The right outfit for a feminist cyclist to ride while weathering Trump

We read Butler's Parable of the Sower not as an aspirational blueprint but as a cautionary tale.

The right outfit for a feminist cyclist to ride while weathering Trump

Cyclists often say, "The right clothes enables riding in any weather." I contemplated this notion during this morning’s ride on my 76' Schwinn Runabout. The temperature in Essex, NJ registered a biting 17 degrees—which, as a Los Angeles native, I consider decidedly cold.

As Donald Trump assumes office as our 47th President today, I reflect on whether the right preparation might help us endure his presidency. A preparation that will require community, strategic planning, pluralistic cooperation, and optimism. We must trust the United States’ system of checks and balances will withstand and shield us from this conservative surge. YET at the same time we need to cultivate a movement that is an unwavering opposition to this surge —a movement that will combat injustice, inequality, fascism, sexism, discrimination, and democratic erosion.

We must avoid trivial distractions and "tu-quoque" arguments. Instead, let's commit ourselves to our planet and each other. We should collaborate with anyone dedicated to preserving democratic values in the United States. However, we should not waste energy on those who seem more interested in dismantling rather than building when discussing their vision for US. This brings us to examine "Accelerationism."

“Some folks get into leftism owing to the hatred of the system and not compassion for oppressed people. There is a fundamental distinction.” — Jason Silveira

Accelerationism represents a political ideology advocating for rapid expansion of capitalistic growth and technological advancement to push society to its limits, theoretically triggering mass revolt and hastening capitalism's "inevitable collapse." This theory embodies patriarchal thinking, demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of evolutionary science, and contradicts most psychological and behavioral research findings on how humans respond to never ending trauma.

Pursuing accelerationism resembles playing reckless speed chess, sacrificing pieces without strategy. The pawns, knights, bishops, and queens—society's most vulnerable members—face elimination. In America's social hierarchy, cis-women, trans women, and transgender individuals consistently occupy the bottom rungs.

America's White working class must recognize their shared class identity with all of humanity before we can seriously consider socioeconomic class reductionism. Both race and gender function as class distinctions.

This strategy fails because suffering breeds acceptance rather than rebellion. People adapt to pain instead of rising against it. Haiti stands as the sole exception, where their revolution declared "Liberté ou la Mort" because those were the only options. Haiti briefly glimpsed the possibility of an equitable society. However, French treachery, American hostility, and Nativist Bonapartism crushed this potential. Haiti's working class bore the devastating consequences when French-imposed debt stripped the nation of its resources, plunging it into extreme poverty.

At A Feminist Newsletter in New Jersey — about Urbanism, we read Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower not as an aspirational blueprint but as a cautionary tale. I reject the nostalgic idealization of an era when society confined women to domestic servitude. I do NOT want to live in Earthseed. The accelerationist movement shares an unsettling commonality with Trump-era far-right evangelical groups: both envision women as subservient beings, relegated to roles of housekeepers, mothers, and silent vessels in their imagined new order.

Single Family Zoning birthed the Cult of Feminine Domesticity
The employment prospects I received as a young woman came through my women friends. In the U.S., the labor market has always been deeply communal, relying heavily on word of mouth. This dynamic has made hypersegregation highly effective at suppressing African American employment. But there’s another kind of

We must resist this defeatist romanticism. We cannot let these groups co-opt progressive movements to roleplay their dystopian fantasies where we face extinction.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.

We MUST construct. Our focus belongs on creation, not destruction. We can still mitigate the climate crisis and uphold democracy. Feminist Urbanism charts a viable path forward. Plurality manifests as practical solidarity.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr., Day and thank you for reading the January 20, 2025 AF newsletter.

Please cruise our website to check out are stories on the Climate Crisis, the Los Angeles Fires, Feminist Urbanism and more!

We can’t rebuild—the same way
As a fifth-generation Angeleno watching my city burn was painful. The city is making an excellent effort handling this ongoing crisis, but as a region going forward we must do better. Los Angeles and its surrounding cities and counties, must begin to operate from a functional region rather than political
Cooperation over competition-Mitigation over adaptation
Mitigation is instituting policies to keep global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius and help us share and caretake the earth with other people and other creatures. The urgency of climate change often makes it feel like the window for effective action is closing rapidly, but it’s important to remember

Warmest AF,

Lo