The mask is off

Recorded today (26 February): Morning Tinto podcast, episode 6

Author

Chris Musei-Sequeira
February 26, 2025

We need each other more than ever. Join our upcoming FREE ONLINE professional networking events, now scheduled through MARCH!

February 27 and 28!
March 4, 6, 11, 18, 21, and 24!

Add [email protected] to your address book so you don’t miss any newsletter issues!

Has the soul of America changed? Or, are we just seeing what has always been?

Morning Tinto Episode 6: The mask is off

Recorded today, my friend Heather Luna of keduzi and I reflect on United States of America President Donald Trump’s interest in Ukraine’s fossil fuel and military resources. We discuss how such blatant resource/power grabs are often hidden behind saviorism façades such as “doing good in the world.” Heather and I make guesses about how billionaires think, and then we discuss what might drive some people to insist upon reshaping the world in their own image. Start with Chris’s explanation of what a Moka pot is, then stay for the unexpected reference to computer designs of the 1960s and 1970s…

Take a listen, subscribe, and hit “REPLY” in your email app to let us know what you think!

Previous Morning Tinto recordings: Click here

  1. Episode 1: The Trump Administration and DEI (23 minutes and 59 seconds)

  2. Episode 2: Do not obey in advance. (21 minutes and 16 seconds)

  3. Episode 3: An illiberal intervention (23 minutes and 7 seconds)

  4. Episode 4: Who Are “We, the People”? (19 minutes and 22 seconds)

  5. Episode 5: Off the spectrum? (32 minutes and 1 second)

Where to find the perspectives you’ve been missing

FIRST: Subscribe to the Morning Tinto podcast, where my friend Heather Luna and I use the lenses of oppression and resistance to talk about events that happen right before recording.

SECOND: Subscribe to our professional offers-and-needs networking events announcement list. Heather and I regularly host FREE online events where professionals can offer help (free or paid) and ask other professionals to meet their needs.

THIRD: Follow these awesome folks on LinkedIn:

FOURTH: Forward this issue to people you know who are doing decolonial and anti-oppression work.

Got something to say to me?

Hit the “reply” button and give me a piece of your mind.

Image source: Bigballerbandli. (2019, June 25). “Scooby Doo Mask Reveal” HD Remake (face removed in second panel for easy png placement) [Online forum post]. Reddit. Retrieved February 26, 2025, from link. Based on the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode “Hassle in the Castle” aired September 27th, 1969, according to link.

Did someone send you this issue? Subscribe now to receive future newsletters like this.

Know someone who needs to see this issue? Hit the “Forward” button in your email app and send this to them.

My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of African slaves brought to the islands during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father is Goan and was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.

My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18; I now reside in Queens, New York with my wife.

I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing our positions. Because of our positions, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects. Positionality expresses how our individual positions affect our relationships with other people and with the world as a whole.