Quickies
Quickies: Celebrating Black joy in sci-fi, science, fatherhood, fitness, and nature…
Well, I definitely missed the Friday Quickies this week. Oops. So let’s end the weekend by celebrating some Black joy and accomplishments in the wake of Juneteenth. (And, yes, these selections are totally biased towards my loves of Star Trek, astronomy, and fitness.)
- Listen to the amazing Nichelle Nichols talk about the era of blaxploitation in film and how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. convinced her to stay on the Enterprise as Lieutenant Uhura.
- This week is #BlackInAstro week! I’m so excited! Follow that hashtag on social media all week, and start with a look at Dr. Barbara, Williams, the first Black American woman to get a PhD in astronomy, and her work that included the Arecibo Radio Observatory. (SQUEE!!)
- This is a year old but very important today… NYer Sean Williams started the Dad Gang to celebrate positive images of black fatherhood. And there are plenty to choose from in light of a 2013 study by the CDC (pdf) that showed Black fathers to be the most involved in their children’s daily lives compared to other fathers.
- Read this post about Black fatherhood by Tony Brown, and how he showed up for his Black trans daughter.
- Check out Decolonizing Fitness, “a social justice platform that provides affirming fitness services, community education and apparel in support of body diversity.” They’ve got training resources, books, videos, etc. for those who do not feel comfortable in the typical fitness spaces because of transphobia, ableism, ageism, and fatphobia.
Instead of directly sharing this week’s cute animals, here are some Black folks that I follow who already do that!
- Corina Newsome (aka @hood_naturalist) – she recently shared some cute Periwinkle snails.
- DN Lee (aka @DNLee) – with a fast moving little field mouse found during research.
- Chelsea Connor (aka @chelseaherps) – herpetologist tweeting lizard facts with #DidYouAnole
- Jason Ward (aka @JasonWardNY) – birdwatcher responsible for the cool Youtube series I shared a few weeks ago… posing with an adorably little Eastern-screech owl.
If you know more I should be following, drop a suggestion in the comments. !
