Hiya! I’m Ryan, your friendly neighborhood abolitionist.
Chances are, you’ve found this little newsletter after running across me from one context or another - whether it be at a nature preserve taking photos, guesting on a podcast about deep democracy, or annoying NIMBYs at a city council session. Maybe it’s from musings on Bluesky, or seeing some protest art popping up at a zine fair, or any of the dizzying number of things I spend time and energy on. I’ve started to recognize that a lot of people in my life know me from one particular facet or another, but may not have insight into how all of those different elements fit together.
As we collectively face a terrifyingly unknown future, here in the ninth year of this turbulent era, it felt important to have a space to hold a broader picture of what I’m seeing and doing. In part, this is to build up my writing practice, as well as practicing what I preach to other activists and organizers - that it’s important to write down our thoughts, actions, and lessons learned, for our comrades struggling alongside of us now as well as those who will come after.
What to expect:
Sharing what has been on my reading docket - Books, readings and must-reads that are informing my thoughts, teaching me new concepts or helping me find joy
Photos from my outdoor adventures, sometimes with longer stories about how those encounters with wildlife came to be than micro-blogging easily permits
Opportunities to practice mutual aid and support groups that are working to create a care-based future for us, both locally in Michigan as well as more broadly
Interviews with folks doing interesting, imaginative work that creates the necessary conditions for a better world
Thank you for walking with me through these thoughts; in the process of creating something new together, I hope we find someplace kinder than where we now tread.
These are the times to grow our souls. Each of us is called upon to embrace the conviction that despite the powers and principalities bent on commodifying all our human relationships, we have the power within us to create the world anew.