I'm a crocheter, but have the same view. I don't see my labor as a tester as being uncompensated. I have always received the pattern for free and gain in my knowledge of the craft as well.

That's is a lot of wire-wrapped loops! (and a derp)

More than anything else, don’t let the hostility toward your very existence dissuade you from making art

That’s what they want

Complicity. Silence. Despair.

But the most authentic art is made in the margins - a primal scream of existence resounding in defiance of all who would erase us

Audiobooks on the commute to/from work, e-pubs at home. The former because it's not ok to hold a book and drive at the same time. The latter because an e-reader weighs a lot less than a paper book so different hurt to hold.

Reposting alt text here because I forgot an important word (cat).🤦

Photo of a medium hair black and white cat looking off camera with a yellow plastic spring toy between his front paws.

And, unfortunately, many of them are faculty who will then use this article, and others like it, to explain why they are right.