vivian shaw

Book Drive Social

The first text post of this blog comes with an announcement. This week I’ve been at work on Book Drive Social, which came about both suddenly and randomly. Some words on this:

Book Drive Social is about the simplicity of tapping into your social communities to get work done. In this case the work is supporting the resources of classrooms in New York City. Many schools in NYC are unacceptably underfunded and underresourced, with teachers paying out of pocket for basic school supplies, like books and construction paper. Book Drive Social is a piecemeal effort to bring books to teachers and improve the quality of education for our kids.

It is common to care about social justice and to also have no idea how to produce with this compassion. The very model of capitalism is to overwhelm the consumer with false options, and such is the case of a lot of progressive movements—false starts and false directions. (Look at healthcare reform right now!) Most of us don’t have our foot in the room where institutional change happens, it’s true. But most of us want similar things in life and believe that all people deserve access to these things as well. I believe very strongly that a sense of dignity is important to almost everyone, and that we all have a right to feel it. Knowing how to read and write well is often fundamental to both material security and a sense of dignity—basic human rights. Education in the US is so stacked against those who cannot afford an elite private school or to move to a well-taxed suburb, and the students pay the price long-term through limited opportunities, as well as with their financial and emotional well-being.

Our world is complex, but in certain ways very simple. Despite popular denial, I think we all generally know in our guts how injustice looks, and how ugly it can be. We know that even if somehow we may materially benefit from injustice, it still sits with us in a way that is very dehumanizing and uncomfortable. And we also know, that we like to get together, that we enjoy the company of other people—regardless of our flaws and disagreements. Such is the point of Book Drive Social—let us get together, start with our minor cultures, and work small toward what we all know.