My last Now update was in March, so roughly eleven years ago in Covid Time. Wow: "Covid Time" β that didn't even exist then. What a wild seventy-five years these past six months have been. Somehow I've managed to get anything done, and now I'm working on other things. Here's what.
First, my now is occupied by delivering the things I’ve already created and co-created:
- Facilitator Cards, obvs, have to top this list. Meg & I have been working on these for years, the Kickstarter was a success, and they are finally arriving in people’s hands. By the end of September all the backers should have their decks, and they are already for sale on the site (and being bought!).
- I wrote a book in January, now titled Problematic Activism, that I need to get to delivering. And the sooner the better, because this thing is burning a hole in my mental pocket.
I’m continuing to ship what I’ve always shipped.
I’m still writing on IPM, and have started collecting data on attitudes among social justice people, to give some numbers to amorphous zeitgeist moments within the movement. For example, I wrote about #DefundingThePolice. That was a bitter pill for a lot of people, most of whom did more spit than swallow. Today, I published a poll about antiracism, which is sure to be a hot potato when I publish the results and write-up.
I’m also working on some entirely new things!
For example, I’m getting ready to launch a new hue, this one will be aimed at the monopoly that Amazon has become, and rallying a movement of antitrust activism more broadly. And I’m really proud of how elegant (I think!) the action is. It’s called BUYINDIE.
The premise behind BUYINDIE is simple: a unified promo code people can use when shopping online that gives them the discount the store owner would otherwise be paying as a referral fee to Amazon (if the customer were to purchase the thing there instead). For most independent business owners, that referral fee is steep (15% is most common), so the parallel discount is juicy.
So instead of paying 15% to Amazon, they offer it as a discount to customers. The customer pays less, supports the indie biz directly, and everyone wins (other than Bezos). That’s the plan, anyhow.
The project itself will take the form of an app where people can find supported businesses, and access their shop from a directory. I’ll have lots of updates on that front soon, because I’m almost ready to “ship” the app (as the cool tech brehs say), so if it sparks your fancy make sure you’re on my mailing list.
In other news, there is no other news.
My life is a pandemic-induced Groundhog Day. I’ve smashed my records for longest time not being on a plane (at 2 months, and now going on 7). I even went three months without being in a car (#ThatBicycleLyfe). And the pups are getting more attention than they’ve ever gotten (and I’m worried it’ll spoil them rotten).
Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
<3 sK