Akira Drake Rodriguez
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akirarodriguez.bsky.social
Akira Drake Rodriguez
@akirarodriguez.bsky.social
1.3K followers 540 following 76 posts
Interested in race, cities, politics. Diverging Space for Deviants (UGA Press 2021): http://tinyurl.com/Divergingspace Working on a new book project.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
msafri.bsky.social
it's hard to know what to post about now. actual irl activities in migrant mutual aid? hard NO. but - If you are in Baltimore, and want to spend a wintry night warming up with comrades scheming about a network of solidarity cities, come to the historic @redemmas.org - Feb 21st 7 pm!
Maliha Safri, Marianna Pavlovskaya, Stephen Healy, and Craig Borowiak present "Solidarity Cities: Confronting Racial Capitalism, Mapping Transformation"
Mapping the transformative effects of America’s urban solidarity economies.
redemmas.org
February 14, 2026 at 10:50 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
icpetrie.bsky.social
Wow.

This story features Penn historian of medicine David Barnes, who met the Ganges brothers in the course of his research on the Tinicum Lazaretto

A new documentary on the Ganges premieres on Saturday:
www.eventbrite.com/e/the-art-of...
inquirer.com Philadelphia Inquirer @inquirer.com · 3d
In 1800, the naval ship "Ganges" intercepted schooners carrying 135 enslaved people and brought them Philadelphia.

Centuries later, the descendants are still in search of their roots.
They grew up correcting everyone about their last name. Years later, they discovered the deep Philly history behind it.
www.inquirer.com
February 12, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
planningtheory.bsky.social
Contributions by @awzitcer.bsky.social, Robert Lake, @wolf-powers.bsky.social, @akirarodriguez.bsky.social, Meg Holden, and Ryan Good
February 8, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
planningtheory.bsky.social
In this new interface collection, contributors articulate how they view the effects of nihilism on the practice of planning, the education of our students, and even the premise of societal improvement. A must-read, open access article! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Nihilism, Post-Truth and the Moral Future of Planning
Published in Planning Theory & Practice (Ahead of Print, 2026)
www.tandfonline.com
February 8, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
icpetrie.bsky.social
So far this academic year we've completed or scheduled 81 observations of teaching for graduate student instructors --most are peer observations performed by our wonderful graduate fellows -- hire them!
cetli.upenn.edu/programs/gra...
CETLI Graduate Fellows
CETLI’s Graduate Fellowship for Teaching Excellence program honors graduate students who are dedicated to excellent teaching and is designed to foster conversations about teaching to help graduate stu...
cetli.upenn.edu
February 4, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
icpetrie.bsky.social
🚨 Philly folks 🚨

TOMORROW, 6th floor of Van Pelt Library, 6pm
www.library.upenn.edu/events/ahmed...
Ahmed Abdullah: A Strange Celestial Road
Ahmed Abdullah, jazz trumpeter, adjunct professor at The New School, and former member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, presents a talk on his memoir A Strange Celestial Road.
www.library.upenn.edu
February 4, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
prisonculture.bsky.social
A new edition of the 1 Million Experiments zine is here! It’s terrific as usual and includes a new zine which is a treasure. To jump-start neighborly relations, try one of the 50 (mostly untried) ways to meet your neighbors. Get into some Porchside Abolition. open.substack.com/pub/millione...
#11: Porch Side Abolition
New Zine: "50 Ways To Meet Your Neighbor"
open.substack.com
February 4, 2026 at 11:55 AM
akirarodriguez.bsky.social
New Interface on Planning and Nihilism by the Rutgers gang www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Nihilism, Post-Truth and the Moral Future of Planning
Published in Planning Theory & Practice (Ahead of Print, 2026)
www.tandfonline.com
February 3, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
jmijin.bsky.social
You can change your currency on the donation page and super easy to set up a monthly donation…
workshops4gaza.bsky.social Workshops4Gaza @workshops4gaza.bsky.social · 18d
‼️The Sameer Project has had to reduce water distributions by 50%, pause grocery vouchers for 110 families, and has had to stop music classes due to a large decline in donations.

They may have to stop food distributions too.

We cannot let this happen. Donate today! chuffed.org/project/1132...
Shelter, Goods & Activities x The Sameer Project
The inititaive was originally formed to secure, purchase, and distribute tents in Southern Gaza but in January 2026, the campaign was rebranded to "Shelter, Goods & Activities" to cover not only tents...
chuffed.org
February 2, 2026 at 3:19 AM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
katjathieme.bsky.social
Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/
January 31, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
robertcottojr.bsky.social
learningfromthecity.blog/2026/01/31/a...
Analyzing Impact of Past School Closures in Hartford with the AFT/HFT Teacher Leaders Program
Last Saturday I presented a talk at the AFT/HFT Teacher Leaders Program here in Hartford, CT. The focus of my talk was the analysis from my recent peer-reviewed article, Framing of Black and Latinx…
learningfromthecity.blog
January 31, 2026 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
newskag.bsky.social
Super busy #PHLed day - pre-meeting rally, now a school board meeting. Follow along! www.inquirer.com/education/li...
Parents, educators, and organizers expected to sound off on proposed school closures at first Philly school board action meeting of 2026
Before the meeting Thursday, dozens of community members rallied outside the school district building to protest closings.
www.inquirer.com
January 29, 2026 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
inquirer.com
The proposal to close 20 Philadelphia public schools would address mostly buildings with hundreds of unused seats. The district says the plan is designed to improve academic outcomes.
Proposed Philly school closures would disproportionately impact Black students. Here’s a look at the data behind the decisions.
www.inquirer.com
January 29, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
chalkbeat.org
Philadelphia teachers and students protested outside of the Board of Education meeting Thursday, urging board members to reject the district’s proposal to close 20 schools.
Philadelphia is already angry about the district’s school closure proposal
Philadelphia teachers and students protested outside of the Board of Education meeting Thursday, urging board members to reject the district’s proposal to close 20 schools.
bit.ly
January 30, 2026 at 1:01 AM
akirarodriguez.bsky.social
January 27, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
pmgentry.bsky.social
Lenfest bought the Inquirer for about $88m, and then endowed its parent non-profit (which also supports other projects) with about $70m. That's all a lot of money, but a reminder to billionaires as to how you can have a genuine positive impact rather than give $100m to Yale or whatever.
January 26, 2026 at 8:27 PM
akirarodriguez.bsky.social
For people looking to get involved, Stand Up for Philly Schools is holding a rally and encouraging people to testify at the 1/29 Board of Education meeting. Follow along @/standupforphillyschools on IG! or check our linktree at linktr.ee/standupforph...
January 23, 2026 at 4:06 PM
akirarodriguez.bsky.social
In light of the announcement of school closures in Philly & the "common sense" approach to planning rooted in ahistorical ignorance of long term disinvestment and racism of black and brown school communities, an article on reparative-advocacy planning: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reparative-advocacy planning to address racialized inequities in public school facilities
Public schools are an infrastructure that contribute to neighborhood quality and stability; however, the legacy of racial planning of school facilities and neighborhoods produces inequities in both...
www.tandfonline.com
January 23, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
povertyscholar.bsky.social
A book never feels real until you hold it in you hands. @profsorelle.bsky.social & I can now confirm that Uncivil Democracy is real! If you care about #peoplepower #housingjustice, #tenantorganizing & transforming our perverse political economy, this is a book for you.

Order here: bit.ly/3NLYCCw
A side by side of two photos of the same book, being held by each author with a box of more books in the background.
January 16, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
capitalb.bsky.social
Supporters of The Leah Chase School in New Orleans are currently organizing and fundraising to keep the elementary school open. The city school board is expected to make a decision Friday. https://capitalbnews.org/leah-chase-school-closure-new-orleans/
New Orleans School Named After Renowned Louisiana Chef Could Close
After Katrina, the city became the first all-charter school system in the nation until 2024. Now, its only district-run school could close.
capitalbnews.org
January 7, 2026 at 8:58 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
edburmila.bsky.social
It takes an enormous amount of courage to stand there, keep filming, and scream "What the fuck, you asshole" at someone wearing a badge who just shot and killed one of your neighbors in cold blood.
viamarsala18.bsky.social Elle Ess @viamarsala18.bsky.social · Jan 7
I need people to wrap their minds around the fact that here in Minneapolis, ICE broke the window of a vehicle yesterday, pepper sprayed the occupants, and arrested them, and shot another observer in the face today, and OBSERVERS ARE STILL GOING OUT TO PROTECT THEIR NEIGHBORS AT MASSIVE PERSONAL RISK
wellgoshacs.bsky.social AC @wellgoshacs.bsky.social · Jan 7
I’m eating lunch, I’m having a panic attack, I’m charging my phone, and then I’m going back out to try and keep my neighborhood safe.
January 7, 2026 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
deanspade.bsky.social
Wrote about what happens when conflict appears in our movement spaces and how to move through it instead of abandoning our work in @npquarterly.bsky.social !

nonprofitquarterly.org/navigating-c...
Disappointment, Conflict, and Burnout in Care and Resistance Work People often experience a special kind of disappointment in resistance work. We join groups to do something that we really care about. Often, we are relieved to finally find people who see things the way we do, excited to be understood and have accompaniment and solidarity. We have high expectations for each other. And then we find out that we're all very human and imperfect. I have found that burnout is not usually just a result of being tired. Most people I've talked to who feel burned out and leave movement work, during the laset 28 years that I have been in these movements, are actually in pain because of unresolved conflict. They joined work they really cared about, something went wrong that made them feel betrayed or left out or disappointed, and that is the pain of the burnout. It wasn't just the hard work; it was the loss of trust, the feeling of being blamed or stigmatized, or not being listened to. Abolitionism and Transformative Justice I've spent the last decades in the movement for police, prison, and border abolition. I believe we shouldn't have of those structures. Abolitionists use a concept called "transformative justice" to describe the work we do to address conflict without using police. There is a lot of conflict, harm, and violence in our communities, we know the police don't help and only make it worse. Transformative justice practices do three things: 1. Work to figure out and provide what the person or people who have been harmed need to heal and participate in community, to not be isolated by what happened to them, and to be listened to, even though we can't undo what happened. 2. Work to figure out and provide what the person or people who did the harm need to stop doing it. 3. Work to figure out what the community surrounding the harm could do to make it less likely--how did we all set up a situation that made this more likely? When Big Reactions Happen One thing that is surprising and challenging about the emotional dynamics of conflict is that we do the most harm to others when we are feeling aggrieved, victimized, left out, and/or resentful. It's counterintuitive because these are the moments when we are focused on what others did wrong and how we are hurting. But those are the times we are most likely to do something harmful, like go and write the really messed up email to somebody, treat somebody with the cold shoulder, gossip negatively about people in our group or about another group in town, post a bunch of stuff on Instagram that's really inflammatory, or violate someone's privacy. As strange as it might seem, it's when I'm feeling like the victim that I should ask for help from a friend to figure out what the right-sized response is, or to figure out if I'm still too upset to decide how to respond and need more time. It's not that we aren't legitimately sometimes victimized, but the victim narrative in our heads can cause us to skip our value assessment and then do stuff that later we wish we hadn't done. It's not bad to feel this way, but we should consider what to do with these feelings since they are inevitably going to come up in our groups and in ourselves. Centering Belonging I was recently talking to somebody who's doing a conflict support process with a group that's had a major difficult conflict. And one of the things the person is doing is individually reaching out to the 40 or 50 people who all were involved in the group over these many years where these hard things were happening. The people from the group have been telling the conflict support person, who's not even in the group, "It just means so much to me that you're listening to me." We live in societies that minimize our experiences of pain and harm. And so, we join movement groups and we hope we're finally going to be part of something where we're heard and seen. And then we have a bad experience where people don't hear us or see us at some point. And then we wreak havoc. We're like, I have to tear down everybody in this group, and this group itself, because I'm feeling all of my historical cumulative pain of being dismissed. If we could catch each other in the moment of pain and listen, I think it could be a huge change in the likelihood of those conflicts escalating to the most disorganizing behaviors between us.
December 29, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Akira Drake Rodriguez
melanienewport.bsky.social
what’s missing from “meritocracy” discourse is that entire fields were propped up by the spousal hiring of mid men for four decades. the reduction in poorly considered first marriages has hurt academic hiring for mid men
December 16, 2025 at 10:04 PM