Pen & Eye
This is a comic for Seattle Magazine, written by me and drawn by Marie Bouassi, that focuses on our unhoused neighbors, urban design, and social justice. We do field extensive research and interviews for each installment. It’s journalism in comics form, on the model of our hero, Joe Sacco.
Pen & Eye, no “the” please. Just like Eurythmics.
Look at those handsome bastards! Art by Marie Bouassi.
The Diversity Grinch
Raining skepticism down on your company’s diversity efforts from high atop Mt. Crumpit, the Diversity Grinch is a newsletter I write with my creative partner (and actual DEI expert), Bryan Nwafor. Please subscribe.
We were recently featured in Fortune magazine.
The Slowdown
When I took over as the editor of my employer’s Medium publication, The Slowdown, I changed its focus to inclusion and diversity, and recruited writers of color from all over the world. Topics included neurodiversity, gender non-conformity, violence against Brazilian environmental activists, and doing yoga while Black.
(I don’t edit it anymore and can’t vouch for the more recent articles.)
Art by the incredible Neal Sotelo.
Spastic gesturing always helps get your point across.
Wayfinding and accessibility advocacy
I have a pretty severe kind of spatial dyslexia that makes me really appreciate good signage. And really get pissed off at bad signage. Here’s an article I wrote about that. And here’s an interview I did on the topic.
This topic led me to some conversations with blind people about how the built environment can be more accessible to everyone. Here’s what I learned.
The Listening Club for Men
In the wake of #MeToo, I started a group for at my workplace for people of all genders to learn about the realities that women face, at work and in the world. We covered everything from catcalling and assault to microagressions. I called it the Listening Club for Men because the purpose was not to debate anyone’s humanity (as men often love to do, in the guise of “just asking questions.”). I learned so much! I’d love to do this again.
Aw shucks, thanks fellas!
Yes, that’s Nick Licata and Mike O’Brien. For people who know who they are.
The Lockhaven Tenants Union
In 2014 I helped lead the Lockhaven Tenants Union, a group of residents who banded together to fight the illegal eviction and gentrification efforts of Goodman Real Estate.
We succeeded in getting on every single local TV news channels, and almost every print publication in Seattle. So the public heard the truth, even if the people with the cash and lawyers inevitably dislodged us. I wrote our blog, gave speeches, and generally helped rouse the rabble.
Here we are in The Stranger and King 5.