Hiya 👋
Long time no read. (time since, 2 years 5 months)
When I was a teenager I went to a bike park with some friends. Suffice to say, I was ill prepared for the first jump. Walking back up the hill, this kid (9-13yo) who had just seen me eat it, told me that instead of having the pedals positioned up and down I should have one in front and one in back so that way I can have more balance when bracing for the impact of landing. This worked great! I still think about this from time to time, mostly when I see someone riding their bike, or when I myself am riding a bike. I think about This Kid’s willingness to share his expertise with me, to let me in on what felt like a trade secret.
I was actually taught how to ride a bike by one of my friends in high school. The summer before sophomore year. We rode around Sloan’s Lake, I had just purchased the bike at the Walmart on Wadsworth and Colfax. I remember my phone had fallen out of my pocket at one point and slid near the shore line. It was fine, but I remember we both just stopped, and watched as it slide toward the water.
I hope I’m not intruding on your inbox. I wanted to reach out and let you in on a few things. This newsletter is Private right now. Invite only. Just for a little bit while I let a few more people in and get everyone on the same page. There is going to be a change of pace. And a change of focus. Every so often, this newsletter will publish with the intention of sharing free resources with you and our community.
Free Resource #1: Trello!
Good golly mister we sure do love Trello. Now, maybe you already know what Trello is but perhaps you didn’t know that kanban is the name for this system of organizing tasks and information. So maybe you knew that too well did you know that you should just be using Notion instead? ahahah!
Trello is great, honest. It has one of the most pleasant UI’s out of all of these productivity apps. Customizable enough, I remember back when I used Trello how quickly I would feel in a different (head)space switching between my varying Trello boards. Wallpapers, color schemes, you name it (besides font? 🤔 😬). Now I mention Notion because, one: I am biased, notion and apple notes are my daily drivers, but two: Notion has the capability make Trello boards, or kanbans, but like to the 10th degree. Trello’s charm and simplicity is what keeps users using. Much like Notion, with its use of Unsplash, Trello takes this to the next level and uses the image for full coverage of your board. Kanban means something akin to “vision board” in Japanese, so I think the visual aspect is crucial to parts of its system. With Trello you can make each board look fun while being able to differentiate each project.
To pay respects to the old format here are…
Things to check out this week:
“The message of the album is thus; copyright is less important than spreading the reality of the military industrial elite to the masses.” Innervision and Streamline = choice
Get Free Lynda Premium Account
Ayo in this video this guy speedruns Lynda Premium whaa…
Steal This Book! - Abbie Hoffman
Written by one of the chicago seven, this book embodies the counterculture movement of the sixties. The text highlights resources around three sections: Survive!, Fight!, and Liberate!. Survive! offers tips for obtaining goods/services for free/discounted rates. Fight! covers guerrilla tactics, demonstrations, bombs, legal advice, and gun laws. Liberate! focuses on strategies for activism in major cities (NYC, LA, SF, CH).
What I've got for ya:
Jobs! I know how to find you work! Please don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know your skills/what you want to get paid for and I’ll let you know what I can do to try and get you work in that field. To facilitate this community, and find creatives with skills they want to share. I started a Discord server! (lol can you believe it?) And I would love for you guys to get an early adoption into this small collective so far (I plan to reach out to more people letting them know about this newsletter). Please do join and come say hi! This invite is only good for 7 days!
Take Aways:
Pass on bike tips, share resources, build ourselves up
Fight for free tools, stick it to the system!
You finna hop on Discord ?
Thank you for reading.
Talk to you in the next one!
For those of you who made it this far. First off, thank you. Secondly, I wanted to include a little manifesto. The reason to keep going. I don’t wanna get too dramatic but why not right?
I believe that the tools and the means for design should be free. (Whether or not they are sold I don’t care, but you should always be able to get stuff for free.)
Access to these tools and resources shouldn’t be kept behind a paywall. My aim is to level the playing field so that everyone, regardless of their background or financial standing, has the opportunity to create and thrive. If we come together we can foster a tight knit community of creatives, thinkers, and problem solvers that can help lift each other up.
I know I can feel overwhelmed by the world sometimes, and in a way this is me leaning into that.
I want to leave you with the ladder half of Aaron Swartz’ Guerilla Open Access Manifesto
…It's called stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn't immoral — it's a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy…
…There is no justice in following unjust laws. It's time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture.
We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world…
Rowan Livengood
March 2024, Boulder, Colorado