drew beck
@drewbeck.bsky.social
A defector from the culture wars / that shell-shock love away • 🇵🇸
Reposted by drew beck
"There were spaces to meet (and argue), spaces to organize and plan – and spaces to socialize too... Having different groups sharing the same space provided opportunities for people to learn how to organize together." "Yet now, the left is looking at a very different and less vibrant landscape."...
Radical organizing was once backed up by a network of physical spaces. How can we rebuild them to support the movements we need now? By Rosie Hampton (@rosiehampton.bsky.social)
Where is the left?
Radical organizing was once backed up by a network of physical spaces. How can we rebuild them to support the movements we need now? By Rosie Hampton.
newint.org
November 16, 2025 at 2:19 AM
"There were spaces to meet (and argue), spaces to organize and plan – and spaces to socialize too... Having different groups sharing the same space provided opportunities for people to learn how to organize together." "Yet now, the left is looking at a very different and less vibrant landscape."...
Reposted by drew beck
In a rare case of Substack notes usefulness, I just learned that Sarah Kendzior (author of They Knew and a brilliant writer) got bounced from Bluesky. What the hell? new @sarahkendzior.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 4:09 AM
In a rare case of Substack notes usefulness, I just learned that Sarah Kendzior (author of They Knew and a brilliant writer) got bounced from Bluesky. What the hell? new @sarahkendzior.bsky.social
Reposted by drew beck
Stuart Hall took up cultural studies cuz “I didn’t think life was purely economically determined... I lived my life as an argument with Marxism.” But in its challenge to economic reductionism, cultural studies “sort of forgot that there was an economy at all.” We need to understand these together!
November 10, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Stuart Hall took up cultural studies cuz “I didn’t think life was purely economically determined... I lived my life as an argument with Marxism.” But in its challenge to economic reductionism, cultural studies “sort of forgot that there was an economy at all.” We need to understand these together!
Reposted by drew beck
They really stuck the landing on this one.
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009
November 7, 2025 at 10:05 PM
They really stuck the landing on this one.
Reposted by drew beck
what if we’ve been pronouncing “coop” wrong and chicken coops are actually chicken co-ops and all the chickens are partial owners and have lil ownership meetings inside about hay distribution and what not
November 7, 2025 at 6:48 PM
what if we’ve been pronouncing “coop” wrong and chicken coops are actually chicken co-ops and all the chickens are partial owners and have lil ownership meetings inside about hay distribution and what not
Figuring out how to navigate between feelings of safety and actual safety is crucial. I don’t think we know how yet.
One thing the NYC mayoral race underscored for me is how easily the phrase "I don't feel safe" can be weaponized. It's an argument I would hesitate ever to use again, even for a good cause. I hope we can all agree that we have the right to BE safe. Maybe we should leave it at that.
November 7, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Figuring out how to navigate between feelings of safety and actual safety is crucial. I don’t think we know how yet.
Reposted by drew beck
I know the skies used to be filled with birds that are now extinct.
I know that change can happen and that it is usually permanent. That is the real status quo.
What we do matters. It’s counter intuitive but often inaction leads to change and it takes effort and energy to maintain stasis.
I know that change can happen and that it is usually permanent. That is the real status quo.
What we do matters. It’s counter intuitive but often inaction leads to change and it takes effort and energy to maintain stasis.
November 6, 2025 at 8:18 PM
I know the skies used to be filled with birds that are now extinct.
I know that change can happen and that it is usually permanent. That is the real status quo.
What we do matters. It’s counter intuitive but often inaction leads to change and it takes effort and energy to maintain stasis.
I know that change can happen and that it is usually permanent. That is the real status quo.
What we do matters. It’s counter intuitive but often inaction leads to change and it takes effort and energy to maintain stasis.
Reposted by drew beck
We have friends everywhere
November 5, 2025 at 4:57 AM
We have friends everywhere
Reposted by drew beck
Now comes the even harder work. But for tonight, let's celebrate.
November 5, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Now comes the even harder work. But for tonight, let's celebrate.
Reposted by drew beck
Reposted by drew beck
Realism, hope and strategy.
Inject it into my veins
Inject it into my veins
"The reality — as any radical, socialist, or even progressive mayor has learned — is that winning City Hall does not grant its occupant the reins of power. The landlord and corporate class still hold most of them," writes Hadis Thier. Excellent piece. hammerandhope.org/article/mamd...
Zohran Got New Yorkers to Hope. What’s the Plan to Deliver?
Organizers who brought him to the verge of victory are looking ahead to the challenges of democratic governance.
hammerandhope.org
November 3, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Realism, hope and strategy.
Inject it into my veins
Inject it into my veins
Reposted by drew beck
it gets tiring to keep explaining what it means to be poor to people.
it is not that poor people don’t know that cooking is cheaper:
cooking costs time. it costs pots and pans. it costs a working stove and your utilities on. it costs you’ve been on your feet all day and your babies are tired.
it is not that poor people don’t know that cooking is cheaper:
cooking costs time. it costs pots and pans. it costs a working stove and your utilities on. it costs you’ve been on your feet all day and your babies are tired.
November 2, 2025 at 10:59 AM
it gets tiring to keep explaining what it means to be poor to people.
it is not that poor people don’t know that cooking is cheaper:
cooking costs time. it costs pots and pans. it costs a working stove and your utilities on. it costs you’ve been on your feet all day and your babies are tired.
it is not that poor people don’t know that cooking is cheaper:
cooking costs time. it costs pots and pans. it costs a working stove and your utilities on. it costs you’ve been on your feet all day and your babies are tired.
Reposted by drew beck
Stuart Hall said intellectuals should speak truth to power to a wide(r) audience.
But "to speak it, however, in its full complexity, never to speak it in too simple a way because the folks won't understand because, you know, then they will understand but they'll get it wrong, which is much worse."
But "to speak it, however, in its full complexity, never to speak it in too simple a way because the folks won't understand because, you know, then they will understand but they'll get it wrong, which is much worse."
October 30, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Stuart Hall said intellectuals should speak truth to power to a wide(r) audience.
But "to speak it, however, in its full complexity, never to speak it in too simple a way because the folks won't understand because, you know, then they will understand but they'll get it wrong, which is much worse."
But "to speak it, however, in its full complexity, never to speak it in too simple a way because the folks won't understand because, you know, then they will understand but they'll get it wrong, which is much worse."
Reposted by drew beck
"There's a case to be made that Al isn't just a bubble, or even a huge bubble, but something like the platonic ideal of a tech bubble."
There's been endless talk about an AI bubble, but less about exactly how, why, and how much it's a bubble. So I turned to the framework put forward by scholars Brent Goldfarb and David A. Kirsch, authors of "Bubbles and Crashes," for assessing tech bubbles.
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
AI Is the Bubble to Burst Them All
I talked to the scholars who literally wrote the book on tech bubbles—and applied their test.
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:16 PM
"There's a case to be made that Al isn't just a bubble, or even a huge bubble, but something like the platonic ideal of a tech bubble."
Reposted by drew beck
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”
October 27, 2025 at 10:19 PM
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”
Yes 100. Institutionalism at its finest; when the perpetuation of the thing is more important than the ostensible goals of the thing. Principles are handwaved away: yeah yeah we all want that but it doesn’t matter if we’re not in power.
The whole premise of the interview is that the party needs to do a better job pandering to whichever voters will put it over the top and allow it to recapture power. The goal is power and the policies are the instrument, which seems backwards.
There's a lot to unpack, digest and consider here, though some of the solutions they suggest seem unworkable.
But it's striking to me that they dismiss @aoc.bsky.social as "AOC at the Met gala," when she is actually an example of a working-class candidate with great communication skills who wins.
But it's striking to me that they dismiss @aoc.bsky.social as "AOC at the Met gala," when she is actually an example of a working-class candidate with great communication skills who wins.
October 25, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Yes 100. Institutionalism at its finest; when the perpetuation of the thing is more important than the ostensible goals of the thing. Principles are handwaved away: yeah yeah we all want that but it doesn’t matter if we’re not in power.
Reposted by drew beck
“Personal experience is a great place to generate hypotheses but it is a lousy place to test them.” - Melissa Harris Perry
October 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
“Personal experience is a great place to generate hypotheses but it is a lousy place to test them.” - Melissa Harris Perry
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This. As Coates said in the Klein interview, this is a contest of ideas and narratives. The question isn’t how do we become competitive again. The question is whether the animating principle of your politics is that all humanity is equal and will you hold that line?
Your political loyalty must be to principles, not politicians! I don't know how to explain this basic thing to people who do not understand it.
October 23, 2025 at 4:33 PM
This. As Coates said in the Klein interview, this is a contest of ideas and narratives. The question isn’t how do we become competitive again. The question is whether the animating principle of your politics is that all humanity is equal and will you hold that line?
YouTube shorts are my new mindless scroll i'm telling you it's great. All kinds of nerdy science and nature things and process vids and the comments are very silly it reminds me of an older internet.
October 22, 2025 at 4:12 PM
YouTube shorts are my new mindless scroll i'm telling you it's great. All kinds of nerdy science and nature things and process vids and the comments are very silly it reminds me of an older internet.
Reposted by drew beck
Bring back I statements!
October 20, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Bring back I statements!
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AWS is down, post hog
October 20, 2025 at 10:05 AM
AWS is down, post hog
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this is the most like a mike tyson's punch out guy i have ever seen anyone look
October 14, 2025 at 3:36 PM
this is the most like a mike tyson's punch out guy i have ever seen anyone look
Reposted by drew beck
so, this weekend the great Dr. Demento did his final show. I could write a lot about the importance of his show to me & my friends when we were 12 and 13. there's more to it than "he played funny stuff" and "his show is where @alyankovic.bsky.social got his start." 1/3
October 12, 2025 at 8:22 PM
so, this weekend the great Dr. Demento did his final show. I could write a lot about the importance of his show to me & my friends when we were 12 and 13. there's more to it than "he played funny stuff" and "his show is where @alyankovic.bsky.social got his start." 1/3