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Summary
At the July Civic Design Community call, hear from Deanna Zandt (she/her). The term "self-care" is thrown around a lot these days but there's a more complicated picture than just taking a bubble bath and hoping for the best. In this call we talk about what's missing from our conversations about self-care. We also discuss how human experience is fundamentally messy, but designers (and coders) like to make everything clean and neat. We've got to start reckoning with that. Our goal is that you walk away with a sense of the care structures that you have and need in your own lives, and a sense of what designing care into our systems could look like. About our speaker: Deanna Zandt is a writer, artist and award-winning technologist living in Brooklyn, NY. She spent 15 years working at the forefront of social justice, technology and media; after she burned out for the third time, she realized that maybe that work didn’t suit her particularly well. Currently, she spends her time: supporting other very impressive people and organizations behind-the-scenes with their technology; writing & drawing when she feels like it; walking and playing with her two dogs and their friends; connecting with humans near and far; and figuring out how to exist with meaning, fulfillment and as many giggles as possible. We’ll be talking (and very likely giggling) about her zine that traverses the constellation of self-soothing, self-care, community care and structural care.
Key Insights
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Understanding the integration of values into our work is crucial for personal fulfillment.
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Generational influences significantly shape perspectives on work, with younger generations prioritizing well-being over the hustle culture.
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Self-soothing and self-care serve different purposes in our lives and should not be conflated.
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Community care can provide support that individuals cannot achieve alone, especially in strained circumstances.
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Recognizing the interconnectedness of structural, community, and individual care is critical for effective change.
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Commodifying self-care for profit undermines its essence and often shifts focus away from substantial systemic issues.
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Feedback from marginalized communities can help refine ideas about care and activism.
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The role of personal experiences and shared stories is vital for building understanding within social justice work.
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Everyone has a unique role to play in community support, and no effort is insignificant.
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Recognizing that we can't do everything allows for strategic engagement in activism, whether through time or financial contributions.
Notable Quotes
"You can never be sick enough to help the sickest people."
"Your suffering does not ease anyone else's suffering."
"Not everything has to scale somewhere to scale is great, but it's not the answer for everything."
"There are many different roles to play in supporting a community."
"Your general care and joyfulness contribute to the overall tally of joy and care of the planet."
"Dismantling any kind of martyr complex we live with is crucial."
"We are in relationship with one another when we are doing work that benefits communities."
"If we actually had good healthcare systems, we wouldn't need some of these workarounds."
"We have to think about things in lots of different ways and find entry points."
"Making room for the complicated and the messy is essential for creating healthier systems."
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