The final month of 2023 is finally starting and the year has been long and transformative. I’ll have a lot to say in my recap of the year, and it’s all a bit overwhelming sometimes.
Apologies for the photo: it’s the only one I took last month.
I’ve been writing quite a bit on here. For instance, I talked about my default apps, and in French I wrote a recap of my 6.5 years and 1000 pages on French Wikipedia. I also made other people write, as I was this month’s host of the IndieWeb carnival. People talked about community and belonging, and I read it all, and I loved all of it.
My personal life took a bit of a turn. I’ve now fully accepted that my job is not satisfying and won’t be until my employer makes big changes that are out of my control. This means I’ve finally spent time doing things that matter way more to me instead of sitting at my desk fighting off the anxiety of being useless. I got several days off for a 3-day work union training that was really worth doing (sign up for yours!), and I dedicated a lot of time and energy to Wikimédia France, where I’ve been elected to the Board of Trustees for a 3-year mandate. Exciting!
What I’ve been reading / Texte
📚 Books
Here are some books I enjoyed in November 2023 :
In English:
- Fiction: Salt Crystals, by Cristina Bendek.
- Nonfiction: Fastest, Highest, Strongest: A Critique of High-Performance Sport by Rob Beamish & Ian Ritchie
- Really nonfiction-y fiction? My government means to kill me by Rasheed Newson
En français :
- Fiction: Sur la dalle par Fred Vargas
- Non-fiction: Les dessinateurs du peuple: 50 ans de dessins dans la presse syndicale par Henri Pinaud
🔍 Articles académiques
In English:
- Rapid-onset gender dysphoria’s methodological error: Using parent perceptions to equivocate between trans youth’s self-recognition and disclosure, summarized by Gender Analysis
📰 News and blog posts
En français :
- Comment bien sous-titrer vos vidéos, par Emmanuelle Aboaf
- Pour une éducation populaire qui dérange, Socialter
- Pourquoi la gauche ne parvient plus à faire écho à la lutte des Arméniens, Médiapart
- Les clubs de football en crise, bientôt une vitrine pour l’économie sociale et solidaire ?, The Conversation
- Comment le rugby est devenu un élément majeur de l’identité irlandaise, The Conversation
- La population jeune d’Afrique pourrait être le moteur de la transformation socio-économique du continent, Equal Times
- Interdiction de l’écriture inclusive : les ressorts d’un procès politique, Médiapart
In English:
- The ad based Internet is dying – but you can’t afford subscriptions, by Curtis McHale
- Browsing the Eastern side of the personal web, by Bikobatanari
- What happened to blogging for the hell of it?, by Whiona
- Yes, men are losing rights because of feminism, by tacit
- Settler colonialism is not distinctly Western or European, Aeon
- The average AI criticism has gotten lazy, and that’s dangerous, Redeem Tomorrow
- Tracing women: Haitian and Black Cuban women archivists, Public Books
- How to fix the Internet, Technology Review
- A slice of the early trans Internet has been retrieved, Them
What I’ve watched / Vidéo
📺 TV Shows / Séries
I’ve been watching:
- Kaamelott season 6, and I’m not sure why.
- A League of their Own, which is glorious and of course got cancelled.
- The first part of the Dr Who Christmas special, which reminds me of a time when life was easier and aliens were cool.
📷 Online video / Vidéos en ligne
In English:
- Can words kill? The Rwandan genocide’s terrifying answer by Step Back (CW for graphic violence)
- The instrumentalisation of emotional labor by Alice Cappelle
- How Afghanistan became a failed state by the Caspian Report
- The Gender Critical series by Caelan Conrad
En français :
- Les universités populaires par Oui d’accord
What I’ve listened to / Audio
🎤 Podcasts
En français :
- Memento mori numérique avec Bettina Bordure, La cantine numérique de Brest
- Rendez l’écologie aux quartiers populaires !, Kiffe ta race (Pseudo Radio)
- Pourquoi Internet n’aime pas les maghrébines ?, Kiffe ta race (Pseudo Radio)
- Paysannes en lutte, Un podcast à soi (Arte)
- L’ultra-cyclisme et sa Française championne du monde, Esprit sport (France Inter)
- L’éducation populaire au XIXe siècle avec Carole Christen, Paroles d’histoire
In English:
- Climate Change and the Marshall Islands with Dr Helene Jacot des Combes, Solarpunk Presents
- Solarpunk considers cohousing with Hermina Joldersma, Solarpunk Presents
- The Six-week cure, 99% invisible (Stitcher)
- Long strange tape, 99% invisible (Stitcher) – about tape recording
- Amy Winehouse with Eve Lindley, You’re Wrong About
- The Pharmacists, Solarpunk Prompts
Where I’ve been / Lieux
Went to Paris for the Wikimédia France related meetings. It was nice to see some community members and some old friends. It also made me realize that I feel a bit lonely at home and motivated me to try and start a new Wikimedia group in Grenoble.