Notices by Kate (katebowles@mastodon.social), page 10

It rained in the desert today. The student who moved here because the weather is more like the country he's from got his shoes soaked. And the surfaces that don't see much rain were slick.

On the way back from work, the plants were greener, and there was water in a few of the washes.
#smallstories

I'm going for a walk in the breeze.

Goodnight friends! Today really slipped by me, kinda shaken up by a long, painful+exhausting period of immobility yesterday, one that came mostly out of the blue. Shorter+less severe today, but still sore moments—sleep thrown utterly off course again for now.

The weather stayed close & warm, wind rapidly flipping through weather channels from overcast murk to sunlight with piercing, dizzying physical presence.

May we find & value the chance to listen to & trust each others' experiences today!

Tomorrow I'm teaching in a small town. The projector in the room didn't have a cable connection that fits my laptop, so I asked my host whether there was a computer store nearby. She said they just had a Wal-Mart.

I went hunting for computer businesses instead, and the second was a local custom PC business run by a blind person. I'm much happier that my $10 cable came from him.
#smallstories

look when i first heard "the sharing economy" i thought it meant "a cooperative end to scarcity" so i am extremely disappointed that it just means "worse jobs for worse pay"

Worker Cooperatives

Not a panacea, but a useful step away from Jeff Bezos making $100 billion next year and another underpaid/fired hundred million workers turning their anger toward 'others'.

Mondragon's head makes 8 times the lowest paid employee. There are coops sprouting up across the US (largely unreported by media which survives on capitalism). It's concrete action that will lessen the chances of us all dying horribly or living in a torture chamber when automation really hits.

Capitalism vs Cooperative fun facts!

Cooperative Mondragon: CEO made 8 times lowest paid employee (Managers also took biggest cuts during pinch) employee happiness leagues above capitalist corporations.

Capitalist Amazon: CEO 2.5 MILLION times the lowest paid employee ($20,000) + strongarms governments for tax revenue, people working, dying in sweatshop conditions.

There’s warmth in the air, very faint, like not winter. Bower birds start fixing up their bowers. We walk around outside at lunchtime saying “isn’t it warm?” And some true things about our workplace are sayable, outside.

“I mean, fuck it,” says my colleague. “What the fuck?” and suddenly we’re all grinning.

Springtime.

#smallstories

Good morning, lovely people.

Hey, you’re gonna be ok. We all have our up and downs. It’s just a part of this life. It will pass and you’ll be back out there causing trouble.

Be kind to yourself.

This deli actually used to be the Hollywood Video where I worked when I was 19. It's changed a lot.