Interview with Alice Wong: Engaging with Stories of Disabled People

Today’s article is a first for Yopp: We have our very first interview! The wonderful Dennis Upkins had the opportunity to connect with Alice Wong, an amazing disability activist who I’ve admired from afar for several years, about the importance of the stories of disabled people. If you’ve been looking for some disability related resources to consume and activists to follow, this article is full of them. I highly recommend going and checking out Alice’s …Read More

S.W.A.T.: How a TV Show Gave Us A Template For Police Reform

We know that fiction can be based on fact but how often is fact influenced by fiction? The beloved show Star Trek has long been famous for inspiring the invention of many of the “futuristic” technologies used in the show. The Black Lives Matter movement has repeatedly called on us to dismantle and recreate our law enforcement systems, to replace the current oppressive, violent, and racist version. Now, Dennis Upkins takes a look at how the reboot of the television show S.W.A.T. can offer inspiration for what police, and related agencies, could look like in the future.

What Is Afforded to You

This post provides a break-down of the amazing article “Sick Woman Theory” by Johanna Hedva, which demonstrates how many aspects of social justice and the structure of society and even just human existence are interconnected: Disability, chronic illness, police brutality, racism, sexism, the medical system, the mental health industry, intergenerational trauma, socio-political theory, the medical and social models of disability, spoon theory, capitalism, and self-love.