vox--2020-09-22--The battle to define the Biden economic team, explained

The Biden team ’ s planning for a hypothetical administration is already well underway .
And on questions of economic policy , the transition effort is already becoming a locus of a fight about what a Democratic White House should look like .
On one side stand progressives , urging the creation of something like an ideological social democratic party .
They want to draw a firm line between Democrats and the business community — leaning sharply against selecting personnel who ’ ve spent the Trump years working in the private sector in favor of career public sector and public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are the forces of business as usual in the Democratic Party , which has traditionally been a big tent , with plenty of participation by people with close ties to industry .
Here you have people like Steve Ricchetti , who worked in the Clinton White House , then became a lobbyist , then went back to the White House then went back to lobbying then became chief of staff in Biden ’ s vice presidency , then went back to lobbying before becoming chair of Biden ’ s 2020 campaign .
These @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of ideology .
But there does tend to be a correlation .
And while Biden has signed up on paper for a very aggressive policy agenda , there ’ s a real chance that his administration will be staffed largely by Obama administration veterans who spent the Trump years making money on K Street , Wall Street , Silicon Valley , or white-shoe law firms .
The left is not happy about it .
“ Be you the practitioner of surprise medical billing , a social media platform monopoly , or a for-profit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see Jeffrey Zients [ a Biden transition co-chair ] get a major job under a President Biden , ” Jeff Hauser of the Revolving Door Project tells me .
“ If you are opposed to the practices of those corporations , you think Biden should be like FDR and look past the Zients of the world when staffing his administration.
” At the same time , as much as this battle is currently consuming the energies of those with a passion for factional infighting , a pandemic and an economic crisis are sweeping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ real , especially on regulatory issues , but the two wings of the party have drawn fairly close together on the need for a major stimulus bill — one much larger than the Obama administration passed in 2009 .
The key debate of the transition hinges on an old saying among 1980s-era conservatives : “ Personnel is policy.
” Ronald Reagan ’ s election then constituted the conservative movement ’ s triumph over the Nixon/Ford moderate wing of the party on a symbolic level .
But to the extent that Reagan appointed old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would not actually govern .
Sen. Elizabeth Warren ( D-MA ) revived the slogan near the end of the Obama years , and quiet fights along these themes echoed in the abortive Hillary Clinton transition process .
Contemporary progressives shorthand their version of this largely in terms of concerns about the “ revolving door.
” They want to see a Biden administration composed overwhelmingly of people who ’ ve spent their lives toiling in public sector or nonprofit work , rather than cycling in and out of the corporate world or white shoe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s an ideological concern rather than one about résumés .
But for better or worse , career histories have become the dividing factor .
As Hauser and David Segal of Demand Progress wrote in January , “ even presidents whose campaigns have focused on taking on the powerful have found space for corporate insiders in their administration ’ s top roles.
” And they ’ re determined to try to put a stop to it .
In pursuing that goal , they should have two valuable allies on the inside of the Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jayapal ’ s chief of staff , and Julie Siegel , a longtime aide to Warren , both of whom were early senior hires for the transition on the domestic side .
Yohannes Abraham , who runs the transition on a day-to-day basis , doesn ’ t have equally sterling progressive credentials , but he does have a résumé that eschews the corporate world — going from the Obama campaign to the DNC to Obama ’ s reelection campaign to four years in the White House to a year at the Obama Foundation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kennedy School .
He ’ s had ample opportunities to rotate into something more lucrative in the private sector , so has reason to look kindly on the argument that avoiding corporate work is the right choice .
Before going to work for the transition full time , he even taught a course titled Personnel Is Policy .
Also helping anchor the progressive side of things is Felicia Wong , the longtime president of the Roosevelt Institute think tank , who ’ s now accepted a formal role in the transition .
She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transition team , but on an informal basis was one of the key people charged with producing binders full of qualified progressive nominees .
We spoke at the time about the theory and practice of identifying a diverse team of staffers with public interest backgrounds , and there ’ s no reason to believe her thinking on this has changed .
Still , this is the Biden transition team , not the Warren or Bernie Sanders transition , and there are heavy signs of establishment continuity .
Jeff Zients is one of four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rep. Cedric Richmond , political operative Anita Dunn , and New Mexico Gov .
Michelle Lujan Grisham .
But unlike the other three , Zients , who served in a number of roles in the Obama administration , including leading the National Economic Council in the second term , is someone you ’ d expect to see serving at a senior policymaking level in a Biden administration .
Zients is less a revolving-door type than an actual businessman who did a stint working for Obama .
He got rich as a key lieutenant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ companies the Advisory Board and the Corporate Executive Board before founding an investment company called Portfolio Logic .
A native of the DC area , he was part of the consortium that brought the Washington Nationals to town in 2005 .
After Obama left office , he became the CEO of Cranemere , a low-key private equity company ( that among other things bought an anesthesia practice ) , and did a stint on the board of Facebook before resigning right when that was becoming an uncomfortable role for a Democrat .
Across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he had a remarkably low profile in the press .
For most of Obama ’ s first term , he had the obscure job of “ chief performance officer of the United States , ” a role whose basic premise was that a whiz-kid consultant could improve public sector management .
The biggest exception to his below-the-radar persona stemmed from that job , as he was brought in on an emergency basis to rescue HealthCare.gov from its catastrophic launch .
Later , as director of the president ’ s National Economic Council @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known as predecessors like Gene Sperling and Larry Summers .
He was involved in an administration-wide push on competition policy , and allies seeking to bolster his progressive credentials say he was deeply involved in the “ fiduciary rule ” push that aimed to stop financial advisers from ripping off their clients ( Trump later reversed this ) .
In practice , however , Zients was frequently Obama ’ s ambassador to the business world .
And they appreciated him .
Josh Bolten , George W. Bush ’ s chief of staff and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Washington Post in 2018 that “ Jeff is a staunch capitalist who was operating in an environment that was not consistently on the same page as he.
” Thomas Donohue , of the more dogmatically right-wing US Chamber of Commerce , told the Post that “ somebody had to deal with business , and Jeff appreciated entrepreneurs because he was one of them , ” adding that the rest of the Obama administration was “ of the belief that the best thing to do was regulate everything.
” This is exactly what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump have only underscored the importance of executive branch personnel .
The president , famously , is not particularly informed about or interested in public policy .
And while he ’ s clearly drawn to hard-right ideas on “ law and order ” and immigration policy , Trump ’ s musings on economic and regulatory policy tend toward eclecticism .
But his actual administration is staffed top to bottom with hardcore ideologues who ’ ve unleashed massive waves of regulatory change on virtually every front — allowing more pollution of air and water @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more hostility to labor unions , and making it much tougher to access social welfare benefits .
The Obama administration also delivered big regulatory changes .
But it simply wasn ’ t the case that Obama ’ s appointees had a clear mandate to do maximum progressive policymaking .
Instead , his team included people like Cass Sunstein , who see themselves as honest brokers between the demands of left-wing activists and the lobbying of the business community .
The left wants a team that will be as aggressive in deploying executive power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been to conservative ones .
That means lawyers who seek statutory authority to do more , not find reasons to do less .
Realistically , the effort to anathematize people with private sector backgrounds — and especially lobbyists like Steve Ricchetti — is an imperfect proxy for ideological predispositions .
Sunstein likely passes the left ’ s stated litmus tests , even though he was one of the figures progressive activists found most frustrating during the Obama years .
And all the wrangling in the world can ’ t change the fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obama-era personnel was baked into the cake the moment Biden became the nominee .
But Biden is not identical to Obama , and many key figures from Obama-era policymaking have changed their thinking on some issues .
The issues where progressives will be fighting an uphill battle during the transition relate fundamentally to regulatory policy , especially as regards the financial sector and big technology — culturally liberal blue state industries with close ties to many Democrats .
There may simply be less to disagree about on fiscal policy , where more moderate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the left that the Obama team was too timid on stimulus and too worried about budget deficits .
“ Biden will need huge relief and huge new jobs stuff , ” a top economic adviser to Obama who ’ s generally seen as on the more moderate side of the Biden economic brain trust told me at the beginning of September .
“ It does not make any sense to worry about debt in the recovery response.
” A key issue is that even though the Obama team doesn ’ t like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they believed in the winter of 2008- ’ 09 that if Congress enacted too little stimulus it would be relatively simple to come back and ask for more .
They worried at the time that an undisciplined stimulus process would result in a “ Christmas tree bill ” of dumb expenditures and pet projects .
Their takeaway from Obama ’ s first term is that the thing to worry about instead is “ stimulus fatigue.
” A new Biden administration would likely get one shot at fixing the economy , and if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members of Congress will become averse to doing anything more .
Tactically , the right thing to do is to go as big as possible .
Jake Sullivan , a senior policy adviser to the Biden campaign , laid the groundwork for this kind of thinking in remarks to Politico ’ s Ben White last week .
“ The magnitude of the crisis in 2008 was enormous , but this time we ’ ve got multiple overlapping crises , ” Sullivan said .
“ As a result , the sense of possibility in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big both in the scope of the agenda and the size of the investments the vice president wants to make.
” In other words , expect a really big bill .
Senate staffers , similarly , tell me not to expect a repeat of the dual-track process of 2009 where fiscal stimulus and health care reform proceeded as separate pieces of legislation .
Members with policy aspirations are instead going to work to get those aspirations tucked into a Covid-19 relief bill .
If this includes things like Senate Democrats ’ proposals for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proposal for universal housing vouchers , the relief bill could turn into a potent vehicle for permanent reductions in poverty .
Tensions are tighter when consideration flips from big-picture legislation to small-bore regulatory matters .
Progressives would like to use the levers of the administrative state to try to cut many of the biggest players in corporate America — especially in the technology and financial sectors — down to size , by any means necessary .
The Obama administration didn ’ t see its purview that way .
And while Biden has clearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , banning fracking , or defunding police , he ’ s drawn no line in the sand on many regulatory issues .
And at times , he ’ s indicated to the press that he doesn ’ t share his former boss ’ s enthusiasm for Silicon Valley .
Still , the hope for a bold new approach on regulation is not much more than a hope .
The left has a real seat at the table in the transition , but at the end of the day , Joe Biden is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Obama seems like the safest bet .
The presidential transition planning process has become increasingly formal since the 2012 cycle , as a result of new legislation designed to facilitate an orderly turnover of the literally thousands of political appointments throughout the executive branch .
But there was no transition to be had in 2012 , and the work done by former New Jersey Gov .
Chris Christie for Trump was largely thrown out in a post-election coup in 2016 .
Biden ’ s team is hoping to have the chance to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a road map for an administration that can address the Covid-19 crisis and implement a strategy to , as they say , “ build back better.
” Help keep Vox free for all Millions turn to Vox each month to understand what ’ s happening in the news , from the coronavirus crisis to a racial reckoning to what is , quite possibly , the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ takes resources .
Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers , your support will be a critical part of sustaining our resource-intensive work .
If you have already contributed , thank you .
If you haven ’ t , please consider helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world : Contribute today from as little as $ 3 .

The Biden team’s planning for a hypothetical administration is already well underway. And on questions of economic policy, the transition effort is already becoming a locus of a fight about what a Democratic White House should look like.
On one side stand progressives, urging the creation of something like an ideological social democratic party. They want to draw a firm line between Democrats and the business community — leaning sharply against selecting personnel who’ve spent the Trump years working in the private sector in favor of career public sector and public interest workers.
On the other side are the forces of business as usual in the Democratic Party, which has traditionally been a big tent, with plenty of participation by people with close ties to industry. Here you have people like Steve Ricchetti, who worked in the Clinton White House, then became a lobbyist, then went back to the White House then went back to lobbying then became chief of staff in Biden’s vice presidency, then went back to lobbying before becoming chair of Biden’s 2020 campaign.
These résumé-based factors aren’t perfect predictors of ideology. But there does tend to be a correlation. And while Biden has signed up on paper for a very aggressive policy agenda, there’s a real chance that his administration will be staffed largely by Obama administration veterans who spent the Trump years making money on K Street, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, or white-shoe law firms.
The left is not happy about it.
“Be you the practitioner of surprise medical billing, a social media platform monopoly, or a for-profit ‘college,’ you want to see Jeffrey Zients [a Biden transition co-chair] get a major job under a President Biden,” Jeff Hauser of the Revolving Door Project tells me. “If you are opposed to the practices of those corporations, you think Biden should be like FDR and look past the Zients of the world when staffing his administration.”
At the same time, as much as this battle is currently consuming the energies of those with a passion for factional infighting, a pandemic and an economic crisis are sweeping the country. The divide is very real, especially on regulatory issues, but the two wings of the party have drawn fairly close together on the need for a major stimulus bill — one much larger than the Obama administration passed in 2009.
Personnel is policy
The key debate of the transition hinges on an old saying among 1980s-era conservatives: “Personnel is policy.” Ronald Reagan’s election then constituted the conservative movement’s triumph over the Nixon/Ford moderate wing of the party on a symbolic level. But to the extent that Reagan appointed old establishment hands to key stances, conservatives would not actually govern. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) revived the slogan near the end of the Obama years, and quiet fights along these themes echoed in the abortive Hillary Clinton transition process.
Contemporary progressives shorthand their version of this largely in terms of concerns about the “revolving door.” They want to see a Biden administration composed overwhelmingly of people who’ve spent their lives toiling in public sector or nonprofit work, rather than cycling in and out of the corporate world or white shoe law firms.
Fundamentally, it’s an ideological concern rather than one about résumés. But for better or worse, career histories have become the dividing factor. As Hauser and David Segal of Demand Progress wrote in January, “even presidents whose campaigns have focused on taking on the powerful have found space for corporate insiders in their administration’s top roles.” And they’re determined to try to put a stop to it.
In pursuing that goal, they should have two valuable allies on the inside of the Biden transition: Gautam Raghavan, Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s chief of staff, and Julie Siegel, a longtime aide to Warren, both of whom were early senior hires for the transition on the domestic side.
Yohannes Abraham, who runs the transition on a day-to-day basis, doesn’t have equally sterling progressive credentials, but he does have a résumé that eschews the corporate world — going from the Obama campaign to the DNC to Obama’s reelection campaign to four years in the White House to a year at the Obama Foundation to three years teaching at the Harvard Kennedy School. He’s had ample opportunities to rotate into something more lucrative in the private sector, so has reason to look kindly on the argument that avoiding corporate work is the right choice.
Before going to work for the transition full time, he even taught a course titled Personnel Is Policy.
Also helping anchor the progressive side of things is Felicia Wong, the longtime president of the Roosevelt Institute think tank, who’s now accepted a formal role in the transition. She was not part of Clinton’s transition team, but on an informal basis was one of the key people charged with producing binders full of qualified progressive nominees. We spoke at the time about the theory and practice of identifying a diverse team of staffers with public interest backgrounds, and there’s no reason to believe her thinking on this has changed.
Still, this is the Biden transition team, not the Warren or Bernie Sanders transition, and there are heavy signs of establishment continuity.
Obama’s Mr. Fix-It
Jeff Zients is one of four co-chairs of the transition projects, alongside Rep. Cedric Richmond, political operative Anita Dunn, and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. But unlike the other three, Zients, who served in a number of roles in the Obama administration, including leading the National Economic Council in the second term, is someone you’d expect to see serving at a senior policymaking level in a Biden administration.
Zients is less a revolving-door type than an actual businessman who did a stint working for Obama. He got rich as a key lieutenant of David Bradley, running his consulting companies the Advisory Board and the Corporate Executive Board before founding an investment company called Portfolio Logic. A native of the DC area, he was part of the consortium that brought the Washington Nationals to town in 2005. After Obama left office, he became the CEO of Cranemere, a low-key private equity company (that among other things bought an anesthesia practice), and did a stint on the board of Facebook before resigning right when that was becoming an uncomfortable role for a Democrat.
Across eight nearly continuous years of government service, he had a remarkably low profile in the press. For most of Obama’s first term, he had the obscure job of “chief performance officer of the United States,” a role whose basic premise was that a whiz-kid consultant could improve public sector management.
The biggest exception to his below-the-radar persona stemmed from that job, as he was brought in on an emergency basis to rescue HealthCare.gov from its catastrophic launch. Later, as director of the president’s National Economic Council, he was simply not as well known as predecessors like Gene Sperling and Larry Summers. He was involved in an administration-wide push on competition policy, and allies seeking to bolster his progressive credentials say he was deeply involved in the “fiduciary rule” push that aimed to stop financial advisers from ripping off their clients (Trump later reversed this).
In practice, however, Zients was frequently Obama’s ambassador to the business world.
And they appreciated him. Josh Bolten, George W. Bush’s chief of staff and president of the Business Roundtable, told the Washington Post in 2018 that “Jeff is a staunch capitalist who was operating in an environment that was not consistently on the same page as he.” Thomas Donohue, of the more dogmatically right-wing US Chamber of Commerce, told the Post that “somebody had to deal with business, and Jeff appreciated entrepreneurs because he was one of them,” adding that the rest of the Obama administration was “of the belief that the best thing to do was regulate everything.”
This is exactly what worries progressives.
Energy in the executive
Four years of Donald Trump have only underscored the importance of executive branch personnel. The president, famously, is not particularly informed about or interested in public policy. And while he’s clearly drawn to hard-right ideas on “law and order” and immigration policy, Trump’s musings on economic and regulatory policy tend toward eclecticism. But his actual administration is staffed top to bottom with hardcore ideologues who’ve unleashed massive waves of regulatory change on virtually every front — allowing more pollution of air and water, less oversight of banks, and more hostility to labor unions, and making it much tougher to access social welfare benefits.
The Obama administration also delivered big regulatory changes.
But it simply wasn’t the case that Obama’s appointees had a clear mandate to do maximum progressive policymaking. Instead, his team included people like Cass Sunstein, who see themselves as honest brokers between the demands of left-wing activists and the lobbying of the business community. The left wants a team that will be as aggressive in deploying executive power to progressive ends as Trump’s has been to conservative ones. That means lawyers who seek statutory authority to do more, not find reasons to do less.
Realistically, the effort to anathematize people with private sector backgrounds — and especially lobbyists like Steve Ricchetti — is an imperfect proxy for ideological predispositions. Sunstein likely passes the left’s stated litmus tests, even though he was one of the figures progressive activists found most frustrating during the Obama years.
And all the wrangling in the world can’t change the fact that a great deal of continuity with Obama-era personnel was baked into the cake the moment Biden became the nominee. But Biden is not identical to Obama, and many key figures from Obama-era policymaking have changed their thinking on some issues.
Going big on stimulus
The issues where progressives will be fighting an uphill battle during the transition relate fundamentally to regulatory policy, especially as regards the financial sector and big technology — culturally liberal blue state industries with close ties to many Democrats.
There may simply be less to disagree about on fiscal policy, where more moderate Democrats might be more inclined to agree with the left that the Obama team was too timid on stimulus and too worried about budget deficits.
“Biden will need huge relief and huge new jobs stuff,” a top economic adviser to Obama who’s generally seen as on the more moderate side of the Biden economic brain trust told me at the beginning of September. “It does not make any sense to worry about debt in the recovery response.”
A key issue is that even though the Obama team doesn’t like to admit to error on any front, they believed in the winter of 2008-’09 that if Congress enacted too little stimulus it would be relatively simple to come back and ask for more. They worried at the time that an undisciplined stimulus process would result in a “Christmas tree bill” of dumb expenditures and pet projects.
Their takeaway from Obama’s first term is that the thing to worry about instead is “stimulus fatigue.” A new Biden administration would likely get one shot at fixing the economy, and if it doesn’t work, skittish members of Congress will become averse to doing anything more. Tactically, the right thing to do is to go as big as possible.
Jake Sullivan, a senior policy adviser to the Biden campaign, laid the groundwork for this kind of thinking in remarks to Politico’s Ben White last week.
“The magnitude of the crisis in 2008 was enormous, but this time we’ve got multiple overlapping crises,” Sullivan said. “As a result, the sense of possibility in both policy terms and political terms is big both in the scope of the agenda and the size of the investments the vice president wants to make.”
In other words, expect a really big bill. Senate staffers, similarly, tell me not to expect a repeat of the dual-track process of 2009 where fiscal stimulus and health care reform proceeded as separate pieces of legislation. Members with policy aspirations are instead going to work to get those aspirations tucked into a Covid-19 relief bill. If this includes things like Senate Democrats’ proposals for a child allowance and Biden’s proposal for universal housing vouchers, the relief bill could turn into a potent vehicle for permanent reductions in poverty.
Tensions are tighter when consideration flips from big-picture legislation to small-bore regulatory matters. Progressives would like to use the levers of the administrative state to try to cut many of the biggest players in corporate America — especially in the technology and financial sectors — down to size, by any means necessary.
The Obama administration didn’t see its purview that way. And while Biden has clearly ruled out some left-wing ideas like Medicare-for-all, banning fracking, or defunding police, he’s drawn no line in the sand on many regulatory issues. And at times, he’s indicated to the press that he doesn’t share his former boss’s enthusiasm for Silicon Valley.
Still, the hope for a bold new approach on regulation is not much more than a hope. The left has a real seat at the table in the transition, but at the end of the day, Joe Biden is the nominee and a great deal of continuity with Obama seems like the safest bet.
The presidential transition planning process has become increasingly formal since the 2012 cycle, as a result of new legislation designed to facilitate an orderly turnover of the literally thousands of political appointments throughout the executive branch. But there was no transition to be had in 2012, and the work done by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for Trump was largely thrown out in a post-election coup in 2016.
Biden’s team is hoping to have the chance to put their work into practice, crafting a road map for an administration that can address the Covid-19 crisis and implement a strategy to, as they say, “build back better.”


vox--2020-09-22--You can now personalize your iPhone home screen. People are already making it weird.

There was a time not so long ago when buying an Apple product meant buying into a very specific aesthetic , one designed by men in glass-walled offices who liked to think of themselves as high-minded futurists .
Their vision for that future was almost always the same : sleek , minimalist , and above all , simple .
But according to my TikTok feed over the past weekend , iPhones are now bastions of complex personal micro-identities .
“ How to make your iPhone home screen aesthetic AF !
” begins a video tutorial with 3 million likes .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ their own creations , from Studio Ghibli to cottagecore , Mean Girls to “ Katy Perry in the ‘ Never Really Over ’ video , ” and “ dirtbag Shia LaBeouf ” ( a personal favorite ) .
To do so , they ’ re using customizable widgets with Apple ’ s refreshed Shortcuts app as well as other downloadable tools like Widgetsmith ( The Verge has a good explainer on how to wield them ) .
Used particularly artfully , the effects can turn the home screen of your phone into an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would look like in a late ’ 90s teen magazine — far removed from the traditional grid of rounded-edge squares with company logos .
It ’ s not that suddenly a bunch of kids discovered a way to jailbreak the Apple system , it ’ s because up until a few days ago , Apple didn ’ t really allow for anything like this .
The latest software update , iOS 14 , which was announced back in June and became available to download on September 16 , offers something that until now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : personalization .
“ Simple design is dead .
Welcome to Apple ’ s era of customization , ” declared a Fast Company headline from earlier this summer .
Perhaps we can expand that to the rest of the internet : On Instagram , users are no longer restricted by the handful of color correction or face warping filters built by the brand itself — as of 2019 , anyone can add their own augmented reality ( AR ) filters to the app ’ s database .
Meanwhile , TikTok has succeeded because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ build off of each others ’ videos in a way no social media platform has ever done before .
You can even make the case that by doubling the maximum characters from 140 to 280 in 2017 , Twitter encouraged its users to get a little weirder on their timelines .
All of these little changes are giving us greater control over what our digital lives look like , however superficially .
( Privacy protections , for example , remain fully in the hands of the corporation . )
It ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ age of custom Buddy AIM profiles and designing your Myspace layout while accidentally learning to code in the process .
Early social media platforms and blogs , for the most part , intended for users to express themselves with their tools : Tumblr and WordPress allowed people to tinker with the code to alter their appearance in infinite ways , for example , as opposed to Facebook , which restricted users to a sober palate of medium blue and sans-serif fonts .
Though there ’ s been some debate around who should be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( one rather controversial tweet read “ im not customizing my home screen i am 24 years old ” ) , I decided that it would make a perfect side activity while I half-watch 90 Day Fiancé : Before the 90 Days season two .
So last night , I spent 20 minutes watching TikTok tutorials and customizing my home screen to look vaguely autumncore , with deep greens , oranges , and heavily Tumblr-ized images of old books .
Is this a fully pointless way to spend 20 minutes that were already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Will I spend another 20 minutes changing my home screen aesthetic to “ December in a Prague Christmas market ” in roughly one month ?
Yes !
Help keep Vox free for all Millions turn to Vox each month to understand what ’ s happening in the news , from the coronavirus crisis to a racial reckoning to what is , quite possibly , the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ takes resources .
Even when the economy and the news advertising market recovers , your support will be a critical part of sustaining our resource-intensive work .
If you have already contributed , thank you .
If you haven ’ t , please consider helping everyone make sense of an increasingly chaotic world : Contribute today from as little as $ 3 .

There was a time not so long ago when buying an Apple product meant buying into a very specific aesthetic, one designed by men in glass-walled offices who liked to think of themselves as high-minded futurists. Their vision for that future was almost always the same: sleek, minimalist, and above all, simple.
But according to my TikTok feed over the past weekend, iPhones are now bastions of complex personal micro-identities. “How to make your iPhone home screen aesthetic AF!” begins a video tutorial with 3 million likes. On Twitter, users boast screenshots of their own creations, from Studio Ghibli to cottagecore, Mean Girls to “Katy Perry in the ‘Never Really Over’ video,” and“dirtbag Shia LaBeouf” (a personal favorite). To do so, they’re using customizable widgets with Apple’s refreshed Shortcuts app as well as other downloadable tools like Widgetsmith (The Verge has a good explainer on how to wield them). Used particularly artfully, the effects can turn the home screen of your phone into an ode to Animal Crossing or what BTS would look like in a late ’90s teen magazine — far removed from the traditional grid of rounded-edge squares with company logos.
did a lot of effort doing my homescreen than doing my homework ♀ #ios14homescreen pic.twitter.com/gUE418ESym — jem (@lzldjem) September 21, 2020
It’s not that suddenly a bunch of kids discovered a way to jailbreak the Apple system, it’s because up until a few days ago, Apple didn’t really allow for anything like this. The latest software update, iOS 14, which was announced back in June and became available to download on September 16, offers something that until now the company has been staunchly resistant to: personalization.
“Simple design is dead. Welcome to Apple’s era of customization,” declared a Fast Company headline from earlier this summer. Perhaps we can expand that to the rest of the internet: On Instagram, users are no longer restricted by the handful of color correction or face warping filters built by the brand itself — as of 2019, anyone can add their own augmented reality (AR) filters to the app’s database. Meanwhile, TikTok has succeeded because it allows users to share sounds and build off of each others’ videos in a way no social media platform has ever done before. You can even make the case that by doubling the maximum characters from 140 to 280 in 2017, Twitter encouraged its users to get a little weirder on their timelines.
i love this new ios update! just spent two hours making my homescreen pretty hehe pic.twitter.com/KCuCMLOdUH — ɑimee (@lemonaims) September 20, 2020
All of these little changes are giving us greater control over what our digital lives look like, however superficially. (Privacy protections, for example, remain fully in the hands of the corporation.) It’s a delightful pivot toward the mid-2000s digital golden age of custom Buddy AIM profiles and designing your Myspace layout while accidentally learning to code in the process. Early social media platforms and blogs, for the most part, intended for users to express themselves with their tools: Tumblr and WordPress allowed people to tinker with the code to alter their appearance in infinite ways, for example, as opposed to Facebook, which restricted users to a sober palate of medium blue and sans-serif fonts.
Though there’s been some debate around who should be bothered to make their home screen adorable (one rather controversial tweet read “im not customizing my home screen i am 24 years old”), I decided that it would make a perfect side activity while I half-watch 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days season two. So last night, I spent 20 minutes watching TikTok tutorials and customizing my home screen to look vaguely autumncore, with deep greens, oranges, and heavily Tumblr-ized images of old books. Is this a fully pointless way to spend 20 minutes that were already being spent utterly pointlessly? Yes. Will I spend another 20 minutes changing my home screen aesthetic to “December in a Prague Christmas market” in roughly one month? Yes!


vox--2020-09-22--What it’s like fighting for the right to vote in Florida as an ex-felon

After Florida voted overwhelmingly to let 1.5 million formerly incarcerated people regain the right to vote , Rosemary McCoy and Sheila Singleton , two Black women who had completed their sentences and probation for felony convictions , cast their ballots in 2019 for the first time in years .
Just months later , they lost that newfound power : In May 2019 , the Republican-controlled Florida legislature , backed by Gov .
Ron DeSantis , enacted Senate Bill 7066 .
It required that formerly incarcerated people pay any restitution , fines , or court fees before they could register to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ More than 85,000 released felons had already registered to vote .
Now they faced a new roadblock .
Backlash to the new ordinance was swift , with critics likening it to a modern-day Reconstruction-era poll tax .
And in a state where election outcomes are often close , Floridians with prior felony convictions could be a key voting bloc .
The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a felony disenfranchisement suit on behalf of McCoy and Singleton , arguing that the law is particularly harmful to these women because of their race , gender @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the SPLC , “ nearly a quarter of all Black women in Florida live below the poverty line , and the unemployment rate for Black women with a felony conviction is more than 43 percent.
” After the bill was passed , McCoy learned that she owed about $ 7,500 in restitution ; Singleton owed $ 12,000 .
Interest has been accruing .
Earlier this month , a conservative majority federal appeals court ruled against the women , overturning a lower court ’ s decision that SB 7066 was unconstitutional .
The requirement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and fees stands , and the US Supreme Court recently declined to take up the case .
Over the past few years , McCoy and Singleton have become two of the country ’ s biggest voting rights advocates and educators .
They have picked up the torch from other Black women suffragists and activists like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , Mary Church Terrell , Ida B .
Wells , and Fannie Lou Hamer .
“ We are more energized now , ” McCoy told Vox after their latest loss .
“ We are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minds.
” I talked to McCoy and Singleton about their mission to educate people about voting as they fight voter suppression .
Our conversation has been edited for clarity .
An appellate court recently ruled that your voting rights shouldn ’ t be restored until you pay off all restitution , fees , and court costs .
What ’ s your reaction to this latest roadblock ?
For the hundreds of thousands of Floridians affected , the decision is a disaster .
For me , that means we need to do a lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is to educate the public on the local and state level so we can elect better leaders and get better judges .
And we also need to work on changing laws of oppressive leadership that deliberately disenfranchise a group of people .
I ’ m going to continue to do the work .
I ’ m energized .
If I ’ m being honest , the system is broken .
We don ’ t have the power we need to overtake those in power .
We went out , we petitioned , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then those with money and power stepped in to take our right to vote away .
They ’ re doing anything they possibly can do to prevent us from voting them out of office .
Everybody should have a vote because everybody has a voice .
If we don ’ t get out there and fight for what ’ s right , the people with wealth and power get to do whatever they want to do .
Rosemary ’ s and my objective is to keep fighting , get the word out , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to join our cause .
Before Senate Bill 7066 was passed , what did Amendment 4 , the measure that initially restored felon voting rights in Florida , mean to you ?
It brought joy .
Because when we say we are a democracy and we used the ballot initiative and people responded and most of the people — we were going out to get people to sign the petition — they didn ’ t even know that this was going on .
They didn ’ t know , for instance , if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Florida , that would be a felony charge .
So someone could have been disenfranchised for 25 years because of $ 300 !
That ’ s how pitiful this is .
So when Amendment 4 passed , I thought , “ Oh , my God !
A piece of liberation .
A piece so that maybe we can feel whole again.
” I thought maybe I could feel more positive and have a desire to move forward and look at America in a different way .
I could see the power and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — until Senate Bill 7066 came along .
I took so many pictures because I hadn ’ t voted in seven years .
My voice counts , so that ’ s how important Amendment 4 was to me .
And I feel like whatever my crime was , it was 10 years ago and you ’ re telling me you ’ re gon na hold me down for the rest of my life ?
No !
Our votes got ta pass to make a change .
That was grimy the way they did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to take people ’ s rights back when it was on the ballot and passed ?
And then you go in and try to make changes ?
Because it was a Republican majority ( the bill passed 22-17 in the Senate and 67-42 in the House along party lines ) .
That ’ s why SB 7066 happened .
Why not give it back to the people ?
They let the people decide on Amendment 4 , so let them decide on SB 7066 .
They didn ’ t even give the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say in that .
The stipulations of Senate Bill 7066 have been compared to a poll tax — that you have to pay all fees and restitution in order to register to vote and cast a ballot .
What ’ s your reaction to the idea that you are being disenfranchised in the same way Black people were barred from voting 150 years ago ?
That ’ s the thing .
I went through my probation 10 years ago .
Now you ’ re telling me I have to go back through the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money ?
That should ’ ve been included in my probation .
I didn ’ t know anything about my restitution .
This is actually how I met Rosemary .
We were at the office together when we were trying to figure out our papers and how much we owed .
They didn ’ t tell us anything about restitution because the restitution was somewhere else .
Some people get out of jail and they don ’ t know nothing about their restitution because they don ’ t follow up on this kind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ let people know that they owe this money .
And there ’ s recurring interest .
I feel like it ’ s illegal the way it was done , so I ’ m not going to pay anything until we get through with this case .
Duval County , where we live , does not have a payment arrangement or plan for restitution .
If you owe restitution , you must pay the full amount .
And the other part of that is , according to the restitution statute , if a person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assess them to pay restitution ?
Restitution is supposed to have an end date .
It ’ s not supposed to be forever .
What do you say to the people who don ’ t care , the people who , because of your records , don ’ t believe you should be able to vote again ?
First of all , I pay taxes .
Sheila pays taxes .
That ’ s the number one thing .
And we are still citizens of the United States of America .
If they have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if they ’ re calling themselves a Christian , they need to think about forgiveness .
But we are more energized now .
No matter what you do to us , we just multiply like Bébé ’ s Kids .
All we are going to do is go out there and speak to someone .
Black women are recognized as some of the most loyal and dedicated voters and organizers in the country .
Can you each talk about what it feels like to be a Black woman who is being restricted from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also stepping into what seems to be a calling for so many Black women ?
Black women have been very powerful in all movements .
I ’ m talking about back during slavery .
I ’ m talking about Harriet Tubman freeing her people .
Black women have so much determination .
And they know .
The number of incarcerated women in this country has gone up by more than 700 percent in the past quarter-century .
They are arresting a lot of women .
Because we are powerful , and we are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ women , me and Rosemary are advocates .
It doesn ’ t matter how they try to stop us .
We are going to win anyway .
This makes me want to fight even more .
We share what we know with the people that don ’ t know .
For example , when they give out the stimulus money , we tried to get people to see it wasn ’ t enough .
How are you giving people $ 1,200 , but you can give the millionaires all of the small-businesses money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ?
They won ’ t give us money because they want us to continue to work for pennies .
That ’ s how I look at it — they want us to get back to work .
And how does the voting restriction influence your day-to-day work and mission ?
Me and Rosemary do the same thing .
We called people and made sure they voted during the primary .
We remind them to vote early .
We also work on getting people to complete the 2020 census .
We make sure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote by mail .
But the jobs we have as advocates at New Florida Majority are temporary positions .
After the November election , we won ’ t have jobs .
The Lord has taken care of us , our kids , our grandkids , so we know we will overcome and that we will be employed .
We will be able to provide for our people and we will be able to change our community .
We also started a nonprofit organization we named after Harriet Tubman , the Harriet Tubman Women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we are going out there and changing minds .
We have been beat down for so long .
At this point in the fight to regain such a significant right , what defines each of you and brings you joy ?
I was born and raised in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , so Florida is a culture shock .
I came here through the military .
We were stationed here .
I had a home and raised my children .
I learned the truth when I got arrested — that this is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is still oppressing Black and brown people .
Having been born and raised in Philadelphia , I ’ m not afraid to speak up .
But what I found here is it ’ s hard to get people to move in a certain direction .
I consider myself complete — I was raised in a house with a mother and father who loved me .
I enjoyed myself , running up and down the street , going to the swimming pool , playing Double Dutch and hopscotch .
I enjoyed all of that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great life .
I traveled , I was in the military .
I had government positions .
But reenfranchising 1.5 million more people is now part of my career and what brings me joy .
I enjoy serving people .
My experience in the criminal justice system changed things for the better because sometimes you have to get the experience in order to understand .
As a common citizen , I didn ’ t know .
I was just working , raising my children and enjoying life .
When someone got arrested and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t pay attention .
I didn ’ t know about the laws being passed or the people we were electing , and why we needed to focus on electing certain types of people .
Today , I am very focused .
Being born and raised in Duval , my TV now stays on MSNBC .
I like to know what ’ s going on .
I have a Facebook where I share everything I possibly can to anyone who is listening , to help them understand what ’ s going on .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but it ’ s terrible because it seems like Congress don ’ t have no control .
It seems like Trump has locked everything down with the judges — they ’ re doing everything he says .
Right now , I see the councilmen and governor opening up schools , and our children are catching the virus .
Nobody cares that it is killing people .
I ’ m on my way to a viewing right now for a man who died from coronavirus .
They ’ re trying to downplay this thing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ okay for people to die .
Everyone is walking around like it ’ s normal , but we are in a fight .
Though things aren ’ t going the way we want them to go as returning citizens , we are in this now .
We are making sure that other people will get out of their homes to vote .
It feels like me and Rosemary are the spokeswomen for what ’ s going on today in society .
In Duval , people are so relaxed .
They don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s scary because just imagine if this man gets four more years .
In thinking about how you want your futures to look , what is your idea of liberation ?
What would liberation look like for each of you ?
My liberation is that Donald Trump loses , Biden wins , and he changes everything back like it was and gives us our rights back .
Hopefully , he puts things in order by changing the judicial system .
That ’ s what I ’ m looking forward to .
That would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my rights back to vote .
Being able to get a job , without people saying , “ Hey , you ’ re not qualified because you did this.
” Liberation is also being able to change someone else ’ s life by telling them where I came from and what God did for me — that that ’ s what made me who I am today .
That ’ s my liberation right there .
Liberation , to me , is to divide this country into two different countries .
Thinking back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Street , where they had their own banks , schools , markets — everything !
They were not dependent on this system .
Liberation means I ’ m not dependent on your evil , wicked system that has a noose around my neck .
I want to be free from this system .
I want to have my own .
I don ’ t want to look to you for your crumbs .
Help keep Vox free for all Millions turn to Vox each month to understand what ’ s happening in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a racial reckoning to what is , quite possibly , the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
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After Florida voted overwhelmingly to let 1.5 million formerly incarcerated people regain the right to vote, Rosemary McCoy and Sheila Singleton, two Black women who had completed their sentences and probation for felony convictions, cast their ballots in 2019 for the first time in years.
Just months later, they lost that newfound power: In May 2019, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature, backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, enacted Senate Bill 7066. It required that formerly incarcerated people pay any restitution, fines, or court fees before they could register to vote and have their rights restored.
More than 85,000 formerly incarcerated people with felony convictions had already registered to vote. Now they faced a new roadblock. Backlash to the new ordinance was swift, with critics likening it to a modern-day Reconstruction-era poll tax. And in a state where election outcomes are often close, Floridians with prior felony convictions could be a key voting bloc.
The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a felony disenfranchisement suit on behalf of McCoy and Singleton, arguing that the law is particularly harmful to these women because of their race, gender, and economic status. According to the SPLC, “nearly a quarter of all Black women in Florida live below the poverty line, and the unemployment rate for Black women with a felony conviction is more than 43 percent.” After the bill was passed, McCoy learned that she owed about $7,500 in restitution; Singleton owed $12,000. Interest has been accruing.
Earlier this month, a conservative majority federal appeals court ruled against the women, overturning a lower court’s decision that SB 7066 was unconstitutional. The requirement that formerly incarcerated people pay their fines and fees stands, and the US Supreme Court recently declined to take up the case.
Over the past few years, McCoy and Singleton have become two of the country’s biggest voting rights advocates and educators. They have picked up the torch from other Black women suffragists and activists like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells, and Fannie Lou Hamer.
“We are more energized now,” McCoy told Vox after their latest loss. “We are going to go out there and change minds.”
I talked to McCoy and Singleton about their mission to educate people about voting as they fight voter suppression. Our conversation has been edited for clarity.
Fabiola Cineas
An appellate court recently ruled that your voting rights shouldn’t be restored until you pay off all restitution, fees, and court costs. What’s your reaction to this latest roadblock?
Rosemary McCoy
For the hundreds of thousands of Floridians affected, the decision is a disaster. For me, that means we need to do a lot more work. Part of the work is to educate the public on the local and state level so we can elect better leaders and get better judges. And we also need to work on changing laws of oppressive leadership that deliberately disenfranchise a group of people. I’m going to continue to do the work. I’m energized.
Sheila Singleton
If I’m being honest, the system is broken. We don’t have the power we need to overtake those in power. We went out, we petitioned, we got our right to vote, and then those with money and power stepped in to take our right to vote away. They’re doing anything they possibly can do to prevent us from voting them out of office. Everybody should have a vote because everybody has a voice. If we don’t get out there and fight for what’s right, the people with wealth and power get to do whatever they want to do. Rosemary’s and my objective is to keep fighting, get the word out, and convince as many people as possible to join our cause.
Fabiola Cineas
Before Senate Bill 7066 was passed, what did Amendment 4, the measure that initially restored felon voting rights in Florida, mean to you?
Rosemary McCoy
It brought joy. Because when we say we are a democracy and we used the ballot initiative and people responded and most of the people — we were going out to get people to sign the petition — they didn’t even know that this was going on. They didn’t know, for instance, if someone had shoplifted something for $300 in Florida, that would be a felony charge. So someone could have been disenfranchised for 25 years because of $300! That’s how pitiful this is.
So when Amendment 4 passed, I thought, “Oh, my God! A piece of liberation. A piece so that maybe we can feel whole again.” I thought maybe I could feel more positive and have a desire to move forward and look at America in a different way. I could see the power and the truth that our votes do count — until Senate Bill 7066 came along.
Sheila Singleton
I took so many pictures because I hadn’t voted in seven years. My voice counts, so that’s how important Amendment 4 was to me. And I feel like whatever my crime was, it was 10 years ago and you’re telling me you’re gonna hold me down for the rest of my life? No! Our votes gotta pass to make a change.
That was grimy the way they did the Senate bill — how are you going to take people’s rights back when it was on the ballot and passed? And then you go in and try to make changes?
Rosemary McCoy
Because it was a Republican majority (the bill passed 22-17 in the Senate and 67-42 in the House along party lines). That’s why SB 7066 happened. Why not give it back to the people? They let the people decide on Amendment 4, so let them decide on SB 7066.
Sheila Singleton
They didn’t even give the people a chance. They had no say in that.
Fabiola Cineas
The stipulations of Senate Bill 7066 have been compared to a poll tax — that you have to pay all fees and restitution in order to register to vote and cast a ballot. What’s your reaction to the idea that you are being disenfranchised in the same way Black people were barred from voting 150 years ago?
Sheila Singleton
That’s the thing. I went through my probation 10 years ago. Now you’re telling me I have to go back through the system again to try to pay this money? That should’ve been included in my probation. I didn’t know anything about my restitution.
This is actually how I met Rosemary. We were at the office together when we were trying to figure out our papers and how much we owed. They didn’t tell us anything about restitution because the restitution was somewhere else. Some people get out of jail and they don’t know nothing about their restitution because they don’t follow up on this kind of stuff. They don’t let people know that they owe this money. And there’s recurring interest. I feel like it’s illegal the way it was done, so I’m not going to pay anything until we get through with this case.
Rosemary McCoy
Duval County, where we live, does not have a payment arrangement or plan for restitution. If you owe restitution, you must pay the full amount. And the other part of that is, according to the restitution statute, if a person is innocent, then how can you assess them to pay restitution? Restitution is supposed to have an end date. It’s not supposed to be forever.
Fabiola Cineas
What do you say to the people who don’t care, the people who, because of your records, don’t believe you should be able to vote again?
Rosemary McCoy
First of all, I pay taxes. Sheila pays taxes. That’s the number one thing. And we are still citizens of the United States of America. If they have a mindset like that, and especially if they’re calling themselves a Christian, they need to think about forgiveness. But we are more energized now. No matter what you do to us, we just multiply like Bébé’s Kids. All we are going to do is go out there and speak to someone.
Fabiola Cineas
Black women are recognized as some of the most loyal and dedicated voters and organizers in the country. Can you each talk about what it feels like to be a Black woman who is being restricted from fully stepping into her power, but also stepping into what seems to be a calling for so many Black women?
Rosemary McCoy
Black women have been very powerful in all movements. I’m talking about back during slavery. I’m talking about Harriet Tubman freeing her people. Black women have so much determination. And they know. The number of incarcerated women in this country has gone up by more than 700 percent in the past quarter-century. They are arresting a lot of women. Because we are powerful, and we are not going to stop.
Sheila Singleton
As Black women, me and Rosemary are advocates. It doesn’t matter how they try to stop us. We are going to win anyway. This makes me want to fight even more. We share what we know with the people that don’t know. For example, when they give out the stimulus money, we tried to get people to see it wasn’t enough. How are you giving people $1,200, but you can give the millionaires all of the small-businesses money and don’t do nothing about it? They won’t give us money because they want us to continue to work for pennies. That’s how I look at it — they want us to get back to work.
Fabiola Cineas
And how does the voting restriction influence your day-to-day work and mission?
Sheila Singleton
Me and Rosemary do the same thing. We called people and made sure they voted during the primary. We remind them to vote early. We also work on getting people to complete the 2020 census. We make sure people go out and vote early or vote by mail.
Rosemary McCoy
But the jobs we have as advocates at New Florida Majority are temporary positions. After the November election, we won’t have jobs. The Lord has taken care of us, our kids, our grandkids, so we know we will overcome and that we will be employed. We will be able to provide for our people and we will be able to change our community. We also started a nonprofit organization we named after Harriet Tubman, the Harriet Tubman Women’s Auxiliary. Through the organization, we are going out there and changing minds. We have been beat down for so long.
Fabiola Cineas
At this point in the fight to regain such a significant right, what defines each of you and brings you joy?
Rosemary McCoy
I was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so Florida is a culture shock. I came here through the military. We were stationed here. I had a home and raised my children. I learned the truth when I got arrested — that this is a state, as a whole, that is still oppressing Black and brown people. Having been born and raised in Philadelphia, I’m not afraid to speak up. But what I found here is it’s hard to get people to move in a certain direction.
I consider myself complete — I was raised in a house with a mother and father who loved me. I enjoyed myself, running up and down the street, going to the swimming pool, playing Double Dutch and hopscotch. I enjoyed all of that. I believe that I had a great life. I traveled, I was in the military. I had government positions.
But reenfranchising 1.5 million more people is now part of my career and what brings me joy. I enjoy serving people. My experience in the criminal justice system changed things for the better because sometimes you have to get the experience in order to understand. As a common citizen, I didn’t know. I was just working, raising my children and enjoying life. When someone got arrested and went to prison, I didn’t pay attention. I didn’t know about the laws being passed or the people we were electing, and why we needed to focus on electing certain types of people. Today, I am very focused.
Sheila Singleton
Being born and raised in Duval, my TV now stays on MSNBC. I like to know what’s going on. I have a Facebook where I share everything I possibly can to anyone who is listening, to help them understand what’s going on. This is a fight that will end, but it’s terrible because it seems like Congress don’t have no control. It seems like Trump has locked everything down with the judges — they’re doing everything he says. Right now, I see the councilmen and governor opening up schools, and our children are catching the virus. Nobody cares that it is killing people. I’m on my way to a viewing right now for a man who died from coronavirus. They’re trying to downplay this thing so bad, like it’s okay for people to die. Everyone is walking around like it’s normal, but we are in a fight.
Though things aren’t going the way we want them to go as returning citizens, we are in this now. We are making sure that other people will get out of their homes to vote. It feels like me and Rosemary are the spokeswomen for what’s going on today in society. In Duval, people are so relaxed. They don’t talk about the issues. It’s scary because just imagine if this man gets four more years.
Fabiola Cineas
In thinking about how you want your futures to look, what is your idea of liberation? What would liberation look like for each of you?
Sheila Singleton
My liberation is that Donald Trump loses, Biden wins, and he changes everything back like it was and gives us our rights back. Hopefully, he puts things in order by changing the judicial system. That’s what I’m looking forward to. That would make me feel really gracious, getting my rights back to vote. Being able to get a job, without people saying, “Hey, you’re not qualified because you did this.” Liberation is also being able to change someone else’s life by telling them where I came from and what God did for me — that that’s what made me who I am today. That’s my liberation right there.
Rosemary McCoy
Liberation, to me, is to divide this country into two different countries. Thinking back to how there was a Black Wall Street, where they had their own banks, schools, markets — everything! They were not dependent on this system. Liberation means I’m not dependent on your evil, wicked system that has a noose around my neck. I want to be free from this system. I want to have my own. I don’t want to look to you for your crumbs.


vox--2020-09-22--The best $40 I ever spent: A not-quite-tarot deck

The last time I drank alcohol , I was found a full day later in the trunk of a car outside of a bar called Six Packs in rainy , rural northwestern Pennsylvania .
We ’ d traveled to the region for my best friend ’ s wedding and I ’ d relapsed the night before the ceremony , sneaking off in the middle of the night to find a beer to calm my anxiety over being back “ home.
” One beer turned to many , and my last coherent memory of the spree was my decision to pop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me the drunken certainty that it contained hard-stomached male strippers ( reader , I was mistaken ) .
This latest relapse meant I ’ d missed my best friend ’ s wedding .
To my horror , I realized that she must have been relieved by my absence , given the way I ’ d tornadoed through so many open-bar events in our decades-long friendship .
But even during this , my rockiest of rock bottoms , I experienced the joy of being found .
My husband teamed up with my oldest friend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to locate me ; seeing their relief that I was alive was something I couldn ’ t believe I deserved .
Though the act of being found by others was a lightning bolt to the dying battery of my sobriety , finding myself was another proposition entirely .
The act of self-help has always given me pause , particularly one with any sort of spiritual component .
Drinking , for this alcoholic , was an act of splintering or shattering .
So perhaps self-help — hell , even self-reflection — scared me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nothing good left to find .
But , of course , self-help is necessary for any addict who wants to live .
I threw myself into a 12-step program , of which the 11th step was meditation .
My sponsor — a nervous , sweet writer with a shaggy head of hair and a shaggier dog — assured me over tea in his small living room that meditation was “ the really fun part ” of the 12-step process .
“ It ’ s where you find the real you , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ easy !
” It wasn ’ t .
I started with a simple , Oprah-assisted meditation .
But my mind felt too full , my nerves too raw to relax .
Rather than blankness , I would see things while I meditated , and I greeted those images with skepticism , fear , and confusion .
First , I saw lights of varying colors and intensities , all swirling around in the meditative abyss .
Cynicism minimized the significance of these colors , as did a Google search , which identified them as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my optic nerves .
I also saw wide , empty landscapes , which would occasionally be populated by massive stone statues and moss-covered tombstones .
My mind was particularly drawn to two locations from my youth : the Pennsylvania forest I ’ d wandered as a teenager and Greendale Cemetery , a lush , peaceful place I ’ d grown up playing in as a child .
These are also candidates for easy dismissal .
Of course I ’ d remember my favorite natural scenes from childhood when trying to find a safe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ d see — or imagine that I was seeing — beasts : a manatee god , a hellish dragon , a vine-covered witch lurking at the corner of a mind-kindled bonfire .
Ghosts , of course .
All of them very on-the-nose reminders that I was a drunk .
My demons .
My spirits .
Come on , brain , don ’ t be such a cliché !
Approaching meditation as a cynic , for me , led to further demoralization .
I wanted the messages behind my eyelids to mean something @ @ @ @ @ @ @ messages from somewhere ; whether that somewhere was a distant part of my own brain or from a higher power really wasn ’ t the point .
I wanted the messages behind my eyelids to mean something .
I wanted to be receiving those messages from somewhere .
This is where The Wild Unknown Archetypes Deck and Guidebook by Kim Krans came in .
My dear friend and teacher , the writer Amy Bonnaffons , introduced me to it as part of a workshop she was leading that combined meditation , creative writing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deck and guidebook as soon as she mentioned it .
When the package arrived , I stared at the box , unsure of how to proceed .
The guidebook is small and watercolored , and the cards come in an attractive circular container that could easily double as a sensible , New Age clutch purse .
I had no experience with tarot decks or oracle decks , which is how the internet categorizes the Archetypes deck .
I opened the guidebook first .
Right in the introduction , Krans says , “ When @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may trust it.
” That inner saboteur brayed again , and I reminded myself that I was going to do this right .
So I was going to trust these images .
This time .
I hoped .
I continued to read until I reached the “ Using the Cards ” section , which seemed like a sign that it was time to get down to business .
There were five different methods of card-reading described , one involving one card , the next involving three , then four , then two different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of the question .
What if I drew a bad card ?
The four- and five-card methods seemed like too much of a commitment and also too diluting .
What if I drew an awesome card — surely there was a best card ?
— only to draw three or four suck cards to surround it ?
So I picked the three-card spread , “ Summon the Divine.
” According to Krans , this spread is simplified to represent only three ascending chakra centers : The Root , The Heart , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , spreading them out across a small table in my office .
I plugged in my Himalayan salt lamp and lit a Silver Birch Yankee Candle for assistance , fully committing to middle-class shamanic realness .
Prayer seemed like a good idea , so I went with the serenity prayer , my hands hanging over the cards : “ God , grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change , the courage to change the things I can , and the wisdom to know the difference.
” Nothing glowed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ candle , and I received no psychic messages , so I assumed it was okay to proceed .
My first card , my Root ( “ the grounding by which you navigate core fears , habits , and stuckness , ” according to Krans ) , was Kairos , the image on the card a wolf ’ s eye surrounded by sky-blue scales .
Kairos is one of the Initiation cards , which represent “ big moments , junctures , and situations in life that carry major significance along our journey.
” Kairos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time continuum that goes beyond earthly clocks and schedules.
” Kairos represents patience and precision .
It represents choosing to act based on inner knowledge .
This immediately resonated .
I was trapped in the bourbon-scented amber of mythic time , glamorizing so many drinks and drinking nights when I hadn ’ t had a good drink in years .
Maybe ever .
And acting on inner knowledge ?
It was something I ’ d long been refusing to do .
Where had I been expecting the wet , dark Pennsylvania roads to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up in the Six Packs parking lot ?
When I meditated , my mind kept going back to the forests and cemeteries of my youth .
But they weren ’ t just safe places in nature ; they were the last time I ’ d felt safe at all .
They ’ re stuck in mythic time , the time before my love for my hometown was crushed under the burden of being bullied too long , back to where I was before I ’ d started drinking .
My second card , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of “ a deep longing , calling , or conflict that is at the center of all centers within the psyche ” ) , was the Stone .
The Stone ’ s card is drawn as an opalescent oval within a circle within a square within a triangle , like someone dropped some oily ink into the eye of the pyramid on the back of a dollar bill .
The Stone “ is best used to anchor our wild side , no matter how far we roam , we can always find our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Earth , helping to ground and connect us to stillness , quiet , and peace.
” Suddenly , the appearance of statues and tombstones meant more than childhood memories or watching too many horror movies .
The Stone , my Heart , was what grounded me .
It keeps my wild side , the side willing to risk not seeing his best friend get married for even the chance of a good buzz and some impossible strippers , from taking over .
The final card , my Crown ( which “ represents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reach beyond the self toward heaven ” ) , was the Shaman .
It ’ s a strange card , both retro and haunting , with three skulls , a golden ball , a huge diamond , a ghostly hand , and a red snake all set upon the background of a starry night .
If you ’ ve ever watched the “ Total Eclipse of the Heart ” music video then you ’ ll have an idea of the aesthetic .
The Shaman is one of the Selves , cards that “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that are either awakened or asleep within us.
” The Shaman is “ a master who bridges the everyday and the sacred , revealing potent power desperately needed in our time.
” This felt scarily on the nose , particularly as my Crown card , that part of me that wanted to “ reach beyond the self toward heaven.
” I thought back to the wide , bright spaces in my meditations , to the giant beasts , both benevolent and demonic .
My mind had been trying to reach for something powerful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so long , but I was allowing skepticism and shame to flatten it .
My hopes and dreams for myself , for the life that I wanted , were right there in my meditations from the beginning .
I simply hadn ’ t had the language to explain it .
I wanted a sober and peaceful life , but one that was still filled with magic and mystery .
I wanted to trust my gut , and my mind , and my imagination .
What I saw when I closed my eyes was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ card for the Shaman .
An amalgamation of fantastical images .
Those colors behind my eyes , so similar to the colors of the cards , did mean something because they meant something to me .
My mind — more than that , though , my whole life — longed for a bigger connection .
For more magic , for a stronger link with something bigger than myself .
These cards didn ’ t allow me to read the future .
I ’ m not even sure they allowed me to read my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do , though , was to pause the cynic in me .
Not only did the images in my head have meaning , they had good , positive meanings .
Any alcoholic will tell you that ours is a disease that finds you at battle with your own mind .
With this new tool at my disposal , my mind became less of a burden and less of cliché .
And it was full , full of so much , if I could just kick the trunk door open for myself .
Rather @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and producer of a number of mundane processes and bromide images , my meditating mind is the source of mystery , intrigue , thoughtfulness , and discovery .
My own wild unknown , waiting for me to find it .
Mike McClelland lives in complete chaos with his husband , two sons , and three rescue dogs , and is the author of Gay Zoo Day and a recently completed novel about queer witches .
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The last time I drank alcohol, I was found a full day later in the trunk of a car outside of a bar called Six Packs in rainy, rural northwestern Pennsylvania. We’d traveled to the region for my best friend’s wedding and I’d relapsed the night before the ceremony, sneaking off in the middle of the night to find a beer to calm my anxiety over being back “home.” One beer turned to many, and my last coherent memory of the spree was my decision to pop into a backcountry bar whose name gave me the drunken certainty that it contained hard-stomached male strippers (reader, I was mistaken).
This latest relapse meant I’d missed my best friend’s wedding. To my horror, I realized that she must have been relieved by my absence, given the way I’d tornadoed through so many open-bar events in our decades-long friendship.
But even during this, my rockiest of rock bottoms, I experienced the joy of being found. My husband teamed up with my oldest friend, who still lives near our hometown, to locate me; seeing their relief that I was alive was something I couldn’t believe I deserved.
Though the act of being found by others was a lightning bolt to the dying battery of my sobriety, finding myself was another proposition entirely. The act of self-help has always given me pause, particularly one with any sort of spiritual component. Drinking, for this alcoholic, was an act of splintering or shattering. So perhaps self-help — hell, even self-reflection — scared me because I was terrified that there was nothing good left to find.
But, of course, self-help is necessary for any addict who wants to live. I threw myself into a 12-step program, of which the 11th step was meditation. My sponsor — a nervous, sweet writer with a shaggy head of hair and a shaggier dog — assured me over tea in his small living room that meditation was “the really fun part” of the 12-step process. “It’s where you find the real you,” he promised. “And it’s easy!”
It wasn’t. I started with a simple, Oprah-assisted meditation. But my mind felt too full, my nerves too raw to relax. Rather than blankness, I would see things while I meditated, and I greeted those images with skepticism, fear, and confusion.
First, I saw lights of varying colors and intensities, all swirling around in the meditative abyss. Cynicism minimized the significance of these colors, as did a Google search, which identified them as phosphenes, caused by the overstimulation of my optic nerves.
I also saw wide, empty landscapes, which would occasionally be populated by massive stone statues and moss-covered tombstones. My mind was particularly drawn to two locations from my youth: the Pennsylvania forest I’d wandered as a teenager and Greendale Cemetery, a lush, peaceful place I’d grown up playing in as a child. These are also candidates for easy dismissal. Of course I’d remember my favorite natural scenes from childhood when trying to find a safe place in nature.
Finally, I’d see — or imagine that I was seeing — beasts: a manatee god, a hellish dragon, a vine-covered witch lurking at the corner of a mind-kindled bonfire. Ghosts, of course. All of them very on-the-nose reminders that I was a drunk. My demons. My spirits. Come on, brain, don’t be such a cliché!
Approaching meditation as a cynic, for me, led to further demoralization. I wanted the messages behind my eyelids to mean something. I wanted to be receiving those messages from somewhere; whether that somewhere was a distant part of my own brain or from a higher power really wasn’t the point.
I wanted the messages behind my eyelids to mean something. I wanted to be receiving those messages from somewhere.
This is where The Wild Unknown Archetypes Deck and Guidebook by Kim Krans came in. My dear friend and teacher, the writer Amy Bonnaffons, introduced me to it as part of a workshop she was leading that combined meditation, creative writing, and collage. I ordered the deck and guidebook as soon as she mentioned it.
When the package arrived, I stared at the box, unsure of how to proceed. The guidebook is small and watercolored, and the cards come in an attractive circular container that could easily double as a sensible, New Age clutch purse. I had no experience with tarot decks or oracle decks, which is how the internet categorizes the Archetypes deck.
I opened the guidebook first. Right in the introduction, Krans says, “When an image calls to you, you may trust it.” That inner saboteur brayed again, and I reminded myself that I was going to do this right. So I was going to trust these images. This time. I hoped.
I continued to read until I reached the “Using the Cards” section, which seemed like a sign that it was time to get down to business. There were five different methods of card-reading described, one involving one card, the next involving three, then four, then two different five-card methods. Drawing just one was out of the question. What if I drew a bad card? The four- and five-card methods seemed like too much of a commitment and also too diluting. What if I drew an awesome card — surely there was a best card? — only to draw three or four suck cards to surround it? So I picked the three-card spread, “Summon the Divine.” According to Krans, this spread is simplified to represent only three ascending chakra centers: The Root, The Heart, and The Crown.
I shuffled the cards, spreading them out across a small table in my office. I plugged in my Himalayan salt lamp and lit a Silver Birch Yankee Candle for assistance, fully committing to middle-class shamanic realness. Prayer seemed like a good idea, so I went with the serenity prayer, my hands hanging over the cards: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Nothing glowed, no sudden winds blew out my candle, and I received no psychic messages, so I assumed it was okay to proceed.
My first card, my Root (“the grounding by which you navigate core fears, habits, and stuckness,” according to Krans), was Kairos, the image on the card a wolf’s eye surrounded by sky-blue scales. Kairos is one of the Initiation cards, which represent “big moments, junctures, and situations in life that carry major significance along our journey.” Kairos represents mythic time, a “secondary time continuum that goes beyond earthly clocks and schedules.” Kairos represents patience and precision. It represents choosing to act based on inner knowledge.
This immediately resonated. I was trapped in the bourbon-scented amber of mythic time, glamorizing so many drinks and drinking nights when I hadn’t had a good drink in years. Maybe ever. And acting on inner knowledge? It was something I’d long been refusing to do. Where had I been expecting the wet, dark Pennsylvania roads to take me when I’d ended up in the Six Packs parking lot?
When I meditated, my mind kept going back to the forests and cemeteries of my youth. But they weren’t just safe places in nature; they were the last time I’d felt safe at all. They’re stuck in mythic time, the time before my love for my hometown was crushed under the burden of being bullied too long, back to where I was before I’d started drinking.
My second card, the Heart card (which tells you of “a deep longing, calling, or conflict that is at the center of all centers within the psyche”), was the Stone. The Stone’s card is drawn as an opalescent oval within a circle within a square within a triangle, like someone dropped some oily ink into the eye of the pyramid on the back of a dollar bill. The Stone “is best used to anchor our wild side, no matter how far we roam, we can always find our way back. The Stone tethers us to Earth, helping to ground and connect us to stillness, quiet, and peace.” Suddenly, the appearance of statues and tombstones meant more than childhood memories or watching too many horror movies. The Stone, my Heart, was what grounded me. It keeps my wild side, the side willing to risk not seeing his best friend get married for even the chance of a good buzz and some impossible strippers, from taking over.
The final card, my Crown (which “represents the part of you that wants to reach beyond the self toward heaven”), was the Shaman. It’s a strange card, both retro and haunting, with three skulls, a golden ball, a huge diamond, a ghostly hand, and a red snake all set upon the background of a starry night. If you’ve ever watched the “Total Eclipse of the Heart” music video then you’ll have an idea of the aesthetic. The Shaman is one of the Selves, cards that “represent the many sides of the self that are either awakened or asleep within us.” The Shaman is “a master who bridges the everyday and the sacred, revealing potent power desperately needed in our time.” This felt scarily on the nose, particularly as my Crown card, that part of me that wanted to “reach beyond the self toward heaven.” I thought back to the wide, bright spaces in my meditations, to the giant beasts, both benevolent and demonic. My mind had been trying to reach for something powerful, something magical, something sacred for so long, but I was allowing skepticism and shame to flatten it.
My hopes and dreams for myself, for the life that I wanted, were right there in my meditations from the beginning. I simply hadn’t had the language to explain it. I wanted a sober and peaceful life, but one that was still filled with magic and mystery. I wanted to trust my gut, and my mind, and my imagination. What I saw when I closed my eyes was very much like what appeared on the card for the Shaman. An amalgamation of fantastical images. Those colors behind my eyes, so similar to the colors of the cards, did mean something because they meant something to me. My mind — more than that, though, my whole life — longed for a bigger connection. For more magic, for a stronger link with something bigger than myself.
These cards didn’t allow me to read the future. I’m not even sure they allowed me to read my present. What they were able to do, though, was to pause the cynic in me. Not only did the images in my head have meaning, they had good, positive meanings. Any alcoholic will tell you that ours is a disease that finds you at battle with your own mind. With this new tool at my disposal, my mind became less of a burden and less of cliché. And it was full, full of so much, if I could just kick the trunk door open for myself. Rather than serving as both a receptacle for and producer of a number of mundane processes and bromide images, my meditating mind is the source of mystery, intrigue, thoughtfulness, and discovery.
My own wild unknown, waiting for me to find it.
Mike McClelland lives in complete chaos with his husband, two sons, and three rescue dogs, and is the author of Gay Zoo Day and a recently completed novel about queer witches.