LURNN • 6 May 2026

Mother’s Day Reflections from A Grandmothered Femme Who Chose Death Over Calling Ava

I have been estranged from Ava for longer than I was ever in her care, given that she left me with my grandparents in Trinidad during my early childhood to pursue dietician training in New York City, but the way the Trinidadian Facebook Rumour Mill likes to state I only ever get one mother, so I should cherish her, it is clear they need a reminder that Ruby Goorahoo raised me.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels

LURNN • 29 April 2026

If Your Equity Events Offer No Free Spots, Congrats, You Have Failed at (Financial) Access!

If you ever wonder why all my workshop offerings are Pay-What-You-Can (PWYC), including FREE, it is because I understand that the vast majority of the learning opportunities I have accessed since COVID-19 hit, has been free, (as I was surviving at least $183,364 in financial abuse at the hands of my ex, Makai Livingstone, of Embodied Support Services, as detailed here), but also because the 3rd principle of the Disability Justice framework that grounds my work is an anti-capitalist politic!🫂

Photo by Alesia Kozik on Pexels

LURNN • 22 April 2026

Why This Cannabis User Discourages Cannabis Use Until 30

After I reference my bedtime edible use in last week's post, trust the largest US study on the impact of cannabis among teens to be published, necessitating this subsequent newsletter post with a headline that may appear hypocritical.

Domestic Abuse Intervention Project

LURNN • 15 April 2026

Turns Out +++ Men Still Need Help Understanding How the Fucking Patriarchy Is to Blame in 2026

Do you remember choosing the hypothetical bear over the men we all know? I do, as I recall discussing it with the 2 women facilitating my Community Care program in the spring of 2024, so it was at least 2 years ago that I last wished for a mainstream discussion to finally land with those most able to disrupt the patriarchy that disproportionately kills us, i.e., the fucking men. Unfortunately, I deeply regret to inform you that far too many men remain wilfully ignorant enough for me to devote an entire newsletter post to this discussion, after a particularly victim blamey week of witnessing misogyny.

LURNN • 8 April 2026

Substack Remains a Nazi Bar, But At Least This Newsletter Post Makes It Easier to Inform You

I am sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, and sick and tired of repeating how many folx are complicit in contributing to the systems rigged against those of us more likely to be sick and tired of being sick and tired of oppression! 🙃

LURNN • 1 April 2026

Why I Will Now Require Payment in Advance of Bookings for Individual Services

Some know all the devastating details of how I was forced into entrepreneurship by constructive dismissal from Canada's largest university, while surviving $183, 364+ in financial abuse at the hands of my ex, Makai Livingstone of Embodied Support Services, which threatens my ability to afford to exist to the point that I have been considering a medically assisted death.

LURNN • 25 March 2026

A Past Therapist Unpacks Her Madness a Decade After White Supremacist Harassment Began

When I accepted a therapist role in 2011, I never imagined it could lead here, but despite no longer being a registered social worker after 15 years, due to losing all respect for a regulatory body for its failure to call for a ceasefire despite intensified Palestinian genocide during 2024, I still remain committed to anti-oppressive practice, which is why I am sharing my story.

Krystal Kavita Jagoo, MSW.

LURNN • 18 March 2026

Academic Ableism Continues, But So Does My Commitment to Doing Disability Justice Work

The good news is that I have seen a new chiropractor. The bad news is that my Chirp Contour has still not arrived (and although this is technically also good news as it will hopefully keep me safe(r) from additional COVID disability-related issues), having received my COVID-19 booster, pain management remains challenging given how shots exacerbate migraines.

Photo by Ivan Babydov on Pexels

LURNN • 11 March 2026

A Black Feminist Reckons with Anti-Black Racism in the Medical-Industrial Complex

On Sunday, March 1, 2026, I had a deeply frightening experience of anti-Black racism in the Emergency (ER) department at Corewell Health Livonia. To convey the gravity of this matter, it may help to rewind to a few weeks ago.

LURNN • 4 March 2026

No Longer Even Seeking Pappy’s Approval to Dismantle Social Work’s Rampant White Fuckery

The good news is that I have survived a month without my trauma-informed chiropractor. The bad news is that my Chirp Contour has still not arrived from Michigan, so although February is the shortest month, it felt like the longest, unfortunately. Especially since my period has joined the pain party on the heels of my latest rejection for a much-needed paid opportunity despite calling my application "brilliant," I am reflecting on Social Work Month, which is what March has been considered since 1963.

Debbie Elliott/NPR

LURNN • 25 February 2026

6 Years Since Ahmaud Arbery’s Tragic Killing, My Disability Justice Fight Drags On

Earlier this week, the 6-year anniversary of Ahmaud Arbery's tragic killing passed. If you are unaware of his heartbreaking story, this Black man was out for a run when 3 white men with pickup trucks chased and cornered him on the outskirts of town, before killing him with 3 shotgun blasts, as seen in a graphic cell phone video, which was leaked months later.

Karen Hallion

LURNN • 18 February 2026

On Audre Lorde's Birthday, I Am Practicing Honouring My Access Needs

In honour of her powerful legacy, I am choosing to care for myself in ways that limit my ability to write a lengthy newsletter post this week, so instead I will share an earlier version of my essay about Audre Lorde that got published in the She Series anthology in 2023:

LURNN • 11 February 2026

Why I Called My 2023 Workshops BIPOC Disability Justice (Un)Learning "Journeys"

Logically, I know it has been a long journey since my 1st medical leave from the family health team whose white supremacist executive director served me with a disciplinary letter in 2016 that stated I "was hired to practice social work, not social justice," through my 2nd medical leave from "an equity office" at Canada's largest university whose ableist white supremacist divisional and departmental directors had unjustly suspended me for 5 days without pay, claiming that my freelance writing which never named the university once disparaged the institution in 2021, to my current more unpacked-internalized ableism lens regarding how Disability Justice (un)learning is both lifelong and necessary, but I had known this by 2023, when I 1st pitched that series for grant funding to my local arts service organization, Scarborough Arts, for which, it was selected, when Workman Arts last paid CARFAC rates.

SelfLoveRainbow/Dominee Calderon

LURNN • 4 February 2026

Trying to Lean Into Disabled Joy, Alongside Grief Galore

On March 21, 2018, while still in a Wellness Counselor/Coordinator role at Canada's largest university, I first met the woman whose hands I have most entrusted my fat brown queer disabled immigrant woman's body, but I said a tearful goodbye to her on Friday, January 30, 2026, at our final chiropractic treatment appointment prior to her practice closure.

Centre for Community Organizations

LURNN • 28 January 2026

Please Never Assume I Can Access Care Like Skinny White Straight Abled Canadian Women

For as long as I have lived on this side of the Turtle Island border, Americans have waxed poetic about universal healthcare in Canada, but I moved from Trinidad in 1999, and have yet to experience such access to care.

LURNN • 21 January 2026

Disability Justice Work Must Include Holding Space for Grief

As I watched a beloved Black sitcom last week, I found myself percolating on that discussion about how we do a disservice to younger generations when we fail to be transparent about the grief that often accompanies disabilities, especially as we age, and likely face complications that multiply our losses.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels

LURNN • 14 January 2026

Remembering Poet, Renée Nicole Good

At the time of her passing, I had never heard of Renée Nicole Good.

Unfortunately, thanks to state-sanctioned violence under Trump 2.0, I have spent much of the last week learning about this poet, reflecting on both her life and death, as I imagine the incalculable loss felt by Good's loved ones.

Photo © 2026 Greg Pak. All rights reserved.

LURNN • 7 January 2026

Disability Justice Reflections on Zohran Mamdani's Inauguration

Since 1st learning of Zohran Kwame Mamdani in the summer, I have followed his NYC mayoral journey with awe, especially given how demoralizing Turtle Island's otherwise white supremacist settler-colonialist political landscape is.

LURNN • 29 December 2025

Alt Text as Cross-Disability Solidarity

Over the course of my requests to please consider adding alt text for image posts on Bluesky, there has been a multitude of impacts, including being placed on lists like Alt text nags, Chronically irritating accounts, and Self Righteous Scolds, but I want to highlight a particularly uninsightful reply, and share my thoughts about how our past behaviour is a much better indication of our commitment to a cause, rather than what may be stated in any policy, based on my lived experience as a disabled sociologist trauma survivor:

LURNN • 24 December 2025

The Disability Justice Revolution We All Need Will Never Include Access Intimacy Abuse

I share all this because the Disability Justice revolution we need will not come without a frank discussion about how many disabled folx have been harmed by other disabled folx who preyed on us, based on our perception of shared Disability Justice values.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels

LURNN • 21 May 2024

This Past Therapist is Retiring All-Or-Nothing Thinking

For a long time, my all-or-nothing mindset drove me to accomplish a great deal despite adversity, but the more disabled I have gotten, that cognitive approach has become a liability, so I am finally retiring that practice!

Verywell Mind • 23 March 2024

What Is White Guilt?

White guilt describes the guilt brought upon by "the recognition of unearned and unfair racial privileges, the acknowledgment of personal racist attitudes or behavior, and/or the sense of responsibility for others’ racist attitudes or behavior."

On one hand, this guilt can lead people to unlearn racist attitudes and fight against White supremacy. On the other hand, a person may disengage from the feelings of guilt and shame and become defensive.

The term white guilt is frequently used in the...

Verywell Mind • 16 March 2024

What Is Inclusion?

Inclusion is the practice of including and accommodating people who often face discrimination and exclusion due to race, gender, ability, sexuality, or identity. In light of the current racial climate, many settings are becoming increasingly aware of their lack of diversity and representation. Such organizations have failed to represent people of all backgrounds, genders, etc. This has left the most oppressed folx feeling undervalued, ignored, erased, etc.


Inclusion refers to "the act or prac

Verywell Mind • 10 March 2024

Being Friendly and Trustworthy is Most Important When it Comes to Choosing Teammates

For many individuals, working in teams is associated with experiences of othering. It may explain why a recently published study in the Journal of Management found that being friendly and trustworthy may be more valuable than skill competency when working on teams.

Through two studies with full-time first-year MBA students at a large American university, researchers found that individuals had been more likely to rely on social capital than human capital when forming teams.

Especially when many