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It’s officially squash season. :) It’s harvest season for the farm and geopolitically the seeds sewn in the last few years are showing their fruits, in whatever form that may be. I celebrated a birthday this month, and the absurdity of living far past when I thought I would is always a little bit of a shock. I’m technically middle aged now and with the life expectancy of indigenous transsexuals I’m actually just old. I still feel like I am a young man because I don't feel like I've been a man very long despite how many years I’ve lived, but the years have given me plenty of time to reflect on how I want to live and what sustainability and reciprocity looks like in practice.

 

While the personal life choices I make don't generally change the world around me, they do make me feel in balance with the earth and right with myself. My art is made out of reclaimed or gifted materials, my writing and digital creation is done on a laptop that was a gift, I feel strongly about limiting my consumption of unethically sourced technology and fashion and food, I volunteer at an indigenous farm to be closer to the land and food production and to learn from the herbalist who runs the place. Last year I traveled alone as a visibly trans person across parts of the western US and the southern plains that I had never seen before because I needed to understand the land and the people before Trump was re-elected. This year I have been investing in local connections and trying to survive as best I can in from inside an empire that has wanted me dead before I was born.

 

And surprisingly, I am thriving this month. I might have taken on one too many events; I don’t actually like doing talks and for some reason decided I would submit a talk at the Art & Tech Symposium at the end of the month. Despite that lapse in judgment I am looking forward to the lineup of events and exhibitions I am participating in. I hope you are all getting to participate in the world in ways that feel good despite the circumstances of empire and politics and the suffering and joy of existing in a body for the time we do.

Upcoming Happenings:

Sept:

Artistic activists organizing against right-wing authoritarianism

With Yishay Garbasz, Jason Luger, Voica Puscasiu and Hexe Fey

10am CEST/Berlin,1am PST Sept 26th

 

Art & Tech Symposium lightning talk – Why Rocks Matter-Sept 27, Seattle

Oct:

ACES Expo opens Oct 2nd, Seattle, WA

Yehaw The Land Remembers opens Oct 3rd,Olympia, WA

Last Friday I dropped off some art at the Yehaw land while they were holding a plant dye workshop. Please enjoy this picture of some beautiful fabrics dyed with marigold, indigo, and amaranth.