Dr. Akil Fletcher
@AkilFletcher
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Anthropology Ph.D. | Postdoc & Lecturer at Princeton | Studies Black gaming communities| Gamer | Has probably seen all of your favorite anime
Joined February 2013
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Last Seen Profiles
Pinned Tweet
My first day of teaching
@Princeton
and my first day of teaching my course "Gaming Blackness" is a wrap!
The students were great, and I had a blast watching them all play Super Smash Bros!
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Well, the cat has clawed its way out of the bag! I am happy to announce that I have completed my Ph.D. in Anthropology at UCI! I will be heading to Princeton University in the fall to start a postdoc and teach about race and gaming! I am officially Dr. Akil Fletcher!
We’re giving a big
@ucisocsci
shoutout to
@AkilFletcher
,
#firstgen
grad student & official member of the
@ucirvine
Ph.D.
#classof2023
! The anthropologist will be joining
@Princeton
in the fall as a postdoc. More on his journey & work:
#zotzotzot
#ucipride
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@BairdCampbell
@dranthonygustin
Everytime I think were passed this it comes right back up....
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@BairdCampbell
@dranthonygustin
The irony of him blocking 2 anthropologist, is that he didn't actually come here or go there to learn, he went to find footage for his business to feel right and shame people lol...
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Whelp! Found out today that I won a UC Irvine President's Dissertation Year Fellowship! Literally could not do it without my advisors!
Aye... now I have to write this thing...right?
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Welp, there is the official post!
Five new scholars have joined
#PrincetonU
's Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts:
Supratik Baralay
Lacy Feigh
@AkilFletcher
Lieke van Son
Xiaoyu Xia
Congratulations! 👏
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Well I was waiting for confirmation, but, it's official. I have been awarded the National Science Foundation Cultural Anthropology Dissertation Research Grant (a mouthful). Grant writing is a lot of blood and tears, so it feels great to be recognized!
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For all my UCI/
@ucisocsci
/
@AnthropologyUci
folks! If you're interested in learning about Black expression in games, I will be giving a colloquium talk next week Wednesday on Oct 12! *They made me a flier ☺️*
Feel free to stop by if you're around!
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The
@BlackinGaming
award ceremony was THEE event of my GDC experience! Just amazing people doing amazing things and I loved it all!
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@EliasEl86359668
@soupmd_
@vidsthatgohard
You step in with a guard towards the direction the kick is coming. Ideally, you don't wanna block that since Capoeira kicks have been known to shatter forearms (if they land). So if you step into it, you cut the kick-off at the knee and throw the person off balance.
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BLACK GAME SCHOLARS UNITE!!! Kishonna Gray
@KishonnaGray
and Samantha Blackmon
@saffista
Are amazing!! Read their work and check out
@saffista
's stream!
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@BlackDGamer1
Sounds like someone is just talking out of their ass. There are plenty of black people working to make their own games, but AAA studios have the most funds and the least representation/diversity. So, it isn't a surprise people are happy. Let people enjoy things..
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@jilltxt
Sadiya Hartman, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison is my go to for beautiful academic writing!
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Hey all! Conducting a quick survey! I'm looking to find out what games people are playing and how they find people to play them with! It will really help my ongoing research on race and gaming!
So feel free to take it and share it around! Thanks!
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Woop woop, just defended for candidacy and I passed!!! I'M ABD OUT HERE!!! I'm going to sleep!
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Hey everyone! Day 5 of being sick and this might be a little premature, but my chapter in "The Routledge Companion to Media Anthropology" has become available to read! (If anyone has trouble accessing let me know!)
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@SexyUnderHere
I disagree vehemently. I won't pretend as if Asian people do not partake in Anti-Black racism (everyone does). But there is no benefit in allowing white supremacy to go unchallenged. Not to mention this discredits all of Asian allies who have stood with us.
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@tarastrong
@OTerrifying
I did not expect this tweet from the person who voiced 70% of my childhood, but I am here for it. Channeling some real raven with this one!
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Im a dad and attended not just one but two graduation ceremonies for my Ph.D!
#UCIGrad
#Doctorate
#FathersDay
Big congrats to all the fathers/parents, doing amazing things!
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@ConnorEatsPants
@idriselba
Why is it that not a single one of you have a real photo of yourself lmao
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Anthropology is neither the best nor the worst study, but is a worthwhile practice for the mere fact that it has looked its demons in the face and writes with them at the table. It is a practice which has come to the foundational steps of contemplating its own biases and sins.
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Yesterday we discussed Black representation in Japanese video games and anime. I showed the class
@RDCworld1
and a bunch of anime with Black folks. But none of them knew what Toonami was and that nearly broke me.... the generational divide is greater than I thought!
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OMG look what came in the mail! My physical of Media Anthropology and the chapter I wrote in it! Big thanks to
@elisax00
@draluchadora
@pglange
and
@jolynnasinanan
for editing l including me in the work!
When the aliens come I will be remembered lmao!
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It was an absolute pleasure to have
@JavonOnThePrgm
, in class today! He gave us a wonderful talk about his research on Black experience in the Fighting game community! The students wanted more!
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Good news! Today my talk, Black Gamer's Refuge on my concepts of the Magic Circle of Whiteness and the Black spoil sport went pretty well! While I wish I had more time I would like to thank all the
#gls2022
folks for giving me a space to engage!
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Me: Ok, class. I want you to pay attention to how Rockstar represents the people in GTA: San Andreas. Look at the NPCs, listen to the music, and look at how the devolopers create the atmosphere of Los Santos.
Student: Professor, check this out! *Fires bazooka*
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Today was the last day of school for my eldest daughter and she was ecstatic. I am so proud of her for finishing the 2nd grade in spite of the racism she faced in Irvine. For those who helped thank you, but a glittery school does not always make for a good learning environment..
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As words hit the page and I relisten to the interviews and conversations during my research. I hear the laughter of gameplay, the coos of my once newborn daughter, and the joy of Black folks in play, and I am reminded that even through screens in a pandemic... there was life.
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Somehow, I ended up on an amazing
#GDC
panel with incredible folks!
So big thanks to
@Mindtoggle
,
@LatoyaPeterson
, and
@thatjayjustice
, for letting me share a stage with them!
And, pour one out for
@aarontram
and
@KishonnaGray
, who should have been there!!
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It's bittersweet sharing this considering recent events. But, here is an opinion piece I wrote for UCI Esports, on my perspective playing games during protest and a pandemic. Big thank you to
@UCIEsports
for giving me a platform to get some stuff off my chest!
Change does not happen overnight, but it begins within us.
In "Why Gamers Should Read Black Authors,"
@AkilFletcher
reflects on COVID-19,
#BlackLivesMatter
, and how gamers can shape a healthy gaming community.
Read more:
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Two announcements!
1. I have been given the ok to talk about my upcoming chapter in Routledge's Companion to Media Anthropology. Where in it, I finally introduce my concepts the Magic Circle of Whiteness and the Black Spoilsport later this year! (Feel free to ask me more!)
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Hey folks! I will be giving a remote talk tonight at 3:15 pm PST/ 6:15 EST for the University of Buffalo PLASMA series, titled:
Black Gamer’s Refuge: Finding Community Within the Magic Circle of Whiteness
If anyone would like the Zoom link to come watch just let me know!
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While it is hilarious to watch two awful billionaires fight over our data.
The fact that peeps are having to choose between Zuck or Musk to continue their digital comminities and livelihoods feels like the next stage in a dystopic project.... I guess we all lose 🤷
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Today was the last day of
#CampKiKi2022
and it was such a joy getting to work with such a talented bunch of young gamers! We did yoga, LARPed, checked out 3d printers, and I taught them all how to play
@LeagueOfLegends
! I have complete faith in the next generation of gamers!
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Big thanks to everyone who showed up! The exhaustion is hitting me hard so I'm gonna go pass out..... Special thanks to
@Hiphopedtecdiva
for taking the photo!
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Today's the day! It's time for the annual UCI Esports conference! I'm hype ya'll! Can't wait to hear
@KishonnaGray
give her keynote talk!
#UCIESC2021
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My time at
@FDGconf
, Athens was amazing! It was great to get feedback on my current work, and I'm excited to apply it! See you soon Cali!
(Photo was taken from Mount Lycabettus!)
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Don't be afraid to go to a community college. It was not until I went to my local community college that my love for learning was reignited, and truthfully I can't thank them enough for that. Save yourself some cash, take classes that you love, and give it the old college try.
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My 7-year-old said she wants to run for president.
Here are her campaign promises (her words):
- End homelessness
- Feed everyone in the universe
- Give everyone a pet
- Make going to the doctor/therapist free
- stop people from fighting
- Ice cream and donuts every day
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@kennethcolddeck
@fayekinley
No they can't, you fail to understand the insidious nature of U.S slavery in that it prided itself in generational control. Children were born and separated, cultural practices were banned, and languages were erased. There is no going back because everything was stolen.
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Watching people get upset over Black Angrboda is quite funny. Sadly, however, it is a reminder that no matter how insane a game gets Black people, remain the most unbelievable thing for these players. Nope, not the flaming blades! It's Blackness that breaks their immersion. 🤔🤔
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Big thanks to
@aarontram
for moderating the panel! And a big shoutout to
@blackgirlgamers
for the fantastic work they do, as I spoke about them today! Please support them however you can as they continue to create space for Black women in gaming!
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Have to say Happy Birthday to the amazing mentor and scholar
@KishonnaGray
!!! She ran so that I could crawl on a smoother road!
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As fascinating as this Microsoft X Blizzard news is, from a community research standpoint I'm a little worried about 2 companies with some of the most infamously toxic communities coming together....
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For anyone going into a PhD,
..NEGOTIATE!!! Do not be afraid to negotiate EVEEEERYTHING! Pay, living stipend, grants, work/teaching opportunities, all of it. This is literally your survival, you might have heard, but grad school does not pay all that well.
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@alwaystheself
Per
@KishonnaGray
suggestion, here is our summer reading list for race and gaming put together by
@MyOwnVelouria
and I!
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My daughter kept slipping notes under my door that read "Best Dad Ever!" and "I love you!", but it turns out she wrote them all on the off-limits fancy paper...
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It has been an incredibly busy week but I am so happy I got to share a space with
@KishonnaGray
,
@JavonOnThePrgm
,
@HigherEd_Gaming
, and Joan Miller from USC, during our
@meaningfulplay
panel!
Big thanks to everyone who came to look at our faces on screen lmao!
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In a rare event of me actually speaking about my field...
I wish game studios would embrace more forms of Black representation and art rather than looking toward hyperrealism as the goal/gold standard for Black characters.
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It has been an absolute honor to work with
@KishonnaGray
to get this off the ground! Big thanks to
@NianticLabs
for supporting this endeavor! If you have young ones in the Lexington area be sure to fill out an application!
#CampKiki2022
Lexington area friends who have 7th and 8th graders in their lives! We are hosting a camp at UK this summer, July 27th - July 1st ... it's Free.99!!
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Caught in 360p, ha! Had a blast speaking with and learning from
@cyanjd
and Steven Dashiell on the Emerging Black Voices in Gaming panel! I spoke a bit about my current book project and one of it's core concepts Black Intermediality! Big thanks to
@GeraldVoorhees
for inviting me!
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@dranthonygustin
Sir how is it possible that you hit every problematic mark in how western civilizations discuss foriegn cultures. First off no human is "wild", second aren't we past romantacizing ethnic groups? "Oh they were so happy!" It's like I was reading something out of the 19th century.
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This was my first time speaking at a
@SCMStudies
conference, and despite it being online, I had a great time! Thank you to everyone who came to watch and I really hope to continue these conversations with people in person next year!
#SCMS2021
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@StardustMcGee
@tenshi_feather
@gaybabygaby
@DrePxlmer
@jaxajueny
Actually this show was in part cancelled due to adults getting offended since they felt the humor was a little mature for U.S audiences. Especially since Canadian cartoons tended to be more raunchy, that's also why some episodes towards the end would not be replayed in the U.S.
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Welp! I'm on my way to give my first in-person talk in about 2 years at
#GLS
2022 and I am terrified!
If you're around feel free to come check it out!
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Has anyone done work on race and immersion in VR? I have been thinking a lot about how the bodies I inhabit in VR are typically white, (hands, feet, etc), and this often breaks forms of immersion in the game. I would be super interested on seeing what's out there!!
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#NewProfilePic
Got my hair done for the first time so I figured I would be twitter accurate too 🤔
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@KishonnaGray
I just shared this on FB, and the comment section is just a dumpster fire... God forbid the game isn't hyper white anymore...
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The recent attacks on
@nnesaga
, and
@ZombaeKillz
have been despicable and reminds us that events like gamergate weren't unique, they were just recorded. It hurts that Black men are getting up to stan these racist creators. So, I ask that you support Black women instead.
These White Dude bros are backing each other up, we've warned the industry about empowering them and now Black Women are paying the price again.
Let's get into research mode and lock these racists out of the marketing rooms. Which brands are happily supporting racists? Let's go.
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Just had a wonderful time speaking with peeps over
@UCIEsports
, and I cannot thank them enough for allowing me to come through and just talk about my research!!!
#mythroathurts
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Went to take out the trash and came back to find my 2-year-old trying to grade some of my student's midterms...
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My wife told me that her two earliest memories of me from high school are me showing off in gym class and me playing Yu-gi-oh at the lunch table.
The duality of man.
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This is a great example of the mixture of global anti-Blackness and romantacized whiteness that appears in media like anime and games.
#TheLittleMermaid
tanks in both China and South Korea amid a racist backlash over the casting of
#HalleBailey
in the role of Ariel
#THRNews
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Something folks often forget about video game scholarship is that researchers often have to play the games they research/talk about, and this can take up a significant amount of time! (Looking at you
@FF_XIV_EN
!)
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How is there always a paper due when life is literally crumbling around you? 🥲
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I dead-ass woke up and didn't believe this was real...The mixing of hip-hop and video games never ceases to amaze me! (*Runs to notepad*)
The Barbz have entered the battlefield 💪
Get pink with the
@NICKIMINAJ
Operator bundle now available in the Call of Duty Store 💗
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Hey everyone! I found the recording of the talk
@accote
,
@kellybergstrom
,
@digitalpromises
,
@thechristinet
,
@real_chris_paul
and I gave last month!
So feel free to check out "Studying and Speaking to Industries: A Game Studies Roundtable" here!:
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Oooh, I've finally been added to the Princeton website with a fancy new photo! Feel free to check it out along with others from my amazing cohort!
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This move got me reflecting because it's crazy how you can set out on a path and never know where you will end up! Never did I ever think I would be teaching at Princeton!
But, to recognize that I did stuff! I want to remind folks that I wrote some words!
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Does anyone else write with a second word doc open so they can copy and paste all the "mini bangers" they write, that unfortunately do not fit where you want them to?
Or is it just me?
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Big thanks to my committee Tom Boellstorff,
@BrotherSojo
, and
@KishonnaGray
for supporting me and getting me through this work! I could not have done this without them!
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@Brooklyne
@HigherEd_Gaming
I don't think you are... for me personally grad school is an escape from economic hardship since grants paid me more than any of the racist jobs I had before, while offering benefits. It surely isn't enough but it is a respite from what I came from before.
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So my daughter started school again (year-round school), and on the way asked me: Why do we need to call the police? And are the police actually good?
And boy was that a convo lmao
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Yo is this just Black anthropologist the game?! Am I represented?!
Document the end before the new beginning. Take a look at the gameplay trailer for Season: A letter to the future.
Cycle your way through beautiful landscapes, unlocking the secrets and stories of this world.
Coming to PC, PS4 and PS5 in Autumn 2022. 🌿✨
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Growing up I could not always get new games (money) so I played literally hundreds of free-to-play PC games. I'm currently looking for one in particular, but until I find that, here is a list of Free to play PC games that kept me gaming as a child!
Games I played as a kid:
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My Black Trinidadian/Mexican kids not gonna know who to root for lmao. I hope in the end they team up to fight some colonizers!
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When discussing my work and the absences of Black players in PC esports I have noticed a trend of peeps focusing on the parts where I (like other scholars) point out the structural issues faced by Black PC gamers such as the cost of computers. But I want to caution against this.
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My two-year-old learned my first name, and now anytime she's serious about something she shouts "AKIL!" instead of dad..😂
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@qaomene
Im not sure you wanted to "all lives matter" this. Yes Black boys experience violence but this case happened to a Black girl and it wont kill anyone to focus on that. Especially since Black women have a unique experience of misogynior in this country. So I can see her frustration
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The first day of
#CampKiKi2022
was fantastic! We played so many games! Big thanks to everyone helping out! We def need a staff photo!
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This is how I am gonna show up to my friend's house when Sora get's released in Smash.
#Sora4Smash
#SmashBrosUltimate
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The anxiety this thread gave me lmao
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The ecstasy of submitting a dissertation chapter to your advisor, knowing you won't have to think about it for atleast a little while is UNMATCHED!
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Today I watched Ruha Benjamin
@ruha9
give one of the best talks of my life. Her work "Race After Technology" and the premise of the New Jim Code is definitely something that needs to be read!
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Daughter: Dad, I have to make a presentation! I'm gonna do it on tomatoes!
Me: Oh, dope! Lemme show you a trick to make slides easier!
Daughter: Uh... what? Do you even know how to use Google Slides?...
Me:
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So I managed to grab a runner-up for Ford/
@NASEMFordFellow
. But it truly does bring me joy to see so many deserving people get funded!!! Seeing so many POC on my feed get that bag is truly all I needed to see!! 😍🤑😍
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