“I’m back,” said the most famous living sociology major, Stephen Curry.

Ruth Wilson Gilmore said, “Every dimension involves contradiction, and every contradiction is an invitation to organize, and to think about how to win.” Good morning.

I want to get a job acting on Law & Order or in a Tyler Perry production. Cuz it seems you can keep working on their shows over and over again.

Learning history is vital. But it can’t substitute for doing the work today. As Adrienne Rich said, “We’re not simply trapped in the present... We do have choices. We’re living through a certain part of history that needs us to live it and make it and write it. We can make that history.”

I recently attended an organizing training and had a conversation with an organizer about their city's mayor, who often gives quotables critiquing this presidential administration. But, as the organizer told me, this mayor has been useless in actually doing anything locally to defend communities.

I wish some of these politicians who claim to be opposed to this administration would have the same intensity for winning that athletes do. Instead of hand-wringing and giving us quotables.

Like Dawn Staley said, “There are a lot of distractions that are placed in your life. You’re either going to address them and let it overcome you, or you stick with the task at hand. I’m choosing to stick to the task at hand.”

Mood.

Like Gwendolyn Brooks wrote, “Go ahead and live your life. You might be surprised. The world might continue.”

There should be compulsory workshops for everybody on having a political analysis while getting over yourself.

If I had more time I'd write about how sports and strength training inform Ruth Wilson Gilmore's analysis. "Fight to win." Her framing of "stretch" and "practice." And "The power of literacy to make us fit for struggle should be exercised like a muscle, not waved around like a membership card."

bell hooks said, "My decision to stop teaching full-time was influenced by the apathy of many students about reading.” “Non-readers just simply began to be a toxic presence interrupting class discussion... students who did not read assigned material wanted to hold forth verbally in class."

If Mamdani doesn't make good on his promise for the library budget, he's being demoted from being my number 1 Asian American right now. I'm allowed to say this, lol.

Please don't let Mamdani be a mayor who is good at engaging the public and making videos and engaging pop culture but sucks at delivering the goods. I don't wanna stop having a crush on him.

Get ready, New York. Cardi B will be judging YOUR jingles to help spread the word about universal childcare for 2 year olds — aka 2-K. Submit your song by April 17. Full guidelines at nyc.gov/jingle. (Tag #NYC2KJingle and @nycmayor if you post your jingle on social media.)

Racial politics can have bad class politics. But a lot of the Civil Rights Movement, which often gets depicted as being "integrationist" in a particular way (read: a form of identity politics or preoccupied with representation) was part of the labor movement and pro-labor organizing/worker rights.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr's assassination. He was in Memphis to support Black sanitation workers who unionized and went on strike. Civil rights organizations provided support. More details here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/memphis-sani... www.afscme.org/about/histor...

James Baldwin was critical of labor unions. Not cuz he romanticized exploitation or sided with the boss and capitalists. But because of their racism. Again, unions are not inherently great. Unions are what we make them.

So many good policies have been challenged by playing up on people’s class resentment. So we can stay doing bad while feeling righteous.

A lot of people who aren’t conservative have limited the role of the state to assistance in hard times or for the disadvantaged instead of public goods as available to everyone and not means tested—and used variations of class analysis to do so.

Many suggest government’s role is providing assistance to people in (a) crisis, limiting our vision of public goods and the state. Like Ruth Wilson Gilmore said, "Public goods should never be means tested. That's the entire point of a public good! And should be as permanent as anything imaginable.“

So much talk about war being unpopular or unconstitutional when we could simply say it is murdering and terrorizing masses of people and will cause long-term environmental and health risks for generations and is racist.

@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social Elite capture? Or just I hate it here? www.tmz.com/2026/04/02/k...

June Jordan said, “It’s a mistake to assume that anyone… has a corner on virtue. It’s dangerous to think otherwise because you’re deceiving yourself about your own capabilities to be harmful.”

Nonfiction writers are commonly told to be accessible. Toni Morrison’s goal is more exciting. “A very strong visceral and emotional response as well as a very clear intellectual response... I don’t want to give my readers something to swallow. I want to give them something to feel and think about.”

We need more ninjas.

Quiet as it‘s kept, asking questions about the political framing and integrity of the messaging can be commonly shut down in organizing spaces. Often treated as a distraction or getting in the way of action. Why, even with all their issues, academia and punditry are useful for analyzing politics.

Mamdani is right now my favorite Asian American. I’m allowed to say that, lol.

🚨 New from me @therealnews.com ‘Don’t be a snitch’: US postal workers side with communities over collaboration with ICE I speak with Connor Mauche, a letter carrier in New York and a shop steward for Branch 3 of the National Association of Letter Carriers therealnews.com/us-postal-wo...

The death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Blind Rohingya refugee who was left on the freezing streets of Buffalo by Border Patrol officers, was ruled a homicide. New from me at @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

First the US sanctions Iran so severely, making it functionally impossible to bring in all kinds of crucial medications. Then, when Iran makes its own pharmaceuticals, Israel bombs the factory. All of it is a war on Iranian life.

The federal government has enough money for war as well as day care, Medicare, and Medicaid. These people in charge just DGAF if they quickly kill people overseas through war or slowly at home through organized abandonment.

People are starving while the S.F. sheriffs’ union spent $30K to push debunked story of hospital worker’s stabbing. missionlocal.org/2026/03/sher...

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about birthright citizenship. Here, for the NYTimes and with Kate Masur, I offer a view of what those of you who think historically should be listening for. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/30/o...

At an organizing training, a speaker said that when people ask us what we politically did in 2025 and 2026, we want to be able to say we tried to do something.

At an organizing training and they asked us to share what’s our theme song these days. I said “Return of the Mack.” A lot of people didn’t know the song. Time for some political ed!

Sometimes I only have time in the schedule to run a mile and a half. But no matter what else happens today, I did that.

At an organizing training and they’re emphasizing don’t let a focus on perfection result in inaction.

Asked which of his mattered more—a game where he scored tons of points or that last game, when he helped keep the team composed, a UConn player said the latter. Cuz the team kept chipping away and chipping away. Hearing this made me go running again. No matter what else happens today, I ran 3 miles.

Octavia E. Butler said, “Never let pride or laziness prevent you from learning, improving your work, changing its direction when necessary. Persistence is essential to any writer—the persistence to finish your work, to keep writing in spite of rejection, to keep reading, writing, submitting work.”

Asked what he wants people to learn from his life, Ryan Coogler replied, “That there’s power in finding out what you love… and doing it.” About his north star, he said it’s to “live a long time” and “be productive and conscious, present, and kind… but, like, take care of myself along the way.”

@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social I’m at an organizing training and an attendee is wearing this shirt. A soccer fan and player. Of course I asked him if he’s heard of the swoletariat, lol.

No matter what else happens today, I ran 5 miles.

When she was 81, Toni Morrison said, “I don’t feel guilty about anything.” Like she said decades before, “For me, success is not a public thing. It’s a private thing. It’s when you have fewer and fewer regrets.”

I wanna ride bikes with Mamdani. Once he makes good on his promised library budget.

I believe in organizing and protests and have been part of many over decades. But the idea that "out-organizing" or recruiting people at these events is the solution to structural dynamics like the anti-leftism and anti-blackness expressed at these rallies seems like a misdiagnosis of the problem.

I think we need as many people as possible expressing political opposition to this violence. And, having attended many protests over two decades, I’ve seen how anti-black and anti-leftist rhetoric are commonly used to articulate grievances. And isn‘t easily addressed by just “out-organizing” folks.

My take on today’s protests is we need as many people as possible expressing their political opposition to this violence. Thank you for reading.

Toni Morrison said she didn’t want to be out in the streets protesting. And said she chose cultural work—editing—as her political contribution, to help keep a record of the struggle. And she didn’t condescend to protestors or minimize her work. She understood it was different but equally important.

Bobby Flay runs an hour then does Pilates as part of his morning routine. Another reason for his haters to hate, lol.