An activist and organizer of the Mohawk people, Richard Oakes was born in the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation before traveling to San Francisco and studying at San Francisco State University. Disappointed with the courses offered at SFSU, Oakes worked with Lakota anthropologist Beatrice Medicine to create one of the first departments for Native American Studies in the country. Oakes became an active champion and fighter for the cultural and political rights of indigenous people, helping to lead a year-and-a-half long occupation of Alcatraz Island. The occupation had a direct impact on US government policy, resulting in the end of the assimilationist doctrine of tribal termination. After the occupation, Oakes continued to fight for indigenous peoples’ rights before being shot and killed at the age of 30.
This entire article is eye-opening, even as someone who has ADHD and has read a lot about it already. There’s so much more there than just the bit about the glucose-craving brain. SO. MUCH.
This might have been the bit that hit me hardest, actually:
it would be easy to misinterpret the following scenario as a standoff between two partners: Imagine that your partner asks you to pay the electric bill, and you say to yourself, “OK, I have time to do that today.” But when you sit down to do it, you keep getting distracted. The ADHD brain needs higher stimulation in order to complete this rote task with minimal payoff. Your ADHD brain says, “That task is way too boring, and I refuse to focus on it. Find something that interests me more, which offers me a bigger dopamine reward, and I’ll work with you.” It doesn’t matter that you know you should pay the bill as promised; if your brain won’t engage, it’s an ugly standoff. Perhaps, after a day of procrastination — when your partner will be home in 20 minutes and the bill is still unpaid — there may be enough of an adrenaline rush from a sense of crisis that your brain will engage and you pay the bill.
The ADHD brain and its owner are at odds with one another. It’s difficult to compel a disengaged brain to engage by force of will. In fact, much of the treatment for ADHD involves learning to psych out the brain, so that it will attend to necessary, low-stimulation tasks.
Appreciating the tug-of-war within that pits intellect against neurobiology increases compassion and acceptance for one’s hidden struggle.
I feel SEEN. OTZ
Seriously, though. Read the whole thing. It’s a good one.
I used to straight-up eat stacks of plain bread when I was a teenager. I craved BREAD. Not sandwiches, not toast, not cinnamon buns. PLAIN FUCKING BREAD. And yanno what else? RICE. And NOODLES. No toppings, just butter and salt, and scarf it down.
And suddenly that makes a lot more sense.
ALL OF THIS IS IMPORTANT.
The links between brain chemistry and dopamine uptake is pretty well established. Came across a study awhile back that talked about damage to dopamine uptake, and why some brains crave a lot more food (food is the most potent stimulator of dopamine) than unaffected brains. Two strong markers this particular study looked at for dopamine-uptake dysfunction were abusive/stressful childhood 🙋♂️ and long-term drug abuse 🙋♂️ . The amount of food that a normal person needs to consume to get that sweet, comforting dopamine pulse (that feeling of “ahhhh, I feel so good after that meal”) wouldn’t even register on the needle for someone whose dopamine uptake system has been damaged.
When I eat sugary cereal, the whole time I’m like “oh boy! I’m gonna get my life together today! Everything is good!”, then when I’m done I immediately switch to “I’m going back to bed I don’t care anymore”, it’s so disappointing loll
this is in canada btw not the us. the analysis going in the notes of the us and capitalism and third world exploitation etc is true but i want people to know that this is happening in toronto canada because canada and canadian companies are not exempt from this, canadian capitalism is just as culpable in exploiting workers and imperialist outsourcing of labour, this is something happening in one of the so-called “most diverse and cosmopolitan and liberal progressive cities in the world” according to canadian liberal media. it’s important not to let canada off the hook for this kind of shit either
The top vice presidential candidate for Colombia’s May elections, Francia Márquez, called out the US government for meddling in the electoral process. The left-wing activist criticized the war on drugs, militarization, and “free trade,” calling for land reform and reparations.
