For there is always light

Blimey I’ve been doing this newsletter for a year. Here’s a link to the first one if you missed it.

Little did I know what was about to unfold. Those inter-railing plans are from someone else’s lifetime. I hope that person can dust them off some time. In fact, Covid might have made future international rail travel easier as there are now plans for many European sleeper routes to be relaunched.

Big thank you to everyone who’s supported me from the beginning and those that have joined along the way. There are now nearly 300 of you, of whom c 140 open the email each week, and around 40 engage regularly by sharing, commenting, and emailing me. Thank you for all your kind words. I hope I’m building something useful here. Please do share with anyone else that you think might be interested.

What have I learned? 🎓

I set out to write about my work in social justice and equalities. I’ve learned that readers are just as interested in the personal details I share, if not more.

I’m quite random with the titles of emails each week. I start writing the content and a title generally just pops into my head. This week I got an email with the subject line “XXX January 2021 newsletter” and I remembered why quirky is good. I haven’t opened it.

Part of the reason for starting the newsletter was to commit to writing regularly. I’ve never been confident about my writing but I enjoy it and I want to do more. The positive feedback has increased my confidence. And, I’ve found I can commit to a regular routine, which proper writers tell me is important. See Point 18 in this article.

It’s been great to see the grown ups back in the room this week with the inauguration of President Biden and Vice-President Harris. I’m sure you saw Amanda Gorman’s amazing poem (quoted in the title for this week’s newsletter), but in case you didn’t, here's a link with the full transcript. I couldn’t find a link with sub titles and couldn’t help noticing that the microphones neatly obscure her mouth preventing lip-reading.

Here are some links and posts that caught my eye during the week:

• Five anti-ableist practices that any organisation can embrace now

• Saying you’re anti-racist is a big statement - it requires action. Here are some differences between not-racist and anti-racist, illustrated by Sylvia Duckworth, inspired by Sedruola.

  sylviaduckworth

  

  A post shared by Sylvia Duckworth (@sylviaduckworth)

• Many of the people and organisations I am working with are in the middle of the two, I’d say. They’re interested in becoming anti-racist but not yet doing the do. I’m helping them change that.

• ACEVO announced its Eight principles to address the racial diversity deficit in charity leadership and many sector leaders are signing up to take action on these.

• And ooh look, here's Sky Group committing £10 million over three years to improve diversity and inclusion and talking about what they’re doing.

• Oh and this training from Applied might be useful: How to Debias your Recruitment.

Day of the Week 📆

This week saw the fortieth anniversary of New Cross fire in which thirteen Black teenagers died. All these years later, it has never been established how the fire started and the police were accused of not investigating properly because those who died were Black. The tragedy sparked protest against the frustration that Black people felt and inspired the Black People’s Day of Action in March 1981 and, later, uprisings in Brixton, Toxteth, Moss Side, and other areas. Forty years on from the New Cross fire, what has changed for black Britons?

What am I reading? 📚

I found this article by Simukai Chigudu, one of the founders of the Rhodes Must Fall movement, a personal and fascinating read on Colonial and post-colonial Zimbabwe, and the decolonisation movement in Oxford.

What am I watching? 👀

After four long years of fear and loathing in the White House, it feels such a relief to have some hope in the future again. I loved the spirit of this clip, where Vice President Harris humbly honours the women who “paved the way for this moment.”

What am I listening to? 👂

The weather has loomed large this week and I enjoyed listening to Melissa Harrison’s podcast while stomping about under an umbrella on my daily walk

Joy-giving things 😍

Here’s a lovely Warwickshire wintry scene that my friend, Jane, took the other week. Her picture was featured in the local paper, the Leamington Spa Courier. I love local papers. There’s evidence that their decline has increased political divides. See this study. Anyway, that’s enough politics for one week, let’s just enjoy a beautiful picture of some frosty trees:

janelouisejones

A post shared by Jane Jones (@janelouisejones)

Have a great weekend and, as always, never ever give up believing that the world can be better tomorrow than it is today.

Lots of love

Lucy

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing progressive ideas that help us work towards a truly equal world.

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Thank you!

ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and, LinkedIn.

If it’s your first time reading this newsletter, find out more here.