Politicians Failed Us in 2020. Our Movements Built Lasting Power. (Truthout) 

Mike Ludwig offers a snapshot of activism during 2020: “Popular anger finally exploded in 2020 in the form of widespread and sustained protests for racial justice, forcing white Americans to reckon with their privilege and the face of stark inequality. Indeed, 2020 must be remembered for Black Lives Matter: for the neighbors who put on their masks and showed up for one another, for the revolts against state violence, and the mutual aid that blossomed even in an era of social distancing.” Read more.

Kids Are NOT Falling Behind. They Are Surviving a Pandemic. (Common Dreams) 

Steven Singer advocates for a change in mainstream discussions of remote learning: “Everyone is worried about how the Coronavirus pandemic is affecting children. And it IS affecting them. But so much worry is being wasted on the wrong things. Instead of agonizing about kids being put in danger of infection at in-person schools where the virus is out of control, we’re told to worry about academic regression. Instead of feeling anxiety about abandoning kids at home as outbreaks close their schools and parents still have to go in to work, we’re told to agonize over failing test scores.” Read more.

COVID-19 Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Have the Best (Virtual) Sex of Your Life (Rewire News Group) 

Caroline Reilly provides tips on how to have enjoy sexual pleasure during the pandemic: “Whatever your style—maybe it’s with a partner, maybe it’s having as many orgasms with your vibrator as humanly possible—sex, pleasure, and intimacy can be a wonderful distraction when everything else feels like it is on fire. But as it turns out, it is not always easy, ideal, or responsible to have loads of sex in the middle of a global pandemic. Very rude of the universe, if you ask me. But alas, it’s the situation we find ourselves in. Luckily, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, one need not suffer through isolation without sex.” Read more.

Love No Limit: We Should Think about Prison Abolition as a Love Story (Bitch Media) 

Josie Pickens considers the path to prison abolition: “We can’t hope to create life-affirming systems after abolishing harmful, decaying systems if we have yet to address how those systems live within us. We must embrace the idea that all human beings are valuable and that we all deserve to live in safe spaces. We must fully understand that we can’t hope to stop harm and abuse by enacting harm and abuse. We must abandon our shortsighted, binary thinking around what is good and what is bad.” Read more.

The Lost Year: A sudden crisis, online sex work, and a better understanding of privilege (Vox) 

Emily VanDerWerff shares the story of Rebecca, a sex worker who lives in British Columbia. On her experience of online sex work during the pandemic, Rebecca writes: “A lot of people, when the pandemic happened, especially if they were living alone or had a really small bubble of people, were really feeling an urge to reach out and connect. Sometimes, [connection via sex work] has been a positive experience. And other times, it’s actually amplified the loneliness for some of the customers. They’re confronted with the reality that I’m talking to them because they’re paying.” Read more.

The Border Patrol Is Cracking Down on Humanitarian Aid (The Nation) 

Jessica Suriano interviews Paige Corich-Kleim, a volunteer with No More Deaths, about the criminalization of humanitarian aid: “After being detained with her fellow volunteers, Paige Corich-Kleim watched as agents descended into the camp with military-style vehicles and weapons to terrorize and eventually detain 12 migrants seeking food, water, and medical aid at the camp. Despite past victories in court establishing that humanitarian aid is not a crime and that No More Deaths should be able to operate freely without Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intimidation, its camps and the people seeking lifesaving assistance there continue to be threatened.” Read more.

An Ode to Queer Spaces Lost During COVID — and Those We’re Fighting to Keep Alive (them.) 

Nico Lang offers an ode to queer spaces: “The cafés, bookstores, nightclubs, and bathhouses that have dotted our gayborhoods for decades are imperfect possibility models—spaces for identity formation, political action, conflict, missed connections, loves that last a lifetime, and sometimes the best sex of your life. They are the multitudes of which Walt Whitman once wrote. But these fragile spaces are at risk.” Read more.