K Agbebiyi! Abolition! Links, chaos, etc!

Hey friends,

Hope you’re hanging in there. I feel like the 😶‍🌫️ emoji. It’s taken me three days to write this because every time I think about putting paragraphs together my brain goes 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️.  [If you don't have that emoji, it's this one.]

This week on the show, it was a joy and a privilege to speak with writer, organizer, and 8 To Abolition cofounder K (Toyin) Agbebiyi.  K talks about how they (as a disabled person) recently learned to incorporate a disability justice framework in their organizing, and how they’re organizing differently now that we’re seeing backlash to 2020's small spike in pro-abolition sentiment.

Photo ID: A selfie of K, who is wearing a salmon-colored sweater over a collared white shirt.

We also talk about:

• the difference between mutual aid and nonprofits
• the disabling nature of prisons
• why so many “abolitionist” leftists love to police each other
• organizing with incarcerated trans people
• relearning being gay after the pandemic (tbd)
• treating work like a video game
• quitting twitter
• using two names
• And more!!

By the way, next week’s episode also talks about abolition and “crime” and organizing with incarcerated trans people in a way that complements K’s episode nicely. (It also chaotically includes a bootleg TikTok clip, a laissez-faire attitude to the concept of “interview prep,” and a second guest popping into the show to argue with the main guest. Should be a good time!)

Unrelated: I’ve been reading a bunch of old newsletters in order to clear out my inbox for the new year or something, and many of them have a section that’s just like, “here are some things I’ve enjoyed.” So, in tribute, here are some links to things I’ve enjoyed recently:

• Callum Angus’s A Natural History of Transition
• this oral history of my favorite Disney movie
• this old TikTok of a dog drinking water efficiently
• this piece from many months ago, particularly the line “I didn’t have anything to say about climate change anymore, other than I was not doing well”
• why is this tweet so funny to me
• I watched both seasons of Never Have I Ever and while there are overtly problematique elements, I enjoyed a) Devi’s entire fashion aesthetic b) Paxton Hall Yoshida c) the fact that there’s like 2-3 white characters in the entire series (#blessed).

I think that’s it because 😶‍🌫️ 😶‍🌫️ but thank you so much for being here.

Here’s your weekly Rhubarb.

Photo ID: Ruby sitting on rumpled blankets and staring straight into the camera. Her whiskers look very long and droopy.

Xo,
Yr resident gender detective