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You are here: Home / Archives for Organizing & Resistance / Don't Agonize - Organize

Don't Agonize - Organize

Solidarity and Dissertation phase

by David Anderson|  August 22, 20234:26 pm| 40 Comments

This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance, Don't Agonize - Organize, Open Threads

Good news everybody!

The Union was approved for Duke Grad Students. I voted yes along with 88% of my colleagues.

Solidarity and Dissertation phase

Personal life updates now as a grad student.

I completed my comprehensive exams and my required class work last May. I’m filing the forms to establish my dissertation committee this week.  I’ve gotten conceptual buy-in on my aims.  The data is all public use files.  I intend to speed run my dissertation phase with the objective of being done by the end of next summer.

For the jackals who are in the academic health policy universe:

I AM ON THE MARKET

I am looking for a tenure-track position with both research and teaching responsibilities.

I have two comparative advantages.

I  am good at seeing odd policy hooks because I have ridiculously deep subject matter expertise on the Affordable Care Act’s individual health insurance marketplaces.  I repeatedly and rapidly assemble teams from several institutions with access to relevant data to probe that oddity.  We then quickly write and publish papers aiming for policy impact in good journals. We’ve done that for advertising and navigators, automatic re-enrollment, automatic re-enrollment into dominated plans, plan re-entry, zero premium plans and the impact of affordability from Silverloading.  I have something to add to this list currently under review.  It started as a screenshot in a Twitter DM in February.  We question an assumption that a lot of states make.  Our evidence shows that things don’t work the way people think it works.  Secondly, I have a demonstrated history of production which substantially lowers the variance of my future outcomes.  In sports terms, I’m a high floor draft pick.

The median gestation time for my H-index papers is under a year.  This is what I love to do and what I do well. It is my strength.  It is my weakness. My five year research agenda is not as settled as many folks and it is not disease specific.  That is not the easiest thing to fund through the NIH grant mechanism.  This  shapes where I likely can fit well.

Teaching gives me energy. Let me teach undergrads, let me teach masters students, let me teach doctoral students!  I have designed and implemented a new class at Duke Sanford as an instructor of record. I have supervised master student capstone projects.  I have acted as mentors to younger students.  All of this gives me energy and new ideas to think about for my research.

Geography — I’m open to a mostly national search with some weather preferences.  I will very happily move to a state where teenagers are only stressed out about a test in 4th period calculus and whether that cutie in biology laughed yesterday with the funny comment or at the speaker of the not so funny comment. You know the normal stresses of being a teen instead of having a state sanctioned target on their back because of who they are.

I’m revising my job market materials right now and starting to look at the listings on a regular basis.  If you happen to know of things that could be interesting please send it to me at my Duke e-mail address (dma34 is the left hand side of the address)

 

Solidarity and Dissertation phasePost + Comments (40)

Gravely Disappointed

by MisterDancer|  January 14, 20224:33 pm| 170 Comments

This post is in: Civil Rights, Domestic Politics, domestic terrorists, Don't Agonize - Organize, Don't Mourn, Organize, Economics, Open Threads, Racial Justice, Your Place Is In The Resistance

Regarding Senator Sinema’s words, yesterday: I would muse on the…universality, if you will, of the toxic approach people like Senator Sinema take in all this. For it reminds me, again, of Dr. King’s words on this kind of person:

I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is:

  • more devoted to “order” than to justice,
  • who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice,
  • who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”,
  • who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom,
  • who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.

—-King, Martin Luther. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.].” Upenn.edu, 16 Apr. 1963, www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html.

[Edits mine – MisterDancer]

Why does the above matter? Because: There’s a saying in some social justice circles, that what’s needed aren’t Allies. They need Accomplices.

show full post on front page

What does that mean? It means people who are willing to not just let go of prejudice, not just willing to address other’s prejudices when it’s convenient for them, but actively engaged in using their privilege to raise people up, and in – at the end of the day – engaged in the life—long work to dismantling their privilege.

They require people who will avoid taking up all the space so that all voices can be heard far more equally, than happens today. They underline that you cannot support a movement, while sucking at the teat of the forces that seek to break that movement.

And so, yesterday, Senator Sinema chose to take up all the space, to take up all the air. She chose to offer a negative peace, over justice.

She, and the other Senators, outspoken and silent, she stands with will say to their last breath, they are Allies. They will insist their stance is about doing the right thing, the right way. That they just can’t agree with the methods for direct action, to protect the stealing of votes. They insist there is time to find another convenient season, to address these issues.

In this, they are not far in words traded in our media from the deeper threat – the GOP who applaud these moves. The ones who see on the horizon a time when their cult of power cannot be broken, and their desire for power will go unchallenged. These are people who have not forgotten the truth of the Dixiecrats: for all their spoken hate of Black and Brown folx (among many others), they needed my ancestors. Jim Crow’s broken-assed economy meant they couldn’t just throw their bodies, or even minds, away. They couldn’t escape the reality, save by lying to everyone about it by claiming Jim Crow as the “moderate” stance, the stance of “good” people.

Indeed, “scientific racism” was invented so that Victorian-era people could feel good about treating groups of people like machines. And to do so while claiming they were Allies to the people they abused, just as slave owners came to say that Black folx were children who required a firm hand…indefinitely.

And that “good feelings first” mentality allowed 1700 of those slave owners to stand in Congress over the centuries. The very same American Congress, the seat of freedom, where Senator Sinema chose to defend their horrors in standing against voting rights.

After all, they were all good moderate people, to be certain. /s

People have always sought a way to be a moderate, a centrist, even in light of much of the worst humanity has done. To retain every bit of their privilege, a thing they “deserve” and have “worked hard for, unlike others”. To hold their space and never yield it, ensuring they and the people they “care” about are always seen as important, now and forever trapped in an amber poured of blood and pain.

There are trials and tribulations to come. And they come, in no small part, from what I’ve written above.

So, to you, the reader who made it through all this ramble: I’m going to try to use my energy here to be a better Accomplice. And I’m working through what that means, considering the current situation. What I can bring to light here to accomplish that mission, and to build connections and community — even if I have to be mean about it, sometimes. :)

Y’all hold me to task, on that, OK?

Gravely DisappointedPost + Comments (170)

Counter-Political Action Plus Civic Action Post & Comment Thread

by Adam L Silverman|  June 8, 20213:15 pm| 53 Comments

This post is in: America, Crazification Factor, domestic terrorists, Don't Agonize - Organize, Don't Mourn, Organize, Don't Trip, Organize, Open Threads, Organizing & Resistance, Political Action, Politics, Silverman on Security, Vive La Resistance

Counter-Political Action Plus Civic Action Post & Comment Thread

In my post, Subsole requested a post, really a weekly post, but this one will be weakly as it is post workout, so that people can list in comments the local and state organizations they are part of or know of that are doing counter-political and/or civic action to oppose the Republican attempts to revise state election laws to disenfranchise Americans and, as a result, manipulate election results.

So if you are working with a local or state group or know of one, please list it in the comments. It can be most of us haven’t heard about or something, like Stacey Abrams’ organization in Georgia and Ben Wikler’s work with the Wisconsin Democratic Party, that a lot of us have heard about.

Counter Political Action Plus Civic Action Post & Comment Thread

ETA at 3:35 PM EDT

If you’ve got links to these groups’ websites, please include them in your comments listing them.

Open thread!

Also, current state post workout:

Counter-Political Action Plus Civic Action Post & Comment Thread 1

Counter-Political Action Plus Civic Action Post & Comment ThreadPost + Comments (53)

Whatever You Do Now, Don’t Turn Around

by $8 blue check mistermix|  February 25, 20204:30 pm| 104 Comments

This post is in: Don't Agonize - Organize

I think we know that no matter whether COVID-19 is a massive epidemic, or a nothingburger (in terms of US mortality), the Republicans will politicize it. The trade disruption will, somehow, be Democrats’ fault for opposing TPP, or whatever other stupid reason they cook up. The deaths will be due to Obamacare impinging upon the robust function of the invisible hand.

The reality is that a COVID-19 pandemic will highlight one issue where Democrats can win: our fucked-up healthcare system. Sick people will avoid going to the doctor because they don’t have insurance (or good insurance), and they’ll infect others. Our overcrowded emergency departments, still the first point of contact for the sick working poor who don’t have a family physician, will grind to a standstill under the weight of infection precautions. The for-profit urgent care centers that dot the landscape around here will be relatively useless monuments to the greed of the hospital systems that overbuilt them to capture insurance money.

Every single Democratic candidate has a good healthcare plan that would be better than this. M4A is miles ahead of our common disaster.

And then there’s the incompetence, just the sheer stupidity that would lead the State Department to overrule the CDC. Expect more of this in the days and weeks to come.

We need to stick it to Trump on this one – it’s all on his watch and we need to make him own it before his media machine makes it Obama’s Katrina. We have the plans, and we have the competence. For once, that ought to be appreciated.

Whatever You Do Now, Don’t Turn AroundPost + Comments (104)

Election Year Open Thread: The Iowa Caucuses

by Anne Laurie|  January 30, 202010:54 pm| 107 Comments

This post is in: 2020 Elections, Don't Agonize - Organize, Open Threads

Caucus Refreshments - Jeff Danziger

(Jeff Danziger via GoComics.com)

This is to say nothing of Bloomberg. He might get some Yang voters, though, all 3.

Anyway people will actively avoid learning how the caucus works and Monday night will be a very confusing time

— Canadian Bread Price Fixing (@MenshevikM) January 30, 2020

This is no way to run a democratic election!

It's actually just completely shameful that we went through a whole big push about reforming the system to make primaries 'more democratic' & there was almost nothing about eliminating caucuses, which are inherently undemocratic.. https://t.co/kZWNKKeio1

— Centrism Fan Acct ?? (@Wilson__Valdez) January 27, 2020

I am going to be caucusing with a 7 year old, so the stupidity of a crucial political January in-person event starting at 7 pm has been in the front of my brain lately as I think about the stories of doorknockers being turned away by husbands as they ask to speak to the wives too https://t.co/YmaKTwXWhn

— Louise Seamster (@louise_seamster) January 29, 2020

They were certainly bad for my late mother who has been a Democrat longer than most people have been alive but couldn't attend the caucuses anymore when she was in her 90s cuz she couldn't hang around in cold rooms for hours.

— Equanimity (@shunyata2000) January 29, 2020

And the glimpses I’m seeing on twitter of ‘mock caucus’ training to bring in The Youngs are… not inspirational:

In a mock caucus right now. First round, Biden, Tulsi, and Amy were not viable. Yang was viable, and we just grew in size by 26% after a number of them moved to us. Bernie, Warren, and Pete are the only ones left besides us and each remaining group is similar in size. #YangGang pic.twitter.com/TdFyv60Hk4

— Scott Santens?? (@scottsantens) January 28, 2020

Warren supporters attempt to convince Sanders supporters. Almost none have budged. As an unviable group – if they don’t realign, they’re effectively going home. pic.twitter.com/A2Wwd25qwt

— Ben Pu (@BenPu_nbc) January 28, 2020

Election Year Open Thread: The Iowa CaucusesPost + Comments (107)

Monday Morning Open Thread: Really Absolutely Mundanely 2020, Now

by Anne Laurie|  January 6, 20204:54 am| 60 Comments

This post is in: 2020 Elections, Don't Agonize - Organize, Foreign Affairs, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

Carol Burnett Award winner Ellen DeGeneres is joined by Carol Burnett herself to talk about why the #GoldenGlobes is the best party of the year. pic.twitter.com/vI9koEJ56Q

— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 6, 2020

Parties are over, back to the real-as-we-know-it world…

I really wish the first four Dem primaries/caucuses (Iowa, NH, Nevada and SC) were on the same day. It would cover every region of the country and include a heavily Hispanic state and a heavily black one. There is no reason that Iowa alone should have so much power in the process

— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) January 4, 2020

NEW: Pelosi sends letter to colleagues: “This week, the House will introduce and vote on a War Powers Resolution to limit the President’s military actions regarding Iran.”

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 6, 2020

Elissa Slotkin, a freshman Dem in a swing MI district who also is a former CIA and DOD analyst, will lead the effort. Pelosi again reiterated that killing of Soleimani “endangered our servicemembers, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran.”

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 6, 2020

I’m convinced that the desire not to seem wacky prevents journalists from describing what is happening accurately. It is legitimately difficult to not sound a bit crazed in describing what Donald Trump is doing to the country.

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 5, 2020

STOP. JUST STOP!

There is NEVER a grand strategy! He’s an impulsive narcissistic ignoramus in cognitive decline. The option was put in front of him by gobsmackingly stupid DoD people, like handing a Glock to a toddler. And he was afraid the embassy attack made him look weak https://t.co/HRAwSKYRun

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 6, 2020

I boiled down everything you need to know about the president's foreign policy process in one handy flowchart. pic.twitter.com/Qo9bF1QBEU

— Starfish Considering Taking Up Day Drinking (@IRHotTakes) January 6, 2020

If you want to live in a fantasy world governed by a complicated set of rules which can be understood and mastered, play D&D.

— Starfish Considering Taking Up Day Drinking (@IRHotTakes) January 6, 2020

Monday Morning Open Thread: Really Absolutely Mundanely 2020, NowPost + Comments (60)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: DUMP TRUMP

by Anne Laurie|  December 18, 20196:08 am| 137 Comments

This post is in: Don't Agonize - Organize, Impeachment Inquiry, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture

Quite an image of Times Square tonight https://t.co/HUfVXGIWJO

— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) December 18, 2019

It’s the theme of the day! From the Washington Post:

… Protesters in the dark of a snowy New England evening chanted “Dump Trump,” while those marching in the warmth of southern Florida brandished signs reading “Impeach Putin’s Puppet.” In Republican-dominated Kansas, they repeated a mantra: “Country over party.” In Texas, they fretted that despite the House’s vote, Trump will get away with it all.

Organizers said that there were more than 600 protests nationwide — from Hawaii to Maine — with the goal of demonstrating “to our lawmakers that their constituents are behind them to defend the Constitution.”

In many places, the rallies functioned less as a chance to vent about Trump’s Ukraine dealings — the matter for which he faces impeachment — than as an opportunity for collective catharsis over the entire track record of a president disapproved of by slightly more than half the country…

The House hearings are due to start around 9am EST; actual voting is expected “around” 6:30-7:30pm, depending on the Repubs’ performative stamina, or any ‘surprises’ from the Oval Office squatters.

WATCH: @Maddow profiles the nationwide protests tonight.

She shows powerful footage from all around the country.#ImpeachmentEve pic.twitter.com/uQIyXfoO7k

— Stand Up America (@StandUpAmerica) December 18, 2019

Massive #impeachment rally in #Atlanta. Impossible to capture the entire crowd of more than 1000.#ImpeachmentEve #ImpeachAndRemove #Indivisible@IndivisibleTeam pic.twitter.com/OPbuuxB8FF

— Indivisible Georgia Sixth District (@INDI6_GA) December 17, 2019

Just rolled down the window to clap and cheer the massive one block long pro #ImpeachmentEve demonstration here in our small Utah town. All ages. Elders. Awesome. Bae was driving

— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) December 17, 2019

Even in single digit temps St Paul shows up on #ImpeachmentEve pic.twitter.com/ielQXSQH4U

— Justin Lerbakken (@Lerbaker) December 17, 2019

Spirited #impeachment rally on Boston Common tonight despite the weather. #ImpeachmentEve #mapoli pic.twitter.com/EMGdj6tXyH

— Amanda Smith (@abs628) December 17, 2019

All I can say is if millions of Americans braving all sorts of weather to demand the impeachment and removal of this thug of a president doesn’t make the front page of @nytimes they should stop calling themselves a newspaper. pic.twitter.com/GpLkrnYrKB

— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) December 18, 2019

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: DUMP TRUMPPost + Comments (137)

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