Dear Comrades, Colleagues, Neighbors, Relatives, Friends:
Starting this month of June 2026, Activist Explorer will change in a few ways. In the first place, it will publish on…
On 4th Fridays I will continue sharing essays on activist culture and my experiences navigating the processes and puzzles of how we forge a culture of activist organizing and movement building that embodies the world we’re striving to create.
Also, personal essays reflecting on my experiences with activist movements such as my story project with the members of a rural commune in Venezuela and working with our local immigrant rights mutual aid collective.
Fourth Friday fare will also include reflections on the representation of activists, activism, and social movements in mainstream culture, especially fiction—novels, feature films, TV, etc.
On 2nd Fridays I’ll be sharing…
The process and pitfalls of preparing and publishing my novel, Rainwood House Sings. That is, to read an advanced reader copy (ebook version) of Rainwood House Sings and—I hope!—write a review to post in Goodreads, Amazon, or wherever else you like when it comes out this November. (I’ll provide posting instructions as I learn how…)
I will be reaching out shortly with the invite to become an ARC reader.
Trials, tribulations, and—I hope!—triumphs of putting my work out into the world.
Snapshots of events in activism, literature, and the intersections thereof. For instance, my participation on a May 2nd 2026 panel in the first DC Working Class Literature Festival, “From Page to Picket Line,” organized by BOL, “DC’s only worker-owned bookstore.” And the Anti-imperialist, Anti-fascist Congress in Mexico City I attended May 5-7 of this year.
Brief reflections, reactions, and recommendations on books and articles I am reading or listening to.
Video glimpses into my past activism as I go through boxes and papers.
Brief activist updates, pending more complete articles. For instance:
Families ICE Leaves Behind
Like many others, I have been working with our local Immigrant Rights Collective, interviewing mothers whose partners have been kidnapped by ICE in order to learn what supports they need and create a narrative for GoFundMe campaigns. I hope soon to write more about the tremendous struggles of these mothers, who suddenly must maintain the entire family on low-wage and less than full-time jobs, shoulder the many extra expenses and burdens of supporting their detained spouses, all while helping their bereft children weather the trauma of separation, in the midst of their own shock and grief.
I will also focus on the experience of people in the Immigrant Rights Collective, one of the amazing communities of mutual aid volunteers that have sprung into action to support these families, forging remarkable systems to provide food, funds, supplies, emergency care, and solidarity.
For now, here is a link to the GoFundMe pages where you can see the family’s stories and contribute to their emergency support. Here also is the PGIRC LinkTree with much more info.
What Stormi (aka CuteFluffyDangerousMonster) is doing these days.
If only I could jump through that screen…
The newsletterati say publishing essays is different from sharing news and updates, and not to mix everything in one place. Hence the decision to come out twice a month, each edition with a different purpose.
Well… I was going to do Tuesdays because those same newsletterati recommend Tuesdays. But once I started to think about my work habits, the end of the week seemed more doable.
I am not likely to employ A/B testing, or peruse my analytics too closely, or enlist AI to scrutinize subscriber behavior (ick).
I’ll just go by the old-fashioned method of “that’s what I feel like doing” and hope it works for you.
That’s all very well, you say, but what’s this about a club?
Here’s the idea: Writing is great. I’m sure there are many good reasons to do it, though sometimes I can’t remember them.
But writing on its own seems incomplete. I like to discuss ideas and think together with people in person (or, at least, virtually in person).
I think of writing about activist culture as part of building this culture, a process that happens in the real world with real people trying (and trying again and again) to swim against the mainstreams of individualism, apathy, division, and other such plagues. We need many spaces to share our knowledge and sense as well as our sensibility, creating a community of real people who connect around these and similar ideas, and practice living the principles that we want to see in the world.
I hope you will join in and help make the Activist Explorer Club one of those spaces.
How will the Activist Explorer Club work?
We will have discussions on the First Fridays of the month, focused mostly on the issues brought up in the previous month, though we can also look at topics from past issues. Take this survey to weigh in about your preferred times. Also to suggest discussion topics.
Anyone/everyone who has been, is, or wants to be an activist…
by which I mean, anyone who at some time in their life ventures outside their private sphere to engage with others at any level in fighting for justice, peace, equality, and planetary survival.
Join if you enjoy talking with others about that experience is like and how we tackle the contradictions and dilemmas of living and working in the belly of the beast we’re struggling to transform.
Stay tuned for further info.
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