Anindita Basu Sempere

That was nice way to end a rather hectic week. Not that the weekend will be less hectic — doing various birthday things for the kid (family today; a bunch of 7th grade boys on Sunday — wish us luck!).

Well that was a first — I was helping someone with some tech, and she was very nice and grateful for the help — and at the end she said, “You’re very sweet. I love you. Bye bye!”

The last time I helped someone, she blessed me. They’re all very sweet!

Local education stuff -- PTO and a town nonprofit that funds educational grants and organizes the regional College Fair! I'm the Comms Lead for the former and on the Board of the latter.

Starting to think I may hit fundraising goals for the academic year for my various nonprofit volunteer gigs... reached one, and the second campaign is starting to gain some traction 😅

Too much Rent as an undergrad? “The opposite of war isn’t peace — it’s creation.”

I’m so tired of destruction and enshittification and telling people to aim lower and expect less. I don’t want mid. I want effort and care and moments of brilliance.

You know what’d be nice? Using this budget for universal healthcare and fixing crumbling infrastructure in the US. Free college would be nice, too. And funding the arts and sciences. So much that we could *build*

Warren is saying “it’s so much worse than you thought” and Blumenthal says he’s more fearful than ever that we may be putting boots on the ground. Not great.

The implications of this are huge

Screenshot of text: The way to know the shape of things in advance is to listen to seers and mystics instead of to economists and tacticians. The world had ample warning of every event that it has greeted with such gasps of surprise in the past twelve months. Part of the preparation for the perfect world society will be the recognition of seers. It will be required of the President of the United States that he read one poem and one parable or fable a day, in addition to the editorials in the Times. The brotherhood of man can never be achieved till the democracies realize that today's fantasy is tomorrow's communiqué. A seer a day keeps Armageddon away.

What a weirdly fitting essay to have read tonight — from “Compost” by E.B. White (June 1940).

Things I did not expect from one of the committee group chats: pastors talking about Heated Rivalry and trolling each other. Meanwhile I’m not Christian but I’m like “Pastor in the chat! Must be polite and remember not to swear!” 😅

I’ve been on such a tear that I haven’t even made my morning coffee yet. Just wait until I’m caffeinated!

Town politics are making me fully feral this morning.

Thank you.

I am ready to let go of strain. There is a lot right now.

I was facilitating a somewhat challenging meeting the other night, and during a debrief afterwards, someone asked if I meditate, “because you respond with such equanimity.” And yes, the more tense things get, the calmer I become until the situation ends, and I can actually let go of whatever strain.

Today has been a day — both on global and personal levels (I’m fine — caught up with a friend who’s going through some serious stuff right now) — and I would really like some boredom. Not perpetual destabilization. Because my goodness I am reeling.

I'm already sick of "It's all a distraction from Epstein" replies. This regime is killing innocent people because our leaders are all power-hungry tyrants and war profiteers. When you say it's "just a distraction" you minimize the gravity of what's happening and the lives lost.

The more I see of everything, the more anarchist I become: because centralized, hierarchical systems keep committing the most horrific atrocities imaginable, while regular people, often in decentralized networks, keep engaging in the most incredible acts of community defense and care.

“Many different things” = national decisions with local impact. How do we support trans/nb kids who are scouts in our town and their inclusive troops? How do we share stories of immigrant experience from our communities? How do we support at-risk community members?

I am so glad that I took yesterday afternoon “off” (or should I say “offline”?) to read, write, and go out with friends. I was exhausted and frazzled and needed to quiet my brain. This morning, the group chats were hopping re: how to respond to many different things. Remember to take time as needed.

what a crazy night for sam altman to be like "yeah we got that dept of war deal, and there's no moral concerns here"

So anyway I guess this is what it feels like to be one of the tiny humans running through the streets while the giant supervillain monsters are fighting by throwing passengers trains and apartment buildings at each other

Everything is bad, and also exhausting

2.5 years later, I still sometimes get marketing emails from companies in Switzerland. I just got an email in German from the Swiss Dunkin’ Donuts. And tbh the Swiss version is so much better than the ones in MA! Vegan donuts, macaron donuts — we’re missing out.

I feel good about the work and the various teams, but we’re all spread *way* too thin. And it’s upsetting that it takes so much time and thought and care to build things when a few people are intent on destruction.

(There’s a weeklong event coming up. Things happen — speaker with a family emergency/needed a replacement, website issues, etc. Also working on a new initiative that’s really important to get right, and keeping things rooted in community requires work and constant reflection.)

I’ve been putting out so many little fires this week, but it’s sunny, and there’s nothing that needs my *immediate* attention, so I’m going to lie on the couch and blast some PJ Harvey. Because MOOD.

Short version:

1) He can afford to keep everyone employed and has chosen to lay off half of the company.

2) He doesn’t care about innovation. AI *might* be sufficient to do existing work, but it isn’t creative.

Check out the article and the Native Bound Unbound site, where you can see archival documents and read records of enslaved Indigenous people: nativeboundunbound.org

Wow. Ellie Aghayeva — the Columbia student detained by ICE this morning — has been released and posted this on her Instagram.

Comes after NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani expressed his concern on the arrest to Trump in a meeting just earlier.