Resisting the commodification of Relationships
Moving away from extraction and remembering the joy of connection
Happy General Strike, Beloveds
I have an exciting Community Announcement!!
I am excited to share about a TransFire’s RITUAL - a multi-media performance happening in person and virtually.
TransFire is a 9-month artist residency program of Acorn Center for Restoration & Freedom for 5 TGNC+ (Transgender, Gender-Non-Conforming+) artists of all disciplines. This program is led by Arts Director Spirit Paris McIntyre and Co-Director Daniel Ìgbín’bí Coleman.
If you’ll be in the DC area you can buy tickets to the in person show on Saturday 10th – https://www.ticketfalcon.com/e/transfireritual/ –
Or you can attend a virtual offering that will tell the incredible story of RITUAL through visual collage with: live performance footage, behind-the-scenes content, and gorgeous stills taken from the in-person performance event.
https://www.ticketfalcon.com/e/transfireritual2/
I will be attending virtually, and am so so so excited. Let me know if you get a ticket!
I didn’t really process the general strike until after it started
and thats ok! Now that I know, I’m starting.
The feeling of saying yes to the strike is reminding me of when I first started quarantining during the pandemic.
I am finding myself hesitating to engage in activities that were previously normalized, but I am ultimately the person (with the help of collective conversation) holding the boundary.
In Atlanta, I have a crew of people I cowork in coffee shops with, and I’m so grateful to my friends in that chat for bringing up the general strike, which shifted us into our homes, sharing snacks.
I understand the General Strike as an invitation to disrupt buisness as usual. It was very helpful for me to watch a video by
( @focusedoninfinity on Instagram and tiktok )
In this video, Logan says that we don’t need to self-sacrifice for a general strike. Hearing them talk about the General Strike, helped me understand that the General Strike is an opportunity to take back our power. To exit this cycle of draining and dysfunctional consumerism that hinges on our participation.
I appreciate the ways that striking has led me to be more creative and to turn towards my community before I turn towards my wallet.
If I really need to buy something, I can, but it is leading me to ask, What do I actually need?
The above clip features Saul Williams speaking truth to power, acknowledging the levels of violence we are living in here on Turtle Island. I appreciate this video because it is so easy for me to put my head in the metaphorical sand, to disengage with the legacy of violence that informs my life, to ignore the violence happening in real time.
But the violence is real. It is not a bad dream, or an ai generated image. Hospitals and schools are being mercilessly bombed with the intent to kill people, and these bombs are being paid for by our taxes.
We have to get loud and not only acknowledge the violence but also rally against it. As we speak out, we disrupt the American cultural narrative of equality and prosperity. We plant seeds that create cracks in the illusion of Amerikkka and awaken those around us.
We can do more than consume and be consumed
As I age, I see the momentum that is building behind consumerism and how the ideology behind consumption has spread to our relationships and the way we engage with the world.
The best example I can think of is how we buy cultural artifacts instead of genuinely engaging in culture. It is natural for us to desire ritual and spiritual connection, and clearly it is a big desire given how pervasive the sale of white sage and palo santo is.
But how potent can these things really be when they lack cultural meaning?
as someone born in America to parents invested in assimilation, I feel the absence of my culture constantly, and I long for it. In those moments of longing, I understand the extractive desire to participate in another culture, or to even engage with my own in an unhealthy way.
I am a person who loves beautiful and shiny things, and when I see them I want to own them. I am learning more and more to observe these reactions, and to question them.
When I feel the grief rise up in my body, it can be easy for me to turn towards distraction (sometimes in the form of amazon.com), but I’m learning how to stay present in the discomfort.
I want my connection to my culture to happen with intention and care, not from a place of distraction, escapism, or consumerism.
I do feel some irony/imperfection/hypocrisy?? as I write this, because whenever I visit India it is ALL ABOUT THE SHOPPING lol.
Similarly, I want to build meaningful relationships that are rooted in genuine connection.
For a long time, I engaged in relationships in an extremely extractive way. I would strategically build friendships with people who I felt could benefit me. These relationships were not about me connecting with my authentic self but about accumulating resources through over giving, people pleasing, and manipulation.
I am sharing to call myself out, and just to name that it is easy to get trapped in this mindset of constant accumulation and resource hoarding, but when we can catch ourselves and orient towards connection, presence, and life outside of money, a whole world is possible!!!
Our time, energy, and capacity are all resources
sometimes we hyper focus on money, but ultimately we cannot breathe money, we cannot drink money, we cannot eat money.
I sincerely believe that care is the most precious resource in our world. Care is what makes life possible.
When I think about care I think about the archetype of the grandmother, a matriarch generous with love and care, and I think about how crucial that energy is to our world, but also how this modern world is so inhospitable to women, especially elder women.
I think one way to general strike is to embrace our elders, to learn their stories, and to pour love into them.
Thank u for reading homies <3
thank you all for being touch points of genuine connection. I really really appreciate all your responses, and knowing that you read this newsletter!! Thank you for spending some of your precious time, energy, and care on this newsletter, and for those of you who give monetarily, THANK YOU. I value all of it, and I thrive with your support. As always, please share if you feel moved to.
