Research Notes #18
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Research Notes is a product of hippiegrrl media. At hippiegrrl media we believe that Black Lives Matter, Climate Change is Real, Treaties need to be honored, Women have autonomy, Love is love is love, No human is illegal, Science=Truth, Unions are essential, and the time for Trans Liberation is now! Please stay safe and if you can, get vaccinated. If you can’t please CONTINUE TO WEAR A MASK. We value your readership. If you enjoy the Research Notes newsletter, please share it with a friend.
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Hello and welcome to the Research Notes newsletter!
I hope that you are doing well and if you have children who are back in school I hope they are wearing masks. Kids under 12 are still not able to get vaccinated and the best way to keep them safe is to keep up the mask-wearing in public. Last weekend, when I did my grocery shopping, I decided to return to mask-wearing in solidarity with the workers at my neighbourhood store and model good practice for the community.
Unfortunately, the outlook on this Autumn being better than 2020 is dismal. The county where I live has had some disappointing surges in COVID numbers in the last 2 weeks. Positive tests and hospitalizations are rising due to a lack of vaccinations - at the time of writing, only 40% of eligible residents across the State of Tennessee have been fully vaccinated (46.9% have received at least 1 dose). The county I live in (Montgomery) has even worse stats with only 27.6% fully vaccinated (32.5% have received at least 1 dose.) Like I said - dismal.
Shout out here to the State of New York where 58.5% of eligible residents are fully vaccinated (65.1% have received at least 1 dose) and a special hat tip to Tompkins County where 67.6% are fully vaccinated (72.2% have received at least 1 dose.) Although, overall 60% of the United States eligible population has received at least 1 dose of a vaccine if you switch over to the county map it tells a sad story of the middle of the country. If we overlay hospitalizations, I’m sure we would see a correlation, but I’m going to move on from the stats for today.
Bottom line: we will never beat this virus unless we work together. Even being fully vaccinated, I could be a carrier, so I’m going to continue to mask up when I’m in public. I hope that more people will follow suit so that maybe by this time next year (2022 - we have hope for you) we can be back to full open public spaces without masks. Stay safe out there and enjoy this week’s list of resources. I care about you and want to see you in the comments!
Take action
This week, U.S. troops were removed from Afghanistan and in a matter of only 4 days, the Taliban has moved in and taken the capital, Kabul. This is, to say the least, a horrible situation for the Afghan people, most especially women and girls. Below are ways in which you can stay informed and take action.
Information Ways to help
Refugees International International Rescue Committee
The Guardian Human Rights Watch
NY Times UNHCR
Resources
I am currently working on several pieces for hippiegrrl media blogs to be shared soon. For some excellent content, in the meantime - make your way over to one (or all) of these newsletters that we absolutely love.
Brew Coffee Equity by Andrew Lee at Anti-Racism Daily
Who Gets to Be Dirty: It’s not just calves and ankles going unwashed by Roxane Gay at The Audacity
Your Own Harriet: The tremendous power of life choice representation by Anne Helen Petersen at Culture Study
We’re On a Road to Nowhere by Amee Vanderpool at Shero
What the Hell’s Wrong with You? Three Stories of White Bullies by Kim TallBear at Unsettle
The 19th Explains: What are Delta variant risks for children too young to mask? by Jennifer Gerson at the 19th*
Check out what is up at Gen X Reactions
Over at Gen X Reactions we are posting weekly linkland posts for your reading pleasure. Come by and see what we are highlighting from around the Internet, or, for the truly old school GenXers - the “World Wide Web”.
Thank you for reading the Research Notes Newsletter! Now it’s YOUR turn. Please share your thoughts along with any other questions or suggestions for future research, in the comments. I look forward to lively discourse.
Are you watching Reservation Dogs?