Sunday Content - 2/22

Just some links, for your weekend perusal

Sandy Allen
February 22, 2026

Welcome to What’s Helping Today, a newsletter about the everyday work of staying alive on earth — written by author and journalist Sandy Ernest Allen.

Hey folks,

Wanted to send some links, for your consideration …

Read Joel Anderson on Jesse Jackson:

Jesse Jackson Knew Better Than to Forget

The civil rights icon always held America to account—and never stopped fighting to preserve what he knew could be taken away

www.theringer.com/2026/02/18/national-affairs/jesse-jackson-obit-civil-rights-legacy-martin-luther-king-jr

Whoa:

‘Reimagining matter’: Nobel laureate invents machine that harvests water from dry air

Omar Yaghi’s invention uses ambient thermal energy and can generate up to 1,000 litres of clean water every day

www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/21/nobel-laureate-omar-yaghi-invents-machine-that-harvests-water-from-dry-air

Advice on community networks and how to grow them …

There Is No Better Time To Begin

The most effective forms of resistance come from community networks. Here’s how to find and connect to yours right now.

www.coyotemedia.org/there-is-no-better-time-to-begin-mutual-aid-minnesota

This is dope …

“Magic: The Gathering” Gathers for Trans Lives, Raises $450,000 in Less Than Two Days

“Magic is political.”

www.erininthemorning.com/p/magic-the-gathering-gathers-for-trans

Great resource on leaving Substack:

You Should Probably Leave Substack

You should probably leave Substack. Here’s why and how.

leavesubstack.com

PSA:

This Little-Known iPhone Feature Safeguarded A Reporter’s Data From Feds — And It Could Save Yours, Too

Here’s exactly how to enable it and protect your data.

www.huffpost.com/entry/apple-lockdown-mode-protect-privacy-fbi_l_6983893ae4b053ac3e16fc3d

Not hyperbole to say exposure to the website-formerly-known-as-Twitter is toxic:

X Really Is Pulling Users to the Right

Elites may not be as immune to this kind of algorithmic radicalization as they think.

nymag.com/intelligencer/article/x-really-is-pulling-users-to-the-right.html

Quick reminder, I’m teaching a class for nonfiction writers, taking place over two Saturdays in March … it’s focused on revision:

revising yourself w/ sandy ernest allen 2 sessions; saturdays, march 7 -+ 14 1:00 - 3:00 pm ET $150 when writing about our own lives — or the lives of other we know or may not know — how can we forge the critical distance necessary for revision itself? consider this an opportunity to push your best unpublished personal essay draft or memoir except to the next level.

Learn more and consider signing up here.

Another periodic reminder that I also offer individual nonfiction manuscript consultations.

What’s Helping Today: is this lovely email I got from a reader after the last newsletter (a Dear Sandy responding to an angry father of a trans kid):

“Just want to thank you for writing your newsletter, I really look forward to it. This is the first issue of Dear Sandy I've read, and it really struck a chord. I have a trans son who is about to turn 12 - he is out at home but passes in public and at school (teachers and admin know, but students and other parents don't), so I guess together he and I are closeted. It is a tricky, and often dangerous, world to navigate, even living [in a large, blue state].

“I clicked a link you provided in the text to your article for Esquire, 'Mourning the Trans Boyhood I Never Got,' and wanted to let you know how moved I was by it, especially as a mother. I felt your grief, and mourned with you. I also felt the joy of your life now. A line from the end about your inner child that really got me: ‘I know that even if I don’t always consciously remember everything we survived, he does.’ Beautifully said; we carry it all within us, consciously aware or not. I'm so glad you wrote and published that piece, and I'm so glad you are here to share it (and your newsletter!).”

All I can say in response is: 😭 …

Also Helping Today: Having some trans/queer locals over yesterday, sharing IRL company. Baked these, which were absolutely scrummy … Recipe here.

Thanks for reading.

Sending love,
Sandy

p.s. If you like this newsletter, will you consider sharing it wherever you share things, or perhaps sending it to a friend or two who may enjoy? Really grateful to those of you who help spread word.

p.p.s. Always feel free to write me, BTW …

p.p.p.s. Wanted to recommend the new animated Netflix show Strip Law, created by the very funny Cullen Crawford.

Thanks for reading What’s Helping Today, a newsletter by me — author and journalist Sandy Ernest Allen. If you were forwarded this message, WHT is free; you can subscribe here. If you like my work: Please consider supporting me via my Buy Me a Coffee. Thanks all!