one time i was being considered for a panel on media unions and the organizer explicitly told me that she reached out to me because all the other speakers were white but THEN she said "i don't know if you count as a journalist because you do astrology."

i explained that i've worked in media for 5 yrs, mostly as a journalist, and all my organizing experience is in newsrooms. my union work mostly consists of 1-on-1s with unit members who do all kinds of journalism-adjacent work, like illustrators and animators.

i've run into this problem a lot in media organizing: you cannot hold me up as an example of underrepresented voices in the labor movement and then devalue my work in the same breath.

i don't entertain arguments about whether "astrology is real" because they're old and tiresome, but ftr i believe that asking astrologers if they "believe" in astrology is the same as asking a religious scholar if they "believe" in jesus—some do and some don't!

astrology is a millennia-old practice and a living memory as complicated and fascinating as any mythology. it is easier to dismiss as a frivolous "women's interest" but as a leftist you must 1) kill the cop inside you and 2) remember that astrologers are workers

astrologers are workers who deserve a union and safe workplace. you cannot fancy yourself a lefty if you don't fight for wall-to-wall unions and change that improves the conditions of all workers in your workplace—not just the ones with contracts.

media unions especially should be making big, bold demands that help everyone including permalancers, security, facilities, and yes, the astrologers who bring in so much of your precious traffic.

those of us in the media labor movement are trying to abolish ad-based models move toward something that looks worker-owned....and WHAT DO YOU KNOW! astrology just happens to be more lucrative than ever!!

i humbly suggest you stop being a little bitch and let go of old ideas of what counts as a newsroom and instead embrace the fact that every worker in your periphery is your comrade and it would behoove you to start treating us as such.