Quick Treats for Hope & Inspiration
An antidote to doom-scrolling for parents who need a little joy
Hey friends!
Feeling a little restless and ready for something new?
It’s time to shake off that winter chill and reconnect with our accomplices and conspirators. March is for tuning back into the world, trying different perspectives, and starting new experiments.
You don't have to hit the ground running as you head out into that slippery melting ice. If you’re not feeling particularly strong or confident, that’s totally normal. Everybody is feeling awkward and unsteady right now. You’re not alone.
The horrors persist, and so shall we. Let’s take a little break to fuel up on joy so we can keep burning those fires of resistance.
March 2025 Quick Treats
Instead of demanding action, these treats are for you - with no expectations, no obligations, and no guilt if you’re not up for it right now
Good News
Cool Things That Exist Now
Oh Hey, We Found The Helpers
A Goofy Thing Just For You To Enjoy
Helpful Stuff To Keep In Your Pocket For Later
1. Good News Exploring Disability Frontiers
Yesterday, I watched the 1966 ‘Menagerie’* episode of the original Star Trek, where a newly quadriplegic and non-speaking Captain Pike was removed from duty and shipped off to live the illusion world of Talos IV, dreaming he’s back in his enabled body.
But I think they should have kept Captain Pike on Starfleet duty, as he was on the precipice of developing a range of valuable new skills. Never having been to space or consulted any disabled astronauts, the Star Trek writers had it completely backward—being disabled can actually make us better (or at least competitive) at navigating a new frontier.
Well, almost 60 years later, astronautics finally caught up. The first astronaut with a physical disability is headed to the International Space Station.
If you haven’t been following disability employment rights, access, and technology, this might be a Big Wow.
But remember that the major challenges of navigating disability come from society just being set up to cater to one specific type of body and one specific type of mind.
However, space is not designed for an enabled-bodied & neurotypical human. And in fact - disabled folks have lifetimes of experience navigating hostile environments.
Our technology, our norms, and the ways humans move their bodies beyond the surface of Earth give us a testing ground to explore disability access and even the ways that disabled folks are at an advantage in off-world spaces.
Explore this revelation in the book Against Technoableism by Ashley Shew (bookshop affiliate link), recommended by Luminary Braintrust member and disability rights advocate Kara A.
I typically dread ‘disability rights’ nonfiction books, which lean heavily into elite jargon (disabled body-minds! cripistemology! bipolotics!), but this was a short, fun, conversational romp written by an author I’d genuinely love to grab intergalactic coffee with, somewhere far from Talos IV.
*My favorite part of this 2-part episode is watching Susan Oliver trying to figure out what to do with her hands while acting. Her awkwardly fluttering hands patting her face and gesticulating wildly were the true stars of these episodes.
2. Cool Things That Exist
The only thing holding me together in those early years of COVID-19 was the hope that the breakdown of existing systems would force us to find better alternatives and make more stuff accessible for those of us who were not able to explore, learn, or connect with people outside-the-house pre-pandemic.
One of my favorite innovations over the past four years has been the explosion in educational webinars for people who can’t attend social justice trainings or organize in person.
Yes, we are still trying to recover from this ongoing plague, but my kids are older, and I’ve finally found the time to dig into Project Nia’s Abolitionist Toolbox library, which was created during the early years of the pandemic.
Used to be, if you wanted access to this level of education, you’d have to be local to leftist organizations, hire a sitter, find transportation, and sit in a room filled with fluorescent lights and a bunch of contorting faces and smells. This kind of thing has always been out of my budget and would take weeks of recovery.
Five years later, and now I spend my Saturday mornings digging into these resources like I’m binging episodes - with none of those old barriers to access. I get to do this from bed, covered in cats and crumbs from my spinach croissant. No stress about arranging childcare, transportation, tuition, or dealing with the disregulating fallout of going to a new place and masking for a crowd.
I still believe this kind of education must be done in a community with others to really sink in and transform intent into action. But primer trainings like this, accessible for a wide for a wide net of new accomplices, enables us to get into formation without the scrambling, shame, division, and stress that comes with organizing in a 2017 Facebook group or attending a national conference.
3. Oh Hey, We Found The Helpers…
Thanks to the Trans Formations Project, it only took me five minutes to:
Use the Trans Formations website to see active anti-trans legislation in my state (scroll down and use the ‘filter’ by state function).
Text the word ‘state’ to Resistbot to directly email my state legislators.
Write them a quick, imperfect message saying, “Hey, I’m a voter writing in opposition against these bills. They target and discriminate against transgender people, and offer zero protection or benefits to any citizens of our state. Vote no on these!”
And then, with many minutes to spare, I caught up on the latest Trans Formations newsletter, which kicks off with a list of legislative wins to show how my five-minute investment has a huge impact.
4. A [Couple] Goofy Thing(s) Just For You To Enjoy
Today in silly things, a double-delivery, because you deserve it:
First: Sound up, please!
[Video description: An adorable soft and fluffy bobcat with big eyes hisses at us, but the hiss turns into a raspberry. The bobcat is like “Hiss hiss hhaaa—-thbbbbbbbbth!” Which I didn’t know cats could do, and now I’m dedicating the rest of my life to convincing my domestic house cats to please, please, PLEASE blow a raspberry for me?]
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Aaand second: (No sound required)
[video description: text ‘Them: ‘how in your space does your child like to be?’ My child:” with the camera giving a parent’s perspective view of a blanket, pulled back to reveal that a child has stuffed their right foot into our sock, while we are STILL WEARING IT. Only to pan over to the other foot to reveal that that BOTH socks have been invited by little feets. After spending 2011 through 2022 touched out to the point of wanting to fold inside out on myself to escape, I found this very validating.]
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5. Helpful Stuff For When You Need It
This spring, the Luminary Braintrust kicks off a new a book club chat to discuss all the books that are too mature for our Books for Littles Toolkits. I haven’t updated the portal yet on how to join us - so send me an email if you’d like to get in on it.
Even if you’re not a member, you can still get access to this curated list of reads that I recommend for social-justice curious grownups.
With a mix of non-fiction, essays, poetry, workbooks, and imaginative stories, keep it in your pocket for the next time you’re looking for read.
Coming up next
I’ll be back next week with an abolitionist toolkit to help your kiddos examine & dismantle the school to prison pipeline.
Which most of us think is too big and complicated of a problem to solve - but the toolkit makes it simple enough for a 6 year old. Now you don’t have to worry about advocating ‘wrong’ or saying something that makes you sound silly - you’ll be equipped and smart and ready for action!
with you,
Ashia
Love love love this! Thanks for sharing and being YOU! 🙌🏻❤️