|
“We are practicing emergent strategies.
How can we, future ancestors, align ourselves
with the most resilient practices of emergence as a species?
We embody. We learn. We release the idea of failure because it’s all data.
But first we imagine. We are in an imagination battle…
What are the ideas that will liberate all of us?”
—adrienne maree brown
|
|
Dear Wild Nature Hearts,
From the creature comforts of the winter den to the stirrings of spring's siren songs, what is emerging in you?
As the first blossoms of the year sneak out and reach for the sun, I am being called to lean into the next unfurling of embodied action. What does earth-rooted engagement for liberation look like? Feel like? One of many forms that is taking--I am hosting a circle next Friday to support the movements against 'Cop City.'
 In 2021, after the nationwide upirisngs for black liberation and police accountability, Atlanta City Council approved the construction of a “public safety training campus.” Also known as Cop City, the proposed urban warfare training facility would be the largest in the US. It would raze 100s of acres of the ancestral Muscogee land, the Weelaunee Forest near majority black neighborhoods. It is subsidized by both huge amounts of public money as well as corporate sponsorship. Multi-racial movements have sprung up to halt the construction, facing ruthless repression.
Join on Friday, 12-1pm PST, to learn more and take action. We’ll have an overview of the cop city project, a brief video, updates of the community struggle against it, and why it’s important, regardless of where we live.
Then together, we’ll write letters, make calls, & name other opportunities to support the movements opposing the construction of Cop City.
RSVP ryan@wildnatureheart.com for Zoom Link.
If you can't make it Friday, here is a simple action you can take, a petition by 350.org.
Cop City is a flashpoint and microcosm at the intersection of questions about environmental justice, democracy, police militarization, repression of citizens, indigenous land, what community safety really means, and the future we are shaping in this country. The movement is uniting black and indigenous communities, white allies, environmentalists and abolitionists, first amendment advocates, and concerned community members.
I’m in it because I believe deeply we are building another possible world.
I’m not an expert, just a concerned citizen. I am just one person who cares about democracy and intact forests and watersheds, just one person very concerned about disturbing increasing militarization of the police and oppression of movements. But together we are legion. Though many of us can’t be on the ground in Atlanta, we can support in many other ways.
Let’s flex our hearts and embodied activism together.
Regarding the party part, it’s BYOB if you want :), we might shake our booties a little at the end.
In addition to my regular offerings, I am talking with colleagues about hosting bi-weekly hour community circles on various issues facing us all, from anti-LGBTQ legislation and climate grief to dismantling white supremacy and staying rooted in our centers in the midst of the hurricanes. If these are something you are interested in, let me know and stay tuned to these updates.
 Thank you for reading. May we keep our muscles of imagination robust, vibrant, and full of surprises.
with spontaneous emergences and the slow growth forest of us,
Ryan
|
|
WE WILL RE-ANIMATE
\
In the midst of oppressive and hurtful legislation and hate sweeping the country ranging from my home state of Iowa to Tennessee to Florida, I wanted to share this beautiful and powerful poem by Pinar of Queer Nature.
We cannot be eradicated — we are the roots that pre-date the United States.
We cannot be eradicated — gender-expansiveness is the root far preceding 1492.
Our autochthonic genders remain unceded.
We will not only radicate — we will Pro-radicate (strengthen the roots that have been here since time immemorial).
We Proliferate Prayers older than your language on our soils.
We will eradicate colonial violence given it has no roots here in the Americas.
Let it be clear, it was never welcomed here.
You cannot eradicate.
We always reanimate.
We will liberate.
Our dreams pupate.
Two-Spirits antedate.
Genders are designed to extravagate.
T4T love dedicates.
Projections gravitate.
Shadows fascinate.
Transphobia disintegrates.
Compassion initiates.
Our devotion illuminates.
Luminosity resides here.
Nothing but your irrational fear of us will be torn up here.
They will be torn so that you can be born.
We terrifyingly reflect back to you your own possibilities of liberation.
Your irrational fears echoing,
“Who are you to embody your truth and radiance when I couldn’t?”;
“Who are you to embody your truth and radiance when I cannot?”
Honey, you can.
Who are you 𝘕𝘖𝘛 to?
Darling, 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘚 is what you need to eradicate.
You don’t need our permission to be in your radiance.
Do not relentlessly fear your own radiance.
Don’t you dare mix that fear of your own brilliance with fear of us.
This is where possibility dwells.
This is where possibility is given multiplicitous breath.
In this dwelling, Catharsis softly extends their hand with a mirror in the other.
I plead you:
Who are you to 𝘯𝘰𝘵 deliberately embody your soul?
Who are you 𝘯𝘰𝘵 to?
Who are we 𝘯𝘰𝘵 to?
|
|
|
I acknowledge that I live in and Wild Nature Heart works in/on/with traditional Wiyot and Yurok lands, in so-called Humboldt County, CA.
|
|
|
|
|
