Notices by Kate (katebowles@mastodon.social), page 16

I don't live in an apartment right now, but I remember that being especially hard. I didn't even know how many of the apartments had people living in them.

One thing that helped me a little bit was watching where people went outside to smoke. I don't smoke, but I would sometimes go to the same place and drink coffee or eat a sandwich. I got to know a couple people that way. Find common areas.

One of the biggest steps in subverting and eventually destroying capitalism is to fight the isolation and become an active part of your local community. It's also one of the most intimidating.

How do you get to know your neighbors?

Change is the universal aspect of all these sources of story. Story is something moving, something happening, something or somebody changing. -- Ursula K. Le Guin (stolen off Tumblr via M. Christian & others)

Modernist manuals of writing often conflate story with conflict. This reductionism reflects a culture that inflates aggression and competition while cultivating ignorance of other behavioral options. No narrative of any complexity can be built on or reduced to a single element. Conflict is one kind of behavior. There are others, equally important in any human life, such as relating, finding, losing, bearing, discovering, parting, changing. ... (Ursula Le Guin, Con'td Next)

If you're new to Masto (or are old to it but still figuring it out) and you want to know how to sort out who to follow: One of my best methods is to find a good conversation, see who's saying things there that make sense, /and follow that profile/.

It's a vastly better algo than checking who's following you (assortment of rando space alien cats), soliciting suggestions (though that can work).

It also means that the best way to get followers /is to converse productively/.

#MastodonTips

If you want to be inclusive, maybe try not to use emojis https://mastodon.social/media/VJW6uL4WKDqB2H42EVU

Hardest thing to accept as a black transwoman in the U.S. is that the standards of civility, proficiency, brilliance and humanity are not applied equally. Oppressors fake these virtues, and the oppressed work themselves to death to make these virtues real. And the fruits of their labor are robbed from them.

The only lasting comfort I can get in this country is that I am real and living. But my politics is about turning that solace into communal joy, even if it is difficult or if I am mistaken.