[id: It’s a drawing spread of Hakari, Kirara, and an oc, Xiyang. Hakari is drawn as Blasian with brown skin, dyed purple grown-out locs, and piercings. He wears a white shirt, brown pants, and his black fur coat and his hands are shoved into the pockets of the latter. He’s looking up and making a face with his mouth open. Kirara is drawn with tan skin and she wears a white shirt, a purple star tie, a pink skirt with a belt, gloves, and leg warmers. She’s smiling with one hand on her knee and the other on her hip. Last is Xiyang who has both their hands shoved into their pockets. They have tan skin, black hair styled in a shaggy mullet, and a scar goes across their arm and face. They are wearing a white nirvana shirt and green baggy pants and a lit cigarette hangs from their mouth. /end id]
breaking from my normal posting to bring up something really important to me.
have you heard of powell’s city of books? they’re famously the world’s largest independent bookstore, lauded as a family business, tourist landmark, and progressive icon of portland oregon.
i work there.
currently our union is fighting to have the company pay us a living wage.
it’s embarrassing how little powells pays us- we barely make more than minimum wage right now- and most people don’t know that the famous business they’re supporting treats its workers like dirt.
when asked to consider our wage proposal, our lead hr officer stated: “We have all worked jobs where the pay and our personal needs were not in alignment.” this isn’t about personal needs “being in alignment.” my coworkers can hardly afford rent or afford to even feed themselves with our current wages.
what am i asking for?
if you love books, love or know powell’s, or just want to stand in solidarity with fellow workers, i’m asking for you to let powell’s books know how you feel about their insulting wage proposal: email our union and they will pass on the message to corporate-
community@ilwulocal5.com
it can be as short and sweet as you want to make it. we want to show the company that people are paying attention to the example they set and won’t stand for it.
also literally just sharing this post to let everyone know what we are asking for helps too. share it on booktok, tell your friends, tell your book club, spread the word. powell’s skates by on its reputation and in doing so hides its betrayal of the workers that dedicate their lives to make it the special place it is.
we forgot to teach your boyfriend media literacy and he completely misunderstood all the themes and narratives. yeah the underlying message too. he got tricked into believing in-universe propaganda and is writing a longpost about it now sorry
This comic is extra good if you read it while listening to vince guaraldi’s skating. This comic is in part, redrawn schulz strips and in part my own writing. Peppermint patty and marcie are characters by Charles Schulz.
