Sign in

Jessica David

@jdinri.bsky.social
515 followers 383 following 1.4K posts

Building community: connection, wealth, resilience. Divinity school student exploring the intersection of money and spirituality. Keeping my chin up. All things local, Rhode Island, letters, Springsteen. @localreturn.bsky.social @investri.bsky.social

PostsRepliesMedia
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 29m
Hosting a community reading of Pope Leo's encyclical at my house. You are all invited!
localreturn.org
Community Reading: Pope Leo’s Encyclical on AI – Local Return
000
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 21h
This Friday, I'm attending CNU (Congress for New Urbanism) New England's annual summit. I'll be sitting on a panel focused on Innovative Approaches to Funding, trying my best to reflect the work of @localreturn.bsky.social, alongside 3 incredibly impressive people. If you're there, say hi!
150
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 21h
YES. Who are the people most often in the middle seat?
facilitatethis.substack.com
Middle Seat Gets the Armrests
On the way back to the Denver airport this past Saturday, I saw this sign that said:
001
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 21h
Rebecca Solnit's writing is always stirring, but today's essay is particularly so. "It's just an account of where trouble found me or I found trouble a week ago. You don't need to feel good to do the work, just that it's worth doing, and the tragedies, the destruction, makes it only the more so."
meditationsinanemergency.com
To Starve a Whale: Letter from a Hot Planet
I've gotten tough or resilient or case-hardened to the ugly things I read up on daily as part of my writing and civic life. Some of them, the amoral destructiveness of the tech industry and the Trump ...
031
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Next Tuesday, I have the amazing opportunity to be part of @ecorinews.bsky.social 's Low Carbon Academy, talking about Money Matters. Join me!
ecori.org
Low Carbon Academy - ecoRI News
Low Carbon Academy is a free workshop series offered by ecoRI News to help you reduce your carbon footprint, live lighter on the planet, and create positive change. Workshops in […]
032
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Not great seeing a Newport shipyard leading off this article on Blackstone buying up "scarce waterfront infrastructure." Blackstone "went from owning zero marinas in 2024 to roughly 200 marinas today — more than anyone in the world."
sanjuandailystar.com
With boats getting bigger, money is flowing into marinas
By MURRAY CARPENTERTanned and tousled after a sailing regatta on Narragansett Bay, more than a thousand people gathered last month at a large marina in Newport, Rhode Island, for three days of competi...
001
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I thought we were going to get the kind of robots we saw in The Jetsons. Where is Rosie the housekeeper/cleaner? All we got was a roomba.
110
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Life goal: to host all my press conferences in front of the Rhode Island trolls.
060
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I’ll be there!
020
Reposted by Jessica David
🌬Breeze @cool-summer-breeze.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This is the Stolen Neighbors Quilt. Each of the 11,000 squares represents a person taken by ICE in Minnesota.
121121635151
Reposted by Jessica David
Edward Fitzpatrick @fitzprov.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
042
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
What is the word for "things turns out to be unnecessarily harder than they need to be because of technology"?
110
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Happy Birthday, Bruce Springsteen. When I think of heroes, you're at the top of my list. Thanks for standing up for what's right.
040
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
No worse feeling than dealing with the consequences of my own mistakes!
140
Reposted by Jessica David
Local Return @localreturn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
You're not going to want to miss our next book discussion. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer is both a beautiful meditation on reciprocity and an urgent judgment on our current economy. Pick it up at your favorite local bookstore or library today. localreturn.org/event/book-c...
localreturn.org
Book Club: The Serviceberry – Local Return
032
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
How fun to see Rhode Island's Pizza Strip Fund alongside so many other amazing microgrant initiatives!
withneighbors.org
We're paying for our neighbors' parties!
With Neighbors supports a national wave of local microgrant programs. Small grants. Real gatherings. Neighbors with neighbors.
030
Reposted by Jessica David
Elise Gould @elisegould.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
New data alert 🚨 - CEO pay surged in 2025, rising 14% to an average $27.9 million - CEOs are paid 325 times as much as the typical worker in their industry - Between 1978 and 2025, top CEO pay rose 1,316% compared to only a 28% increase for typical workers www.epi.org/blog/ceo-pay... #EconSky
epi.org
CEO pay surged in 2025: CEOs are paid 325 times as much as the typical worker
Key findings: CEO pay at the top 350 U.S. firms rose 14.0% in 2025 to an average of $27.9 million. CEOs made 325 times as much as the typical worker in 2025. It hasn’t always been this way. In 1965, C...
28441
Reposted by Jessica David
Philip Eil @phileil.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I am so moved and inspired by the quiet, non-flashy work of community care that happens at our public libraries. Here are a few things I saw in my visit (to talk about AI and misinformation) at the Northborough, MA Free Library last night.
A flier that reads: 

"Social Worker Drop-In
Hours
Meet Northborough's social worker, Caitlin Mitchell.
Connect with community resources, access mental health supports and counseling services, and more.
DATE
TIME
Every Tuesday
3 - 5 PM (1St, 3r
, & 5th
Tuesday)
5 - 7 PM (2nd & 4*h Tuesday)
LOCATION
TAP Room
REGISTRATION
None"A flier that reads: "NAMI Massachusetts
Local Mental Health
Resources, Support and Education."A box filled with paper bags that reads: "PERIOD PRODUCT DRIVE. Accepting wrapped pads, tampons, cups, liners."A flier that reads: 

Closing The Gap Initiative / Dignity Matters
PERIOD PRODUCT
DRIVE
Menstrual products shouldn't be a privilege.
Even a small donation can make a difference.
Accepted Items
Learn more:
• Pads
• Tampons
• Liners
• Menstrual cups (Any type, any brand. Open packages are acceptable as long as tems are individually wrapped.,
All donated products will be delivered to Dignity Matters, a nonprofit organization that distributes menstrual products and essential undergarments to people who need them.
34510
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Does anyone have a contact at the St. Ann's cultural center in Woonsocket? I've tried various methods (email, phone, online form) and have not had much luck.
000
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
❤️
010
Reposted by Jessica David
Jon Carling @joncarling.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A Sword for Stars
117339
Reposted by Jessica David
Gradon @gradontripp.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Rhode Island! Want to be part of fixing our local housing crisis? Interested in getting involved in incremental development? Want to know what the heck I mean by "incremental development"? Now's your chance!
032
Reposted by Jessica David
ecoRI News @ecorinews.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Learn how to reduce the carbon on your plate at our next Low Carbon Academy workshop with @dadekian.bsky.social and @robesmit.bsky.social. Register for free at bit.ly/4AfFRLL
bit.ly
Low Carbon Academy: Eat It
A workshop series to help you reduce your carbon footprint, live lighter on the planet, and create positive change
064
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🥳
010
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
This, please.
cambridgeusa.org
Annual City Dance Party - Cambridge Office for Tourism
One of Cambridge’s most beloved summer traditions is back! On Friday, June 26, the City of Cambridge and Central Square
031
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
AI reports on AI.
030
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
When people show you who they are...
010
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“Powerful communities sustain powerful infrastructure.” I’ve been committed to that since I first heard Alicia Bell say it in 2020. Powerful community infrastructure doesn’t just happen within organizations or titles. So much of it is in the spaces in between. We’re not set up to sustain that.
020
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"We ask innovators to transform systems while requiring their revenues to fit the purchasing arrangements those systems already recognise."
indyjohar.substack.com
The investment cycle is turning inside out.
An economy can be desperate for transformation and structurally unable to commission it.
010
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This book captures in a historical narrative so much of what I think about on a daily basis. What are we responsible for? Who are we accountable to? How do we manage the distance between producer and consumer in a modern economy? How do we reunite the economic and ethical?
030
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is wonderful. I am so in awe of Jordan and the work he does in the world.
141
Reposted by Jessica David
Ordinary Notes @hystericalblkns.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
What do we owe each other? This is what we must attend to.
825673
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I will be ordering myself a DEALT WITH stamp.
070
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Alright!
062
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A really great reason to buy from local merchants who source their meat directly from local farmers, or straight from the farm.
nytimes.com
Opinion | Why Did Trump Order Up 660 Million Pounds of Mystery Meat?
On second thought, I’m not that hungry.
010
Reposted by Jessica David
Lori Lou Freshwater @lorifreshwater.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
If love is really the active practice — Buddhist, Christian, or Islamic mysticism — it requires the notion of being a lover, of being in love with the universe… To commit to love is fundamentally to commit to a life beyond dualism. That’s why love is so sacred in a culture of domination, because it simply begins to erode your dualisms: dualisms of black and white, male and female, right and wrong.
262
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Every single thing in this article makes my heart burn with rage.
civicventures.substack.com
The Story of Who Gets What and Why
The Pitch: Economic Update for Thursday, September 3rd, 2026
000
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
This article offers an overview of much that is wrong with Amazon. As just one example: fees for merchants who sell on their site "have grown so high that the company now takes around half of every dollar a seller earns on the site."
prospect.org
Amazon’s Monopoly Problem Is Growing - The American Prospect
Three years after Amazon caught a federal monopoly lawsuit, sellers say the company’s fees and policies are even worse.
010
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Warwick.
010
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Tomorrow, 9:30 a.m., George Salter Grove in Warwick. See you there?
humanwholly.substack.com
September 5: A Ritual for Open Hands
This is a thing, isn’t it, not just for me?
000
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
THIS. "And while my middle-aged self is less brave than the average kindergartener, I too decided who I was and am trying to do it on purpose, which means that I am now professionally sappy and earnest and forever reaching my hand out wondering if anybody will respond in kind..." 1/2
thewhitepages.net
You don’t have to wait for their funeral to notice their outstretched hand
On when we anoint and when we ignore
100
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
So, I know there's an election next week, but @localreturn.bsky.social also has three really great opportunities for people who care about building a strong local economy and community wealth.
120
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Teatro ECAS, Rhode Island's Spanish-language theater, is hosting an open house this Saturday at 4 p.m. Come check out the beautiful theater and upcoming season!
010
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Had an *oh, I’m the problem here* moment today. Hold me.
040
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Some days I'm reminded that it can be just plain old hard putting your precious creations out there and asking for others to love them.
020
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Wendell Berry has left us. May his memory be an eternal blessing. I loved Berry for his insistence on local economies.
centerforneweconomics.org
Wendell Berry's Tenets for a Local Economy - Schumacher Center for a New Economics
In 1994, Wendell Berry delivered a talk at the 23rd annual meeting of the Northern Plains Resource Council. Included in his remarks was a list of enduring principles for communities seeking “to cohere...
141
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I can think of so many better uses for this money. Imagine being this wealthy and saying, I'm going to spend it with...PACs.
nytimes.com
Meet the Megadonors Who Have Poured $1.2 Billion Into the Midterms
The leaderboard of the top 20 donors is dominated by the tech industry and ultrawealthy Republicans.
001
Reposted by Jessica David
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
“Be joyful though you have considered all the facts” - Wendell Berry
7687192
Jessica David @jdinri.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I love this thought. People do indeed have joy factors! I have never thought of it that way before.
000
Reposted by Jessica David
Jon Carling @joncarling.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Shhh
115631