Love letters to my lads 💌

Accessibility ruling for digital educational content, Black History month email series, and cool climate image generator

IN THE MARGINS

Love Letters  ✉️ ♥️

I could rant about the commercialization of Valentine’s Day but I’d rather embrace the rare moment where so many people are expressing love and care to others. Romantic, platonic or self love, it doesn’t matter. The world is sour sometimes so I’ll take all the sweet I can get 🍫 I wanna show some love to a few online people that have been an awesome source of support for me and I just genuinely like what they do!

• Muneebah - A biz bestie turned friend whose intriguing blend of design is both practical and experimental. Wrapped in a fierce yet fun package, she keeps me on my creative toes by constantly inspiring me to do better.  (Brand & Creative Directress - Muneebah’s website) 

• Emma - A Green Graphic Designer who is as hella informed about her industry as she is about museums and T Swift. Hot take designer rants and ACNH hangouts guaranteed  (Little Fox Design Studio)

• Amy - A resilient little blue raspberry whose chill-and-real vibes help take my anxiety down 100 notches and has a heart of gold (Green Graphic Designer - Blue Raspberry website)

• Brooke - A sassy badass that knows how to balance tough love and fuzzy mittens when talking me through it all, even when I feel like a hot mess (Coach & Consultant - Brooke’s website) 

• Lauren - A tender cinnamon roll that can also fuck shit up, in the best ways possible. Restored my faith in the “social impact / agents of change” space.  (Anticapitalist Coach & Strategist - Lauren’s website) 

• Sofia - A soft soul with a contagious laugh who is a great channeler & spiritual mentor that can TALK TO BABIES! How freaking cool?! (Sacred Space website)

• Abbiola - THE definition of ‘doing the work’ and someone that I can have a whole conversation with using only the word “girl….” and some giggles (Equity & Inclusion Consultant, Mentor, & Speaker - Abbiola’s website)

• Steff - A literal joy spreader who embodies wholistic self-care and a trusty sidekick in your corner for solidarity work - because let’s be real, these systems suck so we need all the support we can get (Self-Care Coach, M.Ed - Steff’s website)

There are many more people as it takes a village to raise my wild ass so I’ll be spreading the love in future editions of the newsletter :)

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ACCESSIBILITY

DOJ’s Decree for Digital Content

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and University of California, Berkeley came to legal fisticuffs over accessibility. Simply put, the DOJ ruled that much of the school’s online content was not accessible. 

“This decree will provide people with disabilities access to the numerous free online courses, conferences, lectures, performances and other programming offered by UC Berkeley and its faculty, providing lifelong learning opportunities to millions of people.” - DOJ Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark

This opens the doors for similar regulations to apply to all institutions of higher education (IHEs) with free online content and courses that are not fully ADA compliant. What makes me hopeful is that it applies to all content regardless of the platform where the institution’s content exists, including third-party platforms such as YouTube or Apple Podcasts.

“UC Berkeley will also revise its policies, train relevant personnel, designate a web accessibility coordinator, conduct accessibility testing of its online content and hire an independent auditor to evaluate the accessibility of its content.” -DOJ statement

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DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

45rpm recording and recording sleeve of Mississippi Goddam, 1964, Carnegie Hall

Black History in Bites

28 Days of Black History is a daily email series published by Anti-Racism Daily. Social justice work can be heavy so I like the ‘gateway’ approach this series takes. Each day will include a work or story, the historical context, and questions for individual reflection and group discussion.

Here's what to expect in each email:

• A cultural artifact – book, movie, artwork, song, etc – that represents the impact of Black people and culture in U.S. history

• Action steps to carry this work into tomorrow – whether it’s donating to an organization, getting involved in your community, or more.

• Discussion questions to drive conversation and learning with your colleagues, students, friends and family.

It’s not too late to sign up and you can check previous issues in the archive. ✊🏾

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ART & DESIGN

Getting creative with climate design

When I’m not getting my climate news comfort from

Green Graphic Design

, I’m looking at climate-related design. New York Times used a cool image generator for a climate event. A bit on the ‘Microsoft screensaver’ side, the ocean-wave like movement caught my design eye. How it can be used in multiple ways was icing on the efficiency cake. (Shoutout to my systems and processes peeps!)

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Signing off from the Starship SBLTN,
Laneen (Pronouns: she/they)

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🎧 Listening: Afrofuturism podcast series from Carnegie Hall

📖 Reading: The different Greek words for love

• Philia — intimate, authentic friendship

• Ludus — playful, flirtatious love

• Storge — unconditional, family love

• Philautia — self-love

• Pragma — enduring, long-term love

• Agápe — empathetic, universal love

✔️ Random Fact: Hawaii is moving closer to Alaska by 7.5cm every year
This is caused by tectonic plates which are in constant motion, driven by currents that rise and fall under them. Hawaii remains in the center of the Pacific plate and every year due to this constant motion, Hawaii is slowly and steadily heading to the North American platform, back to Alaska.