I’m Ricardo Harvin, an unexpectedly retired (after being fired*) Black man currently living in South Florida, unfortunately. This new version of my site is for my writing, which will cover anything that interests me.
I was a professional web technologist since 2000 and, before that, I had a series of jobs, mostly in retail.
My first job outside my home chores was cleaning a parking lot at a community center near our house when I was 10 years old. I was paid 25 cents per day, which was great for a child in 1968. My occasional weekly allowance was 25 cents, which I could make work for just enough candy for a week, and maybe a comic book if I went with the second-tier sweets.
Unfortunately, the guy who paid me at the community center ended up stiffing me for 5 dollars when he switched from paying me daily, to paying monthly.
That was my realistic introduction to the workforce here in the U.S., where wage theft is extremely common, and always has been.
I did manage to save 5 dollars from my time working there, which was enough to open my first bank account. My mom took me to the bank to open my account, and they had changed the minimum amount to open an account to 25 dollars. At least that what they told us, a Black family in Jim Crow Miami, Florida.
So my introduction the job and financial markets were both extremely negative, and extremely common.
The system is rigged. All of it.
It took me a very long time to fully accept that fact and to understand that what happened to me wasn’t just bad luck, but is exactly how the system we all live under, everywhere in the world, is explicitly designed to both rob us, and to deny us proper access to capital and ways in which we might build wealth.
The older I get, the more radical I become, and I’m ready to help burn it all down, where I was much more cautious before.
There is no reforming the system, only dismantling it and building something new.
I know that’s not likely to happen anytime soon, but I see no other way out from under the weight of systemic oppression under which we all operate.
This site is for me, it’s meant to be a place where I can share my thoughts – with the ether, if nothing else – on whatever pops into my head. There will be politics, technology, movies and other entertainment, and sex. Probably LOTS of sex. And any random or topical subjects that interest (or enrage) me in some way.
I’m really trying to be a much better person than I ever have been before, but the fact is that I am, and always have been, the worst person I know. As far as I know. No, I’m not the worst person in the world, but I know the worst that I have done and I don’t know the worst people I know have done, so yes – I am the worst person I know, as far as I know.
I’ll be writing about that, too. The difficult part about that is sharing my crimes without sharing details about other people, so much of what I share may seem somewhat vague. That’s not to avoid writing the truth about myself, but to not add additional harm to those I’ve wronged by making any part of their experience public without their knowledge or consent.
I don’t want to be that kind of writer, though many very successful writers are.
Hopefully restarting this site will properly motivate me to write, which I’ve wanted to be able to do most of my life. Imposter syndrome is real.
You can find me as Ricardo Harvin on Mastodon, and I used to be Ricardo Harvin on Twitter (@ricardoharvin) before I was banned, and also Sarah Packard and Ricardo (@notsarahpackard) before getting banned, again, for sneaking back in..
*there’s story here I’ll probably write about. a business makes strong profits during the 2020 pandemic, partly by firing a significant number of staff, loading remaining staff with duties far beyond and above job description and expectations, then granting a 3 percent raise even though all expected metrics were exceeded. except sales, which was a separate department. so “quiet quitting” was a direct response to corporate wage theft and malfeasance. and a reminder to NEVER work for a corporation that uses the word “family” to describe any aspect of the the employer/employee relationship, especially if the parent corporation is a hedge fund