Jewels for Fools

Disclaimer: I only know what my experience has taught me, your experience might have taught you different things. I am interested in learning from you if you approach this in good faith.

Preparedness can be thought of building up layers around yourself. The first layer is your person, the items you can carry with you on a daily basis that are cheap, light, and useful. The second layer is what you can keep in your home, apartment, or vehicle. This is where you keep the supplies you need to shelter in place. Third is your community, these are your local friends, neighbors, and organizations. These are your long-term resources, and must be developed before the crisis.

Also, you should do other stuff to develop your survival skills. Go camping. Learn how to fix your car or bike. Practice not using any electricity for a day or two. Think about how you would navigate floodwaters or evacuate from a storm. Learn to sew, learn to read maps, learn to use a GMRS radio. Buy a gun and practice shooting with it. Take a first aid class, learn CPR and Stop the Bleed. Talk to your neighbors. Read books and discuss them with your friends. Always look for ways to break systems. Always look for ways to build parallel structures.

The part of the guide that’s the list of crap you should never leave the house without:

Get a small bag. Cross-body bags are great. You want something you can carry with your hands free to do other things

Put a paper map in a ziplock bag. This can be as simple as a printout of your neighborhood or a full-size paper map of your city. Use it, write on it, make it yours.

Sunglasses and mask. Protect your face.

Hand sanitizer. Self explanatory

Boo-Boo pouch. Bandaids, painkillers, tweezers, etc. Plus any medications and supplies you might personally need. I keep nitrile gloves in mine because I’m frequently treating other people.

Small flashlight. Rechargeable or AAA battery is fine. Ones you can clip to things are a plus.

Bic Lighter

Multi-tool or knife. I’m partial to always having a box-cutter on me, your mileage may vary.

Bottle of water

Sharpie

Granola Bar. Get snackin'

You should also have a means of defending yourself. Running away should always be your first priority. Pepper spray is the best non-firearm means of self-defense. Guns are also really neat, and while I would recommend getting a Glock 19, red dot sight, weapon light, kydex holster, and spend a lot of time at the range, owning a gun is a huge responsibility and you have to treat it with the respect that decision deserves.

The part of the guide that’s a list of crap you should keep in your house:

One gallon of water per person per day. I also recommend getting a 5 gallon jerry can and just leaving it full of potable water. You want something you can carry back from a water buffalo to your house.

Food for two weeks. This can be as simple as just getting a few extra bags of rice and dried beans, or as expensive as freeze dried camping meals. I keep a cooler in my closet with rice, beans, some ramen, peanut butter, and single-pack mac’n’cheese. More than natural disasters, I use it when I need to stretch a paycheck, and refill it when money is good.

Battery Powered AM/FM Radio for weather bulletins. The Baofeng UV-5G GMRS radio also has AM/FM functions, but they can’t be used at the same time as the walkie-talkie.

Flashlight AND a headlamp. I didn’t prioritize flashlights until we had a multi-day power outage last summer, and it would have been really nice to have extra light.

First Aid Kit. I like using boating first aid kids as guides for what to pack in these, plus whatever other medical supplies you personally need. This kit should allow you to stabilize someone until an ambulance can arrive. Also, take a first aid course. Tons are free and organized by harm reduction and medic collectives.

Whistle. Signal for help, warn of danger. I like the ones that can be integrated into a backpack strap.

Dust mask. Also consider building a box-fan air filter. People who live near wildfire-prone regions have innovated a lot in terms of DIY air filtration.

Scenarios to think about and plan for:

What if bad weather leaves me stranded at work, how would I get home?

What if one of my utilities goes out for days at a time, how will that affect my daily routines?

What if a friend loses their apartment and has to crash on my couch for a few weeks?

What if I attend a protest and someone gets injured in front of me, how would I help that person?

My car, phone, or computer breaks, would I be able to fix it, or do I know someone who could?

Disclaimer: I only know what my experience has taught me, your experience might have taught you different things. I am interested in learning from you if you approach this in good faith.

Preparedness can be thought of building up layers around yourself. The first layer is your person, the items you can carry with you on a daily basis that are cheap, light, and useful. The second layer is what you can keep in your home, apartment, or vehicle. This is where you keep the supplies you need to shelter in place. Third is your community, these are your local friends, neighbors, and organizations. These are your long-term resources, and must be developed before the crisis.

Also, you should do other stuff to develop your survival skills. Go camping. Learn how to fix your car or bike. Practice not using any electricity for a day or two. Think about how you would navigate floodwaters or evacuate from a storm. Learn to sew, learn to read maps, learn to use a GMRS radio. Buy a gun and practice shooting with it. Take a first aid class, learn CPR and Stop the Bleed. Talk to your neighbors. Read books and discuss them with your friends. Always look for ways to break systems. Always look for ways to build parallel structures.

The part of the guide that’s the list of crap you should never leave the house without:

Get a small bag. Cross-body bags are great. You want something you can carry with your hands free to do other things

Put a paper map in a ziplock bag. This can be as simple as a printout of your neighborhood or a full-size paper map of your city. Use it, write on it, make it yours.

Sunglasses and mask. Protect your face.

Hand sanitizer. Self explanatory

Boo-Boo pouch. Bandaids, painkillers, tweezers, etc. Plus any medications and supplies you might personally need. I keep nitrile gloves in mine because I’m frequently treating other people.

Small flashlight. Rechargeable or AAA battery is fine. Ones you can clip to things are a plus.

Bic Lighter

Multi-tool or knife. I’m partial to always having a box-cutter on me, your mileage may vary.

Bottle of water

Sharpie

Granola Bar. Get snackin'

You should also have a means of defending yourself. Running away should always be your first priority. Pepper spray is the best non-firearm means of self-defense. Guns are also really neat, and while I would recommend getting a Glock 19, red dot sight, weapon light, kydex holster, and spend a lot of time at the range, owning a gun is a huge responsibility and you have to treat it with the respect that decision deserves.

The part of the guide that’s a list of crap you should keep in your house:

One gallon of water per person per day. I also recommend getting a 5 gallon jerry can and just leaving it full of potable water. You want something you can carry back from a water buffalo to your house.

Food for two weeks. This can be as simple as just getting a few extra bags of rice and dried beans, or as expensive as freeze dried camping meals. I keep a cooler in my closet with rice, beans, some ramen, peanut butter, and single-pack mac’n’cheese. More than natural disasters, I use it when I need to stretch a paycheck, and refill it when money is good.

Battery Powered AM/FM Radio for weather bulletins. The Baofeng UV-5G GMRS radio also has AM/FM functions, but they can’t be used at the same time as the walkie-talkie.

Flashlight AND a headlamp. I didn’t prioritize flashlights until we had a multi-day power outage last summer, and it would have been really nice to have extra light.

First Aid Kit. I like using boating first aid kids as guides for what to pack in these, plus whatever other medical supplies you personally need. This kit should allow you to stabilize someone until an ambulance can arrive. Also, take a first aid course. Tons are free and organized by harm reduction and medic collectives.

Whistle. Signal for help, warn of danger. I like the ones that can be integrated into a backpack strap.

Dust mask. Also consider building a box-fan air filter. People who live near wildfire-prone regions have innovated a lot in terms of DIY air filtration.

Scenarios to think about and plan for:

What if bad weather leaves me stranded at work, how would I get home?

What if one of my utilities goes out for days at a time, how will that affect my daily routines?

What if a friend loses their apartment and has to crash on my couch for a few weeks?

What if I attend a protest and someone gets injured in front of me, how would I help that person?

My car, phone, or computer breaks, would I be able to fix it, or do I know someone who could?

This article is both a great overview of previous research into the increase of Latinxs in immigration enforcement, and also gets at that "Why" question:

Based on his findings, Cortez argues that economic survival is a key driver in Latinxs joining immigration enforcement - pointing to the social, educational, and economic inequality Latinxs face, especially near the border. [If the link pay walls you, I am happy to share a PDF of the article].

Here is a press release with more detail on the study:

Additionally, there's a large body of work looking at identity formation among Latinx immigration agents, often framed through a dichotomy, such as ethnicity vs. citizenry. Here are two examples of such work:

alts + hand for scale :3