10. What to do with enthusiasm
May 31st, 2020

A strange week to feel anything resembling enthusiasm.

I woke up this morning not knowing if sending an email this week was appropriate or necessary, before realising that not acknowledging this week’s events or using this modest platform would be about as neat an example of privilege as I can think of.

I’ve recommended Ijeoma Oluo‘s So You Want to Talk About Race to a lot of people this week. It’s as blunt as it should be, more generous than it needs to be, and does what is absolutely not the job of black voices—namely, educating white audiences on racism and white supremacy. I was glad to see it on this list of anti-racism resources, which includes articles, books, podcasts and documentaries. If there’s a place to put any enthusiasm we may still have access to in a week like this, perhaps the best way to use it is educating ourselves and others.

Dept. of Enthusiasm is a charmingly sporadic email from me, Jez Burrows. You can read some past issues, or sign up below.