Sabrina Reyes-Peters

Sabrina's Weekly Digest No. 18

Huzzah! I live another week to bring you a belated weekly digest. The question lingers as to whether or not I can still claim a "weekly digest", but I started it that way and I'm not inclined to change it any time soon.

In this edition, I'll be sharing some of the things I've read over the past two weeks-ish, and what I've been listening to this week. It is a LOT, because my job consists of repetitive tasks that grow tedious quickly, and I use podcasts and music to help pass the time.


Reading

Books

  • Red Rosa by Kate Evans is a really accessible introduction to the life and thought of Rosa Luxemburg. Although it is a graphic novel, I would not recommend it for anyone younger than high school, due to some explicit content. Before reading this, I was trying to decide which stream of socialist thought I wanted to start studying, and after finishing concluded that I would start with Rosa. Maybe I'll move on to the Russians after that.

  • Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn has a lot going on: immigration, identity, mother-daughter relationships, trauma, relationships in general, romantic relationships. I was glued to this novel almost the entire time I spent reading it (well, to be fair, a good chunk of that was in an airplane, but still); Dennis-Benn knows how to make characters come alive.

Articles

I finally picked up and read a Geez magazine issue from cover to cover (after merely skimming) and I gotta say, what a treasure it is! We need to support more folks like these ones, who are producing great art in resistance of the status quo. Check it out.

Religion and Politics recently published this piece by Sarah Ngu, "Why These Young American Christians Embraced Socialism", and I was pleasantly surprised to find one of my in-real-life comrade's names in it.

Speaking of said comrade, he also authored an article that was published this week, on power and mobility justice in the context of the revolution in Lebanon: "The Road to Mobility Justice Is Not Paved by Technocrats", by Jad Baaklini.

Listening

Music

I don't think I've been listening to many new things as far as music goes, but I don't think I've mentioned this artist before: Ana Tijoux. I've had an older album of hers on repeat for the past few weeks: Vengo.

Podcasts

I've been listening to many podcasts the past few weeks. Some of them I've already mentioned here: Revolutionary Left Radio, Puerto Rico Forward, Faith and Capital. But I want to commend Puerto Rico Forward again to you, because it is simply a great resource to learn about Puerto Rico's colonial status from a legal and economic view, and the episodes are easily digestible at around 15 minutes each.

Speaking of Spanish, I've been lamenting the fact that I've let any Spanish language skills I had go to waste and therefore atrophy badly. Usually, this would mean I run to Duolingo and test out of all the quizzes until I get bored to tears. I've come to realize it's not an effective way to review, so I decided recently to semi-immerse myself. This means I will continue to listen to Puerto Rican music. I will also watch television shows and films originally produced in Spanish, AND, listen to audiobooks and podcasts in Spanish. I may even pick up an actual novel written in Spanish, whether translated from English or not, but my weak spot is the audio, not the visual. In my search for podcasts, I came across Duolingo's Spanish podcasts, and decided Duolingo wasn't completely useless. I also stumbled upon some other podcasts meant for students of Spanish (mainly Castellano), but they aren't worth mentioning.

One last note, about my (!) podcast, Seminary for the Rest of Us: if you're not signed up to get updates in your inbox, you might want to do so very soon: https://seminary.show.


Man, am I out of practice! Hopefully, though, as I find my new work-to-pay-bills and work-to-thrive rhythm, I will get back into regular blogging.