of Black American Sign (which is something I do not have the honor of knowing).
Because of the amount of dialects there are in sign and even signs there are in a dialect, it is impossible to learn and share every word even if someone wants to try to do that. But obviously Africans and African American people only ever taught white people what they want us to know of their sign and they are careful who they teach, if anyone willfully. So we have evolved from all of these countries that people were stolen from another specific signed language that is not only used to help people escaping white supremacy, but also used to retain ownership from culture through language that may be imitated, but can never be copied.
Contemporary Deaf Racism:
We are finally seeing Deafness on tv and in movies but why are we only seeing white Deaf? Wish we could see some Black sign, but at the same time wouldn't want white people appropriating that too. It's cool we are starting to see more Deaf representation, but it's like we can barely count the non white Deaf whereas white Deaf get rep in Weeds, Greys Anatomy, Station 19, Feel the Beat, Dark, Sesame Street, Stranger Things, Glee, Switched at Birth, and that's just what I've seen all white Deaf.
There are many Deaf talented people of color but they aren't mainstream. Society doesn't know their names, faces, or stories. Deaf people make up 15% of the population. Where is the representation? Deaf people have fought tooth and nail to get access but what access there is is primarily only for white Deaf. It's awful. And even still Deaf people don't even get cast as leads. We have to recognize the disparity in opportunities. It is discrimination to look the other way.
Ooh and other white Deafs I've seen... The Society, Hush, The Shape of Water... I don't see Black Deaf culture or sign representation. Even though we say there's Black Deaf actors when are they showing Deaf/hoh accessibility/cultural issues or signing? It's as if Deaf people have to be what hearing people want them to be portrayed as just to get the role. In The Magicians they got white women signing (to look culturally diverse?), but they don't ever let you look at a whole conversation with the ability to see signs. It's as if since it's not considered entertainment for hearing people, let's tease the Deaf by letting them know we have the ability to script sign, but make it so they can't see it since it isn't normalized. What the fuck bull shit is that?!
Only white people are ever like, “Speak English! This is America!” to Deaf people... Uh bitch why don't you sign in our American Sign Language then instead of speaking a language from England? And for the racist Deafs, this concept is why there's Black ASL. Intersectionality dismantles the bricks of oppression.
And before you come at with me with some of that it's selfish and insensitive to bring up Deaf people in terms of Black isolation fuckery (I've been told that before about Corona): Deaf people make up 5-15% of the world's population while America only makes up 5%. So if you think Deaf issues don't matter, statistically you should think our national issues matter potentially three times less which doesn't make sense because one contains part of the other and vice versa. And using the fact that a majority of a community is harming a minority as a way to dismiss their specific struggle is only evidence that an issue is systemic.
Black Deaf isolation isn't only just from white individuals, but from the ableist stigmas perpetuated by cultural assimilation in a white privileged based society. Black Deaf people have been fucked over so bad as a community they have to keep a language to themselves that others don't have access to just to be able to process it. The thing about intersectionality is making sure no one is left behind. In the Deaf community, there's plenty of white privilege. The NAD makes sure of that. Who is looking out for Black Deaf people? Black Lives Matter. Check out the National Black Deaf Association to learn more or for anyone you know impacted by racism and ableism.
Enablement of Racism:
If I see one more if they just weren't doing something illegal post.... They shot Breonna Taylor in her bed while she was asleep mother fuckers! These laws only exist to protect white supremacy otherwise white people would have practiced what we preach and not colonize the fuck out of- which is a cognitively dissonant way of saying rape, murder, and enslave- entire countries. If you're worried about upholding the words that keep the same people profiting and not about the words that protect entire communities please don't act like you give a damn about the law you are just racist.
Slavery never ended. The 13th amendment maintained its legality. Criminalization is a tool used to make billions off of detainees. The U.S. has 5% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners. 2010 incarceration stats: white people- 450/100,000; Black people 2,306 per 100,000. The U.S. mainly imprisons the lower class. Black Indigenous People of Color are an easy target for police. The difference between night in jail, death, or home is money divided by skin color.
Policy worsens racial wealth inequality. This extends into the justice system. System is just gettin free labor... Money is valued more than lives. Ongoing mass incarceration research summary: noladeafchild.com/free-your-art. Please share any links you got with me.
Past time for education on Defunding the Police. If you are pro police you are racist.
Racists really be like: You just don't understand the history of monuments. Without them how will we uphold white supremacy? We need participation trophies to feel adequate. How will I have any culture if you abolish racism?
If you are comfy financially supporting the corrupt GOP or regressive Democratic initiatives then you're not actually behind Black Lives Matter. Looking at you AEG, Buku, WCP, and Jazz Fest supporters! If you can overlook white supremacy to make a buck or see some art fuck you you're racist.
As we pretend like there is a reason to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment remember that it only gave white women the right to vote. The B in Susan B Anthony stands for Bitch cause she said she would rather "cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work for or demand the ballot for the negro and not the woman." I can't even begin on the ways that statement is fucked. Which is what suffrage was based on. She would be like everyone deserves the right to vote one min and say shit like that the next. Remind ya'll of anyone today?
People say the most racist shit then be like you don't know me when called out. Mother Fucker I don't need to know you to know you said what you said and what you said was racist as fuck. If you're not actively anti racist you're a fucking racist!
Conflict Resolution:
Can't get over when people justify discrimination as it's taken out of context. What in the Susan B Anthony? If you say, "I don't discriminate. I just don't argue when others do," you're basically one of those people!
Can I have only Black Lives Matter with a side of prison reform, hold the white fragility, and supersize that? Don't say let's keep the peace. There is no peace. If Black Lives being in danger is peaceful to you, you are a piece of shit!
It shouldn't take white people circulating trauma to open our eyes to the privilege of not experiencing the pain of the everyday racism we benefit from. If we dismiss Black lives from the source with pics or it didn't happen mentality, then we are saying it isn't enough to just not be racist but we must believe we are racist to stop. It should never have gotten this far. Just be a decent fucking human being and stand up. One love. Black Lives Matter.
Don't forget: the owner of BUKU Music + Art Project, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, as well as any Winter Circle Productions events donates mega millions to Trump and the GOP! You can make a difference in our administration by not supporting activities that fund corruption. DISMANTLE THE PATRIARCHY!
If you want to cut into a mega millionaire's funding to Trump's campaign, anti marijuana, anti LGBQT, anti immigration organizations you can by not supporting BUKU Music + Art Project, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, or any AEG Presents events (*cough* *cough* Winter Circle Productions). Ask yourself what's more important, cutting funding to ICE or getting fucked up for the Gram? If you don't give a shit you're why I fucking hate society.
If you stopped financially and emotionally supporting racism, you wouldn't have to protest it. I really want any influencer that sees this to do their part to reach out to their contacts in these organizations and tell them we are done with them til they get their shit together.
You can throw all the parties in the world, spend all your money to further community careers/organizations, compliment others as much as you mean it, help out as often however you can, smile as much as your face can take it, and people will still say you're negative or a bitch for being neither able to control your emotions nor capable of expressing yourself in this white male ableist socially privileged society based on income disparity and rape culture.
Companies be like it's not personal when they're fuckin you over, but when you discuss their business practices they wanna act like they're attacked… Places where it is taught to only obey keep people from thinking for themselves. To me loving humans includes hating concepts like ableism, audism, racism, misogyny, rape culture, income disparity, and white privilege. Yin and yang can't have love without hate.
This is a great time to learn ASL! So was yesterday and the day before that. Get with me. Like if you really cared to talk to me you'd learn some sign…
Links:
4. History of Sign Language – Deaf History
5. History of American Sign Language
9. Quick Statistics About Hearing
11. World Wide Hearing Loss: Stats from Around the World
12. Inclusive Deaf Studies: Barriers and Pathways
13. Signs of progress: the history of deaf rights
14. "He that Hath an Ear to Hear": Deaf America and the Second Great Awakening
15. Healthcare Language Barriers Affect Deaf People, Too
16. Biosemiotics, Neurosemiotics, and Language Acquisition
17. This means this, this means that: Semiotics — the study of meaning
19. Relativity Theory of Information and Communication in Natural Language
20. Social Dominance Orientation, Language Orientation, and Deaf Identity
21. Deaf Community and Mental Health Care
22. Fast Facts: Deafness and Hearing Loss
23. Hearing privilege and Deaf disempowerment
28. The Socioeconomic Impact of Hearing Loss in US Adults
29. Deaf And Unemployed: 1,000+ Applications But Still No Full-Time Job
30. Unemployment in the Deaf Community: Barriers, Recommendations and Benefits of Hiring Deaf Employees
31. The Hearing World Must Stop Forcing Deaf Culture to Assimilate
32. Empowering the deaf. Let the deaf be deaf
33. Speaking My Language: Indigenous Deaf Sign
34. The Life and Death of Martha's Vineyard Sign Language
35. “Through Deaf Eyes” Chronicles 200 Years of Deaf Life in America
36. Challenges That Still Exist for the Deaf Community
37. Black Deaf Artists Create, Discuss, And Command Respect
38. Video: Deaf talents discuss inequality and ASL
40. New Exhibit | Black Deaf Americans: History, Culture, and Education
41. Adults with Disabilities: Ethnicity and Race
42. Black–White Disparity in Disability: The Role of Medical Conditions
43. Understanding the Injustices Faced by the Deaf Community
44. The Use of Language – Passion or Problem
45. Timeline of National Black Deaf Advocates History and Milestones
46. Self-Identification in the Deaf Community
47. Statement on Racism and Oppression
48. Deaf Community Services accused of perpetuating systemic racism
49. Racism within the deaf community
50. Black Deaf Culture Through the Lens of Black Deaf History
51. Ableism/Language
53. A Very Brief History of Some Ableist Language
54. Audism: Oppression in the Lives of Deaf Individuals
55. The Meaning and Practice of Audism
56. Here’s Why It’s Important to Use Alternatives to Ableist Slurs
57. ‘Falling on deaf ears’: ‘Queer Eye’ star sparks conversation about ableist idioms
58. The Transcontinental Disability Choir: What is Ableist Language and Why Should You Care?
59. We are of a Different Class
60. Less Well-Known Ableist Language
61. Gal Gadot's Stephen Hawking tribute is a reminder that well meaning language can still be ableist
62. What is Audism?
63. Awareness of audism helps overcome hearing-based discrimination
64. Audism (1)
65. Audism (2)
68. Ableist Language: How It Hurts And How To Stop Using It
69. Trends and Tips: Writing Disability
70. 7 Warning Signs You Have Audism
71. Ableism 101: What it is, what it looks like, and what we can do to to fix it
72. Making Content More Inclusive
74. Unpacking Ableism: A Session with Partners for Youth with Disability
75. 10 Questions About Why Ableist Language Matters, Answered
76. No Joking Matter: Words and Disability
77. Do you know when you’re using harmful ableist language?
78. What Is Ableist Language And What’s The Impact Of Using It?
79. Stop using ableist language and call out others who use it
80. Ditching Ableist Language is a Small Step That Removes Barriers For People
81. 15 Crazy Examples Of Insanely Ableist Language
82. Less Well-Known Ableist Language
83. Perspectives | Ableism Is Everywhere
84. 7 Things People With Disabilities Are Tired of Hearing
85. Examples of Ableist Language in Everyday Life
86. Entertainment Professionals (Fighting Stigmas, Advancing Opportunities)
87. The New Orleans Jazz Fest in the AEG era: Spending more money, making more money
88. AEG Live opens new Gulf Coast office, acquires Buku promoter Winter Circle Productions
89. 2014 New Orleans Jazz Fest caps off a profitable decade, born of upheaval
90. Coachella Co-Owner’s Latest Charitable Filing Shows Deep Anti-LGBTQ Ties
91. AEG Founder Who Funded Anti-LGBT Agendas Is Now Fighting Legal Pot
93. Coachella owner Philip Anschutz contributed $134,000 to the GOP in 2018
94. AEG Live Acquires Winter Circle Productions
95. Coachella's Owner Continues to Donate to Anti-Abortion, Anti-Gay, Pro-Gun Republican Candidates
96. The closing of the conservative mind – and of The Weekly Standard
97. The Weekly Standard, A Conservative Magazine Critical of Trump, To Shutter After 23 Years
98. Report: Single donor gave $28.5 million to 'dark money' group touting Gorsuch for Supreme Court
99. AEG Owner Pulls Financial Support for Some Anti-LGBTQ Groups, But Still Donated $770,000 in 2016
100. Coachella’s Owner Is A Republican Mega-Donor Who Has Funded Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups
101. How Does Coachella's Problematic Owner Secure Openly-Liberal Artists?
102. Coachella’s Owner Is A Republican Mega-Donor Who Has Funded Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups
103. The Founder of Coachella Company AEG Is Funding Anti-Cannabis Campaigns
104. Philip Anschutz of AEG Continued to Donate to Republican Candidates and Organizations in 2018
105. Coachella Owner Funds Anti-Gay, Climate-Change-Denying Hate Groups
106. Activists Raise Alarm Over Anti-LGBT Ties to AEG, The Concert Giant Behind Bumbershoot
107. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has close ties to conservative megadonor activist Philip Anschutz
108. Turns Out Coachella’s Owner Donated $200,000 to Anti LGBQT Organizations
109. The Owner of Coachella Is Still Giving His Money to Pro-Gun, Anti-LGBT, Birther Politicians
110. Coachella & AEG owner accused of ‘funding anti-LGBT and climate change denial groups’
111. More Disturbing News About AEG Founder Unveiled
112. Phil Anschutz's conservative agenda
113. Coachella Co-Owner’s Latest Charitable Filing Shows Deep Anti-LGBTQ Ties
114. A Look Behind the Scenes of the Supposedly LGBTQ-Friendly Music Festival//Coachella 2019
115. Oil Tycoon Coachella Founder is Giving Your Ticket Money to Ultra Conservative Groups
116. Music Economics: How the Little Bands Fail at Festivals
117. Intersectionality
118. Kimberlé Crenshaw on Intersectionality, More than Two Decades Later
119. What's Intersectionality? Let These Scholars Explain the Theory and Its History
120. What is intersectionality, and what does it have to do with me?
121. The intersectionality wars
122. The origin of the term ‘intersectionality’
123. Black Women & The Suffrage Movement: 1848-1923
124. Hundreds of ‘I Voted’ stickers left at Susan B. Anthony’s grave
125. The Root: How Racism Tainted Women's Suffrage
126. Celebrate Women’s Suffrage, but Don't Whitewash the Movement's Racism
127. How Early Suffragists Sold Out Black Women
128. What Do We Do About America's Racial Wealth Gap?
129. The economic impact of closing the racial wealth gap
130. Policies Helping the Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Poorer
131. Academe Must Confront Its Racist Past
132. Black Americans 2.5X More Likely Than Whites to Be Killed By Police
133. Police Were Created To Catch Runaway Slaves And Protect White Society From Black Revolts
134. Fact Sheet: Incarceration and Mental Health
136. Jailing people just because they can't afford bail doesn't make us safer
137. Mass Incarceration: New Jim Crow, Class War, or Both?
138. Following the Money of Mass Incarceration
139. Louisiana’s Turn to Mass Incarceration: The Building of a Carceral State
140. Louisiana sheriff argues against releasing prisoners ‘you can work,’ drawing slavery comparisons
Ideas to manage unnecessary production in the music industry for independent artists:
Screen print, heat press, or paint new designs on old merchandise.
Make patches with salvageable material from damaged merchandise.
Is that a broken guitar string or new wire for wraps?
Turn unused handbills into rainbow scratch paper for personalized promotions (handbills, homemade cd covers, invitations) using black paint mixed with a little dish soap.
Give a discount for shows people bring a handbill in for to be reused for the rainbow scratch paper.
Print one batch of posters for each tour with room to write specific details for each venue/date.
If any clout, have poster signing sessions so they are less likely to end up in the trash.
Offer personalized playlists and charge extra to burn CDs.
Donate unused instruments to schools or a kid near you.
Consider what art installations or repurposing could be done with any broken gear or extra office supplies.
Could busted speakers be gutted into themed furniture?
Can a broken guitar case be turned into a guitar stand?
Collect and loop used wristbands for handmade streamers.
Create ticket collages for home craft stage or photobooth backdrops.
Wrap/tie/knot old instrument cables into wall art.
Broken microphones make great balloon/decoration/paper weights for any entertainment themed event.
Drums that are no longer playable could become flower pots, foot stools, or end tables.
Even broken glass can be used for mosaics.
Look at what is lying around unused, find a way to make a new purpose for it.
Links:
Music industry and climate change, Part 2: What can a musician do?
How can music fans be environmentally responsible in 2019?
Massive Attack to help map music industry's carbon footprint
Everything’s Gone Green: What can the Music Industry do to Combat Climate Change?
Updated: Dec 26, 2019
Recommended listening: Dave Brubeck’s Take Five
Green the Scene is a concept that is easier said than done.
As in any other intricate system, the many parts that make it all happen have become standardized over time.
So how to change an issue that exists because that is just the way it is?
Weighing matters reflects priority, responsibility on the majority consequential for the minority.
One of the biggest obstacles of an environmentally friendly music industry is income disparity.
Why are finances able to make such a difference in sustainability, especially for niche business sectors? What can be done to fix this?
Knowing the history behind the way things became the way they are can potentially lead to treating the problem.
Take five aspects of how the music industry impacts the environment into consideration:
1. Barriers to Education
2. Paradox of Tolerance
3. Putting Motivation into Action
4. Analyzing Results
5. Making Changes
People are not just sitting around letting their world go to shit.
When “limited resources” just means society supports a corrupt faction that hoards all of the world’s wealth and destroys humanity for profit, “limiting resources” is the cross that many have to bear to indulge few.
Learn. Discuss. Adjust. Evaluate. Green the Scene.
Barriers to Education:
Education for sustainability: Challenges and opportunities
Children Still Face Barriers In Accessing Music Education
Environmental Education Barriers to Transformative Sustainability Learning and Action
Paradox of Tolerance:
Creative workers’ views on cultural heritage and sustainability
The need to respect nature and its limits challenges society and conservation science
“I’d rather be called a hypocrite than do fuck all”: how music is tackling climate change
Putting Motivation into Action:
8 Ways To Be A More Eco-Friendly Musician!
Tips for sustainable practices in the industry: feat. Tim Hollo
Sustainable Music Industry: An Example of Good Practices
Greener rooms: how is the music industry responding to the environmental impact of touring?
Analyzing Results:
Using the PESTLE analysis model
UK music industry declares climate and ecological emergency
Emissions From Music Consumption Reach Unprecedented High, Study Shows
Making Changes:
Music industry and climate change - it's time to act!
There’s No Easy Way for Musicians to Engage with Climate Change
Digitalisation and Intermediaries in the Music Industry: The Rise of the Entrepreneur?
Illustrations by Maya Jevans