Published inThe Last Organizer·Aug 17TikTok Dialectics & the Labor MovementAs tensions between the U.S. and China escalate — and as more and more states within the U.S. are putting more and more restrictions on social media companies’ use of, um, us, haha — TikTok has found itself at the epicenter of our meta-cultural discussion. Quite frankly, though, I find…Tiktok6 min readTiktok6 min read
Published inThe Last Organizer·Nov 6, 2022‘The Invisible Homeless’ Director’s SpeechFWIW, this is the director’s speech I gave at Guild Theater last night after the screening of “The Invisible Homeless”: So, long before I was a filmmaker, I’d been a union organizer for more than nine years, helping un-organized workers throughout California form labor unions. …Field Organizing2 min readField Organizing2 min read
Published inThe Last Organizer·Sep 15, 20223 More Things I’m Learning as a Small Media Business OwnerAbout 5 months ago, I wrote an essay titled “3 Things I’m Learning as a Small Media Business Owner.” The title of that essay was pretty self-explanatory. I wrote that essay as a nice personal memento — for while the 3 lessons I had learned were not exactly profound &…Media7 min readMedia7 min read
Published inThe Last Organizer·Apr 26, 2022A Short Thought on Healthy ConfidenceThere’s this mindset that you should be supremely confident in your words, all the time, and command respect everywhere you go because — within this mindset — your social respect is your total value. Now, I think this is a horrible mindset — and I think we’ve all seen this…Arrogance2 min readArrogance2 min read
Published inThe Last Organizer·Apr 25, 20223 Things I’m Learning as a Small Media Business OwnerFor the last few weeks, I’ve wanted to write down — mostly for myself — some of the biggest lessons I’ve been learning as a small media business owner. These lessons are not original — I doubt these will surprise you. Nonetheless, I’ve wanted to write the following lessons down…Filmmaking7 min readFilmmaking7 min read
Published inThe Last Organizer·Apr 6, 2022Tragedy & ChoiceContent Warning: Everything going on right now. On January 31, 2021, I wrote an essay entitled “5 Years Ago in Reno” in which I reminisced about my second-ever union organizing drive. In that essay, I explained that at one point during that campaign, helping the workers at a small rehab…Life7 min readLife7 min read
Published inThe Last Organizer·Mar 31, 2022The Dream I Had Last Night: Amor FatiSo, as I start typing this, it’s 5AM in the morning. I’m typically not awake this early — particularly not in the wee morning hours of a holiday. I don’t even typically remember my dreams. But I’m awake right now because about half an hour ago I awoke very suddenly…Dream10 min readDream10 min read
Published inThe Last Organizer·Dec 7, 2021The Ontology of Organizing: My Fundamental Philosophy— 1 — A few weeks ago, I spoke at the ten-year anniversary of the pepper spray incident at UC Davis. The anniversary event went without a hitch. There were various activities throughout the afternoon: kids screen printing t-shirts, music, food. Various organizations were tabling at the Memorial Union: Cops…Politeness21 min readPoliteness21 min read
Published inThe Last Organizer·Nov 19, 202110 Year Pepper-spray Anniversary (Speech)(This is a speech I delivered on November 18th on the UC Davis quad — during an event remembering the ten-year anniversary of the UC Davis pepper-spray incident. The event was organized by UC Davis Cops Off Campus, Young Democratic Socialists of America at UC Davis, and other campus organizations.) …People Power7 min readPeople Power7 min read
Published inThe Last Organizer·Sep 12, 2021Some Meandering Thoughts about PassionIf you asked people who knew me in middle school and high school what type of person I was like, you’d probably hear a bunch of things — ‘weird,’ ‘socially awkward,’ and ‘disagreeable’ would be among the descriptors. But a descriptor you’d probably hear frequently was that I was deeply…Passion5 min readPassion5 min read