Protecting One Another When Things Fall Apart: Fall 2025 Newsletter
"To refuse to give up is stubborn, creative, collective work.” – Kelly Hayes, from 'Read This When Things Fall Apart'
HELLO! It's been a minute! I'm glad y'all are still with me!
What's new? Well, I was laid off from my 9-to-5 three weeks ago, joining the 300K+ Black women ousted from their positions in the workforce this year. This development is... a mixed blessing, let's say. I cannot deny that my stress has decreased. I also cannot deny that I need health insurance. I have been keeping busy, though - between anti-racism and resisting fascism, I haven't had a chance to get bored yet.
That said, this would be a perfect time to help me and my family out by upgrading your subscription to a paid membership! I have time to write now - let's go!
Speaking of fascism, how are you protecting your neighbors today?
Recent Appearances/Publications
- Something to Read When Things Fall Apart: I am delighted to announce that next week my latest anthology publication will be released by AK Press: Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis, edited by Kelly Hayes!
Personal, reflective, and hopeful, 'Read This When Things Fall Apart' harnesses the writers' individual moments of despair into living, breathing wisdom that chips away at the supposed inevitability of fascist life. Restorative like a letter from a trusted friend and invigorating like a story from a mentor, the book is an indispensable companion for all of us navigating challenging times.
We had a great virtual launch event yesterday; if you missed it, you can watch the video below (or on Haymarket Books’ video channel).
Watch Atena along with editor Kelly Hayes, and brilliant contributors Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha as they discuss their letters in ‘Read This.’
You can pre-order your copy from Pilsen Community Books, or any other local, community-based, not-supportive-of-fascism book store. Pilsen Community Books will host an in-person book launch; see below for details.
Cultural Work and Solidarity
- What is required of me in this moment? Well, whatever it is, poetry and ICE patrol is what I've been doing. Mostly ICE patrols. Some facilitation. I hope to do more poetry and community-building; since neighbors are being legally kidnapped, hitting the pavement has become an all-hands kind of situation. I even went to The Recyclery to tune my bike up and fix the breaks so I can use it for patrol. I hadn't been there in years, and it is as awesome as ever. I fixed my own brakes!
- I was delighted to read a couple of poems at my church's fall fundraiser. We had a blast at the Willy Wonka-themed party! It was exactly the kind of fun and joyful celebration of community that is desperately needed right now, and I’m grateful that I committed to being a part of it. Some lucky raffle winners received copies of ‘Incantations for Rest’ and an early release copy of ‘Read This When Things Fall Apart!’
Two photographs of a bicycle's front wheel, side-by-side, centered, with thick, rugged tires, mounted on a blue, rusty metal stand in a cluttered bike repair shop. The floor has a checkered pattern of red and blue tiles. Background includes various tools and bike parts. In the first picture, the brakes are disengaged from the wheel at odd angles. The second photo features realigned brakes.
What I’m Writing
- TBH, I've been pretty focused on resisting fascism and racism since the layoff. As an ADHD All Star, I plan to sign up for some workshops and writing groups to give myself structure to lean into. I hope someone out there will at least be proud that I have been doing my morning pages pretty consistently. And this. I wrote my newsletter! Yay!
What I’m Reading
- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar - Oh. my. GAWD. Y'all. This book...! I literally just finished it yesterday and I'm barely even ready to talk about it. It is some of the most lush, sumptuous, gorgeously gritty, fearfully romantic writing I have encountered. This is resonant of how I felt reading 'The Love Letters of W.E.B. DuBois" (Jeffers) and "The Intuitionist" (Whitehead). I had to stop reading at times just to let the vibrations run through me. When it was over, I said out loud, "What the fuck just happened?" If this book were a person, I would be hopelessly infatuated and ready to risk it all! Damn.
- Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian - This is a lovely non-fiction book about how mycelia, snakes, slugs, birds and many, many species of the earth expand far beyond the binaries and discrete categories we were taught, and that nature is consistently more queer than cis-male dominated science has been prepared to accept/admit. I particularly loved the section about the natural history of kissing (the sensuality of microbiomial exchange, mm-hmm!). I was also delighted by the section referencing the history of petit marronage in the Great Dismal Swamp! Definitely recommend.
- Check me out on StoryGraph for more about what I’m reading (I promise I'll update it soon - check in maybe in a couple of weeks...). StoryGraph is a black owned alternative to Goodreads.
Audiobook covers of 'This is How You Lose the Time War' by Amal El-Mohtar (illustrated with a digitized red cardinal and an upside-down digitized blue bird, set against a light blue background) and 'Forest Euphoria' by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian (illustrated with a blue bird, mushrooms, and a snake intertwined with yellow leaves on a beige background)
Coming Up
- NEXT WEEK! ‘Read This’ Publication Day, Wednesday, November 4: Pilsen Community Books Launch Event with editor Kelly Hayes and co-contributor Eman Abdelhadi - Click here for the PCB events web page.
Thanks for checking in and reading to the bottom! We're all doing the best we can, right? Right.
In solidarity and gratitude,
❤️ Atena
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