Winter Newsletter: From Here to There, Still Here, Still Care

“Melvin noted that when collective action diminishes the effectiveness of ICE agents, their legitimacy is undermined. “These are not Robocop, storm trooper, superhuman people,” he said. “These are just dumb shits with pepper spray and guns. They're just like your dumb cousin or whatever. And everybody needs to see that.”

- from Organizing My Thoughts by Kelly Hayes, “We Belong to Each Other Now”: Lessons from Minneapolis," quoting a South Minneapolis business owner

Hey, loves! Everything is WILD, and still we carry on. Someone in my writing residency said, “The horrors persist and so I write.” Holy shit, yes!

Three Little Birds (Good News)

Let's start with a few bits of good/not-bad:

1. Chicago Mayor’s Exec Order: Behind every bad cop is a complicit official. Chicago’s Brandon Johnson has put a prosecute-ICE-shaped policy in place with an executive order which has State’s Attorney Eileen ‘Complicit-Official’ O’Neil Burke looking frustrated. Good. Helping cops terrorize with impunity needs to be shut down and at the very least should be met with policy-borne inconvenience to prosecutors.

2. Black Creativity at Griffin Museum of Science and Industry - Yes to institutions recognizing the brilliance and power of Black creativity and dedicating resources to promoting that. The Black Creativity Night Out in particular looks like a fun time!

3. Free Full Access CHANI App for 30 Days - Lissen! To! Me! Even if you don’t believe in astrology, Chani is turning our faces to the sky with good advice and encourages a life of thoughtful reflection and intentional resistance. As for me and my house, this app has been powerful medicine: Worth it. Without question. My favorite is the weekly reading recorded for your rising sign. Try it - it’s free!

Travel

At the beginning of January I traveled to Antigua, Guatemala to connect with a facilitator colleague/friend Danya (pictured here with pink and purple hair) about some anti-racism work and I had an incredible time! Antigua is a beautiful city situated in a cozy spot below three volcanoes, Agua, Fuego (active!), and Acatenenango. Each day, I was treated to gorgeous views, several eruptions (!!!) and enchanting sunset skies.

It was also my pleasure and privilege to meet some locals outside of the tourism machine thanks to my good friend who has lived there for a long time and has authentic relationships with people. I was also very lucky to have a Spanish teacher (Ingrid, pictured here in a white shirt) who was kind, patient, and hella smart! She's writing a textbook series for Spanish learners and engaged with me about local culture and history and politics; honestly, I wished I spoke better Spanish just because she was so interesting to talk to! Thank you Ingrid! Gracias, Danya! Mil gracias, Guate! Soy muchisimo agradeciado.

What I’m Reading & Writing:

Did someone say writing residency?

Why yes! I was invited to participate in a 10 day residency with Anaphora Arts, a community of writers of color that I have been very fortunate to be a part of since 2020ish. In classic ADHD fashion, I signed up for something more intense than I realized and am now thriving in the deep, surging current of dopamine and adrenaline! Now I’m looking at my manuscript with fresh eyes and new energy. I did a full review of pages and themes on a self-guided retreat in January, and am now getting fresh feedback and guidance. This means more research, but obviously I love homework if I chose to write a speculative history auto-ethnography. I’m so glad the ancestors sent me (stumbling) down this path!

Spanish by Day, English by Night...

I have been doing double duty over the past weeks of 2026 because another thing that I’m doing is improving my Spanish. The time in Guatemala jump-started my Spanish-speaking brain, and listening to Spanish language audio books in the bag was my daytime practice, listening to English books at night when my brain got tired. My strategy is to find Spanish language versions of books that I’m very familiar with use that to build by vocabulary. Here’s what that looks like:

Resources: roundups, toolkits, inspiration/motivation

I’ll leave you now with a few resources to support holding onto your humanity and resisting fastest capitalism in whatever small ways we can. Take a look at these and share them with somebody who could use them:

A Blog: The Rest of Us by my brilliant poet friend, Dana Weekes

An Article: How to Quit Spotify by Brian Merchant of Blood in the Machine

Tools: Electoral Safety Toolkit by Vision Change Win

Whether we are figuring out how to nurture and protect ourselves and purpose, draining the wells of oligarchs drop-by-drop, or protecting the sources of power we hold, however tenuous... it all amounts to care. And it's worth every spoonful.

In solidarity and gratitude, 

💖, Atena