Read. Remember. Resist. (Feb 2017 Edition)

[bookgazing]

Everything is A LOT at the moment, right? It can feel like everything is out of our control. Our actions get drowned out by newsreels of permanent despair, and every new dawn brings a chorus of 'Those fuckers did what now?' It's easy to believe what fascists want us to believe - nothing we do makes a difference and we may as well give up.

To counter this narrative, which is designed to keep us from beating them down, I thought it might be useful to start signal-boosting things that got DONE over the course of a month. My goal - to produce a five-item list, each month, of ways people improved the world and made a difference, big or small, in the middle of this political wasteland. Regular people are pushing back, and resistance is anything but futile.

So, I give to you:

Five things that got DONE in February

Verity held a Five in February exercise challenge to raise money for mental health charity MIND. This challenge raised £1, 510. Verity has been such a fantastic fundraiser for MIND over the years and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Zareen Jaffrey, Executive Director at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, announced a new publishing imprint called Salaam Reads which will focus on publishing stories by Muslim writers. Their first publication will be Amina's Voice by Hena Khan.

literaticat, and some other generous people, provided 13 free memberships to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators for people who couldn't afford the fee.

John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, explicitly stated that he would refuse to invite Donald Trump to speak at Westminster. Considering that many UK politicians see no problem with fawning all over yet another oppressive world leader, and that Bercow's comments have given some an opportunity to question his impartiality (which is integral to him remaining Speaker), this was a pretty big deal.

For my last item, I just had to bring you an update on one of the projects I featured last month. In January:

juneericudorie raised enough money to take BAME female students in the UK to see Hidden Figures. These 450 students will get to see an inspirational film about the underrepresented history of women in the space program. June also spoke to William Collins and they made copies of Margot Shetterley Lee's book available for the girls who are going to the screening.

Well, the screening ran in February and was a wonderful success. See this write up from Kierann Shah; General Manager of the National Space Academy and one of the speakers on a panel held at the screening. And here are some of June's photos from the event.

There are plenty more projects out there making a difference on a day to day basis. Please feel free to fill up the comments with anything you know of that got DONE in February (especially if you did them). Or, tell me about ongoing projects that started in March.

Comments

[readingtheend.com]

I love this! For some reason, this week is feeling like a lot right now, and this was good to read.

[bookgazing]

Glad this was helpful :)