Winter Pause 2025: SJF Learning Picks
At the end of every year, Social Justice Fund Northwest (SJF) shuts down for a few weeks to ensure our staff have time to be with loved ones, fill their cups, and prepare for the year ahead. SJF will be on Winter Pause from December 15, 2025, to January 4, 2026.
We know it’s critical to prioritize wellness and rest so we can continue the fight against white supremacy, fascism, and climate disaster that has been heightened by the Trump administration. With that in mind, our staff would like to share political learning resources that we hope will be touch points for you during this break.
SJF’s 2025 Political Learning Picks
Books
- Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis
- American Hate: Survivors Speak Out edited by Arjun Singh Sethi
- Black Disability Politics by Sami Schalk
- Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
- Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao
- Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation by Eli Clare
- How to Kill A City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight For the Neighborhood by P.E. Moskowitz
- In the Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe
- Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy During Jim Crow by Tyrone McKinley Freeman
- Nervous: Essays On Heritage and Healing by Jen Soriano
- Safety through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism by Shane Burley and Ben Lorber
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
- The Politics of Trauma by Staci K. Haines
- The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Thick and Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom
Films
- Come See Me In the Good Light directed by Ryan White
Music
- Smoke & Mirrors: A Western States Center Culture Lab Album
Podcasts
- “A Masterclass in Connecting Status, Power, and the Economy with Tressie McMilan Cottom”, The Money With Katie Show
- Blowback hosted by Noah Kulwin and Brendan James
- Diabolical Lies hosted by Katie Gatti Tassin and Caro Claire Burke
- Pod Save The People hosted by DeRay Mckesson
- The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop hosted by Martine Powers, The Washington Post
Other Ideas
- Break bread with an elder (community or familial) and ask them to share stories with you about a time they got involved in a cause close to them
- Volunteer (host a drive, serve food, sort through and donate things no longer in use, fulfill a mutual aid request, etc.)
- Go through the community orgs you care about and read the educational content they put out (staff recommendation: Sông2Sea)
- Or just rest…
We hope you have a rejuvenating and healing end of year, and that you continue to deepen your understanding and praxis of Black liberation, Indigenous sovereignty and decolonization, gender justice and trans liberation, and other critical areas of social justice organizing.
We look forward to continuing to resource movements, organize donors, dream and scheme liberation with you in 2026. If you want to support our work, please consider making a contribution today.
In deep appreciation,
SJF Staff
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