Creative Reflection: On the Necessity of Joy and/in Resistance…

First, 3 pieces of good news:

• Our book, Read This When Things Fall Apart is on Bookshop.org's top ten bestseller list this week! https://bookshop.org/lists/bookshop-org-best-sellers-of-the-week 
• Mamdani's win gave us a much-needed shot in the arm: https://truthout.org/articles/zohran-mamdani-wins-decisive-victory-in-nyc-triumphing-over-billionaire-onslaught/
• Chicago area communities continue to show up and show out, rising up to resist ICE: https://organizingmythoughts.org/in-chicago-we-run-toward-danger-together/

Prioritizing Resistance & Joy

"Force is the weapon of the weak." - Utah Phillips

I should have spent last Monday and Tuesday promoting the release of our new book l, because last Tuesday was publication day. Alas, things were actually falling apart, so instead I was riding my bike around my neighborhood on extra patrol shifts. I spent most of the daylight hours handing out Know Your Rights packets and whistles to workers, warning them about the ICE-watch alerts blowing up my phone. Speaking of which:

• If you are someone who employs someone to do lawn and garden work, or any work for you, I just know you are making every effort to pay those folks something and letting them stay home to avoid the very real threat of being kidnapped off of your property, right? I am so certain that your humanity is bigger than our habits of capitalism, and I am confident you can release your grip on this transaction so working people trying to make a living can continue to live their lives outside of captivity, right? Right? Good, that’s a relief.

Anyway, I emerged victorious after losing a few battles to a short-lived head cold and the newly diagnosed arthritis in my shoulder (or maybe 'frozen shoulder'? Thanks, perimenopause!), so I can safely ride my bike, which is utterly joyful and LISTEN! I am out here going after joy like Ash Ketchum in the first season of Pokémon! On patrol one morning, I was riding down the street and the breeze carried a shower of golden leaves around me, looking and feeling like magic against a gorgeously blue sky. I’m serious, y’all: every little bit of good feeling I can find... As Ntozake Shange said, "get it & feel good."

Resistance is Beautiful

On Monday I was invited to support a lightboard action in Rogers Park after a terrible day of escalated abductions by the paraprofessional bullies the state has empowered to terrorize us. My friend Kelly has organized with the Chicago Light Brigade in the past, which is a group of organizers and activists who made it their mission to literally shine light on injustices and people's resistance in Chicago. With Kelly's support, a group of Rogers Park neighbors got together, pulled out the light boards and stood on the train station platform at Morse and Glenwood to make sure their Chicago neighbors, local communities, our cowardly invaders and the rest of the world all understand: we will RESIST ICE. They spelled it out in lights and gave testimony to their commitment to protecting and caring for each other. I was honored to do my job as a cultural worker with this group; sharing my poem 'Conspiracy' and leading folks in a call-and-response song. I may live in Evanston now, but my heart explodes with pride for Chicago, particularly the Rogers Park neighborhood where I lived for nearly 20 years.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m extremely proud of my Evanston neighbors and how we are showing up for each other, but please understand: Evanston is- and has been- protected in so many ways. There's a reason images from Evanston's confrontation with ICE looks so different from what we saw in Villita (no tear gas or whole-block invasions with dozens of uniformed thugs up here). Respect to all of the brave Little Village folks who protected their families and community from Bovino and his Ding-Dong Bully Brigade. They may have hurt us in some ways, but our communities are emerging stronger. While they were posing around "The Bean," obsessed with documenting their own insecurities, congratulating each other on scaring little kids and strong-arming preschool teachers, across Chicagoland OUR PEOPLE were lacing up their winter boots, checking in, and planning ways to warm, feed and protect each other in any weather. There is no question about who is stronger or braver.

So many Chicago neighborhoods have been attacked by disinvestment police violence, and predatory gentrification.

• To line up side by side with your neighbors when every agent of capitalism is circling you like vultures… To commit to caring for each other in the face of an armed and funded militia of fascist thugs when your community has already been subject to abuse and written off as mill grist for developer deals... THAT is the culture of collective care that will save us.

I'll post more about the book event soon. Keep up the good fight!

In solidarity and gratitude,

🫶🏾 Atena