Yopp!

CN: Extensive discussion of the experience of chronic illness, the emotional experience of living during the pandemic, brief discussion of ableism, grief, and financial hardships. 
 

The era of Covid-19 has been a strange time for folks with chronic illness. For anyone with pre-existing conditions that make catching the virus more dangerous, it has been a scary time with the already high stakes that surround our health getting even higher. But recently, everyone else's world has gotten a whole lot closer to the reality of what it’s like to live with chronic illness and as a result, they too are...

CN: extensive discussion of racism and white privilege, brief discussion of fictional instances of stalking, murder, sex, illegal drug-use, abusive/manipulative relationships, false rape accusations, war and mass violence. Brief discussion of real-life murder, mass violence, and racially-motivated violence. Assume potential spoilers for all media mentioned below.  

As always, the beauty of guest posts on this blog is that they enable Yopp to include subjects and types of content that I could never hope to create myself. In order to shift the societal scrutiny off of people of color and onto w...

CN: general (but light-hearted) discussion of pandemic, cancer mention, Spoilers for Downton Abbey

Making content in our new world can be challenging seeing as we haven’t experienced it long enough to know what people most want to hear or what kind of content they’ll respond to. I have always enjoyed Liz Winship's specific style of humor, as was brilliantly showcased in her previous articles on Yopp, but in today's guest post, Liz’s amazing mixture of compassionate warmth and dry, biting snark when talking about the current state of the world, is exactly what everyone needs right now.

 

Ah, s...

When social-distancing first started, I figured, besides my anxiety about the virus itself, my life wouldn't change a huge amount and the transition would probably be easy for me. My work is already remote, my financial situation is stable, and my partner and I are pretty used to co-existing in our apartment for long periods of time. 

Almost immediately, I found that if I didn't work hard to use my systems and tools meant to support my mental health, my functionality would quickly deteriorate. I frequently felt like I wasn't okay and also that I had no business feeling that way.

After some ref...

CN: extensive discussion of the mechanics of racism and white supremacy; discussion of apartheid era South Africa, denial of racism, islamophobia, and racially motivated violence; mention of anti-Semitism.  

All I have to say about today’s guest post is that I’m so glad that thanks Thandiwe I have an excellent resource to point to anytime I run into someone claiming that racism is a social construct. She’s going to break it down for all of us. 
 

“The idea that race is biologically given was produced by modern science, which did not stand outside but rather was intricately shaped by the comple...

CN: Extensive discussion of the mental and financial impact of Covid19, mention of existing oppressive systems. 

I tend to have a pretty hard time during a national or global crisis. My primary method of deprogramming my anxiety that has been my baseline for as long as I can remember has been teaching myself that the external causes of that perpetual state of fear are long gone and I’m safe now. When something happens that genuinely decreases my safety, it’s impossible to keep my anxiety from reverting to its normal habits, in an attempt to protect me. It’s very hard to tell myself that I’m s...

A note before today's guest post: Today's article was submitted and written before the Covid 19 crisis reached the US. At this moment, all medical health professionals are maxed out on what they are giving to the public to keep us safe, and we are deeply grateful to them for the risks they are taking and sacrifices they are making daily. This advice, as most things on this blog are, focuses on looking at longterm overarching problems that take time to solve. I fully support everything Amy is advocating for in this article, and I recognize that with the current state of the world, it's not yet...

CN: extensive discussion of Covid 19 and the structural ways it is impacting society

Unusual times call for unusual measures: Twice in as many weeks, I’ve written a “reactionary” blog post, this time, in response to the Covid19 pandemic that’s severely impacting the entire world right now. Institutional activism is not my strength, but for reasons listed below, these issues require a uniquely high proportion of institutional and legislative support. 
 

I have written a letter to send to my local government representatives that outlines what I believe should be top priority concerns for our gov...

On Thursday, I received the news that Elizabeth Warren was ending her campaign for president. I had intended to write an article about why Warren had my vote, but I never got to write it and I never got to vote for her. I had a lot of grief and anger around the circumstances of her campaign ending. 

I expected that the news would be a blow to my spirits but what I didn't expect was how much grief and anger I would also have over losing yet another opportunity for a female president. My feelings on the subject were big and I got the sense that many other women felt the same way. 

It's rare...

Yopp is where you go when someone shouts, “Educate yourself!” 

Yopp is where you go when you’ve suffered deeply at the hands of society and need to feel heard. 

Yopp is where you go when your uncle makes a post on facebook completely misrepresenting what privilege is but this is the third time this week you’ve tried to explain privilege to someone and you are simply burnt out. 

Today I wanted to tell you the story of why I created the social justice blog Yopp, what Yopp’s goals are, and how you can get involved in making those goals a reality.

Educate

In the world of social justice, one of...