Book Club 11/23: Emergent Strategy - Accompaniments
Inspired by Octavia Butler's explorations of our human relationship to change, adrienne maree brown wrote Emergent Strategy as radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help designed to shape the futures we want to live. On Monday November 23rd, we’ll convene via Zoom to reflect, discuss, and dream of a future we can shape together.
(Graphic from the website http://adriennemareebrown.net)
Literary Manager Chelsea Radigan curates a list of relevant content and resonances that elevated her experience of Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown’s visionary incantation on harnessing the inevitably constant nature of change.
READ
Octavia E. Butler's Inspiring Message to Herself (Electric Literature)
Admittedly, I have an #inspiring Instagram quote/affirmation on a Post-it in the corner of my bedroom mirror - sometimes I roll my eyes at it, but I mostly smile. I think I’ll now be adding my wildest dream followed by a: “So be it! See to it!”
"There's Nothing New / Under the Sun, / But There Are New Suns": Recovering Octavia E. Butler's Lost Parables (LA Review of Books)
Okay, my fellow literary nerds, you’re gonna like this one. Also, “There’s nothing new under the sun. Agree or disagree,” was my PSAT essay prompt, and it continues to haunt me.
The Fibonacci Sequence Is Everywhere—Even the Troubled Stock Market (Smithsonian Magazine)
Pretty sure these numbers were also important to the plot of Lost. But seriously, what!?!
'Wood wide web' - the underground network of microbes that connects trees - mapped for the first time (Science Mag)
Please don’t ask me to put this science speak in my own words, but whoa. 3 trillion trees...imagine how many there are meant to be.
Why Science Fiction is a Fabulous Tool in the Fight for Social Justice (The Nation)
More from adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha. I like to think that most of what they argue for sci-fi can also apply to theatre not based in Realism.
Teaching Science Fiction While Living It in Lebanon (Society + Space)
“And yet still, when Lebanon was itself enveloped in revolution late last year, the extended moment belied nearly all of the conceptual tools I was taught and had amassed as an educator in and of the region. It became clear to me that we needed new ways to capture and process what we were witnessing and living.” - Gorgeous writing from Nadya Sbaiti.
Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi and Fantasy Culture by Ytasha Womack (Google Books)
*Checks mailbox 30 minutes after ordering, just in case*
Between Pandemic and Politics, Lots of People Who Never, Ever Wanted to Leave DC Are Moving Out (Washingtonian)
Several friends have been contemplating this same move. Lately my head is very much swirling with ideas of resiliency in nature, and the comfort that there’s nothing I can experience that the earth hasn’t already endured. As a New Yorker who wouldn’t ordinarily consider leaving home without a blowdryer, I’m realizing that the best 48 hours I’ve spent since March were in the middle of the woods in West Virginia....And yet, when I attempt to answer chapter 10’s Assessment Quickie, I decidedly do not see myself as part of the natural world. But, I want to.
LISTEN
Lovecraft Country Podcast (HBO)
You better already be watching. Every single episode and recommendation list is fabulous.
Essay on Racism (NPR)
Octavia Butler imagines a world without racism.
Adrienne Maree Brown's Queer Appalachia Playlist (Spotify)
It begins with GARY CLARK JR.
WATCH
Toshi Reagon sings “When I Looked in the Mirror” from Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower (ArtsEmerson)
This has to be among the shows impacted by Covid that we actually most desperately need right now. I cannot wait for the Woolly Mammoth and Strathmore co-production, dates TBD.
Grief Portal by Camille Barton (Performing Borders)
I will cop to being somewhat mystified and resistant to somatics and bodywork, but watching this piece has begun to chip away at that.
My Octopus Teacher Stuns Audiences, Reinforces the Power of Nature (EcoWatch)
My colleague Laley just turned me onto this - adding to the Netflix queue as we speak.
There’s so much more to say about Emergent Strategy and the incredible adrienne maree brown.
See you on the 23rd!