5 Things / Hot to Go
This week I went to see the pop star Chappell Roan perform in New York. At one point, I looked around and we were all doing the Hot to Go dance. We were having a collective experience of joy. What a gift.
I’d much rather think and talk and write about the ways that we can come together rather than the ways we’re being pulled apart. I read about an epidemic of loneliness, a feeling I know all too well. Pickleball saved me, especially this year.
What I’ve learned is that we can’t outsource belonging…but we get to build it through the things that bring us joy. Sometimes it’s on a concert floor, sometimes it’s on a pickleball court, sometimes it’s when we choose to reach for each other instead of staying apart. Belonging is something we can create. So tell me, where are you building belonging right now?
This Week's Good Vibes:
The Grito Gets a Gender Upgrade
Claudia Sheinbaum became the first woman ever to deliver Mexico’s Grito de Dolores on Independence Day, breaking a 215-year precedent. She became the first woman to claim the balcony long reserved for male presidents. Women leaders in Latin America often face disproportionate violence, online harassment, and class and race barriers that keep Indigenous and Afro-Mexican women out of power. Representation at national rituals shapes collective imagination, but intersectional inequities remind us how far inclusion has to go. ♐Breaking glass ceilings is progress, but justice requires opening doors to women across race, class, and identity lines.
When Coffee Demands Inclusion
At Dialogue Express Café in East London, every barista is deaf or hard-of-hearing, and every customer must order in British Sign Language. Touchscreen tutorials make it accessible, but the point is deeper—this isn’t about “accommodation,” it’s about resetting who holds power in service. Too often, people with disabilities are forced to adapt to able-bodied norms. Here, non-disabled customers adjust. It’s a rare inversion of systemic bias that normalizes disability leadership and dignity. ♐Build systems where marginalized groups set the standard.
$70 Million That Changes the Equation
MacKenzie Scott just gifted $70 million to the UNCF, pooling support across 37 Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Unlike restrictive grants, this endowment grows equity long-term, addressing the fact that HBCU endowments are a fraction of predominantly white institutions. Scott’s move is rare because it shifts from charity to structural correction. ♐If your giving doesn’t tackle infrastructure, it’s not closing gaps.NASA Gets a Gender Upgrade
For the first time, women outnumber men in NASA’s astronaut class six to four. This is a milestone in a field long dominated by masculine ideals. Women of color, disabled scientists, and LGBTQ+ talent are still drastically underrepresented in aerospace so there are still barriers in recruitment, training, and opportunity. This class is progress, but not the destination. ♐Intersectional access—across race, gender identity, and ability—is what creates lasting systemic change.
Fish Equity Isn’t Just a Metaphor
FishCAST highlights how the American Fisheries Society is embedding equity into conservation, a field historically dominated by white, male voices. The initiative includes the Equal Opportunities Section, Disabled Anglers programs, and scholarships designed to bring Indigenous, disabled, and underrepresented communities into fisheries science. Fisheries policy determines who controls waterways, whose knowledge is valued, and which communities have food security and economic stability. This effort is rare because a mainstream scientific body is stating outright: equity is a prerequisite for sustainability. ♐Lasting solutions require centering marginalized voices in all contexts. (h/t to Karen Catlin)
Good Vibes to Go:
Watch North of North on Netflix. It’s a great sitcom about an Indigenous community in Canada, created by Indigenous folks themselves and it’s just hilarious.