|
|
|
The House of Possibilities
|
|
"The conscious evolution of the human race is ours to create.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We hope sitting down to read this letter offers you a moment to pause, feel the power of the Earth below your feet, feel her ability to hold you and all you carry, and take a breath. Especially at a time where our very breath is threatened merely by being outside, there is no escaping the stark understanding that we are living in a world on fire. The past couple of weeks have been filled with painful and grief-ridden reminders that we are indeed living in the midst of system collapse, fascist state violence, environmental and humanitarian catastrophes and crises that are the products of the long-term impacts of colonization, white supremacy and global racial capitalism. Our hearts have been so heavy with the news that, less than a week apart, ICE murdered Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas, and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. Knowing all too well here in Minneapolis that this state violence will likely go unchecked, with no accountability, leaving the people to hold their grief and each other under terrifying conditions. Our unhoused neighbors in St. Paul are facing announced encampment evictions, increasing their daily precarity and risk with no intentional plans from state agencies to support survival of displacement. Violence continues to escalate in Iran. The experiences of Palestinians struggling to survive genocide in Gaza are being even further exacerbated by the extreme heat wave in the region. Wildfires are burning so hard north of us in the BWCA and all across Canada that the air is hazardous to breathe across the entire Great Lakes region.
|
|
For us, putting our labor, love, and energy toward building another world is one of the ways that we tend and honor our spirits as we feel the layered griefs of our collective reality. We also find support in growing community and seeking out wisdom from all sorts of teachers for guidance, sense making, and skill building in this work of evolving into the people we need to be in order to create something radically different. To do this together, we must be students of change - engaging in the necessary individual and collective work to be adaptive, open to becoming, curious, and willing to shed ways of being that no longer work. We must “consciously evolve.”
|
|
|
Lately, we have been very compelled by and grateful for the offerings and wisdom of Norma Wong. She is a teacher who uses storytelling to skillfully unpack the complexity of the moment we are in while providing examples of the efforts necessary for a future of mutual thrivance. She urges us to understand that “The conscious evolution of the human race is ours to create.” In a recent episode of her podcast, The Horizon Story, her guest, Nan Stoops, asked her to identify what she believes is required for this work of humankind. This was her response:
|
|
“Well first we have to be conscious, in other words, we have to have our eyes wide open to things that are happening and to understand that all the things that are happening are real, but this does not have to be the world that we are objects in or succumb to. So, we have to be conscious of the world, but also conscious of our own possibility and desire.
|
The second is, we actually have to choose to be human and choose humanity over other things. Choose humanity over greed, choose humanity over a success that we might have, a dream that we might have that would be at the detriment to other people. We have to choose community as being a part of who it is that we are. That our successes in life are inseparable. And we just have to choose towards more caring rather than less caring. I think those are really key elements. So, we have to choose humanity…
|
|
And then, in order to create, we have to be open to the curiosity of what is possible and not just chase down the alleyways of ‘well, we can do this one thing because it’s not possible for us to do the other thing.’ So there is an openness and a daring that is necessary. Creation cannot occur if it is filled with just all of the things that have already been done. I certainly have benefited from living in a place where small things get created all the time…we learn creation from small things and we bring that capacity into really big things.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As we hold the tension of being conscious of both the world and our own possibilities and desires, let us find comfort, joy, pleasure, and hope in each other, community, and our practices of care, creativity, and imagination. This week, we are hosting a couple of different opportunities in community to make art and be in dialogue around this very work (see the upcoming events section below). We would love to dream and create with you if you are available. If you can’t join us, we wanted to offer a few reflective questions to feed your spirit and practice wherever you are:
|
How do you resource yourself in these times of collapse?
|
How do you stay conscious but focus on the possibilities and opportunities for world-building?
|
What does it look like for you to choose humanity with every small action you take?
|
|
|
|
Updates and Highlights from the past month:
|
Word about The People’s Garden continues to spread across our community (if you’re in the neighborhood, find the new zine we put out this month in a Little Free Library near you or at Boneshaker Books). We now have 108 volunteers signed up to help design and steward this community resource and space!
|
We have been busy with all sorts of behind-the-scenes work in the past couple of weeks - organizing and planning upcoming events, connecting with community members and other local organizations for learning and dreaming, social media and website communication, writing, and art-making for upcoming events!
|
We held our first Create and Connect event on July 2 at Dreamstate Cafe. It was a beautiful time getting to know neighbors and making art. The image below was collaboratively drawn and collaged over the course of the evening. Upon leaving, one of the participants noted, “I wasn’t having a good day, but this is exactly what I needed. I feel so much better now.” ♥️ Art-making and connecting with each other matter for our spirits.
|
We are so grateful to our friends at Moonstone on East Lake Street. We held an art market there this past weekend (July 18-19) and made over $400 for The People’s Garden! Mark your calendars for September 11-13. We’ll be back at Moonstone for another market, AND they’ll be donating 20% of all sales that weekend to the garden!!!
|
Next month, we will be joining a collective of our beloveds from Riverwise Magazine at the second annual Riverwise Write Relationship Retreat in Michigan. We helped plan the inaugural event and are thrilled that this year, youth will be included! From August 16-21, we will excitedly be leading the youth programming at this radical writing, visioning, and community-building retreat.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The rest of July and August are filled with art markets and opportunities for community building through art-making and dialogue. At each market, we will have art (prints, books, stickers, and more!) for sale for a suggested donation. All of the proceeds will be going toward the purchase of land for The People’s Garden. For our art-making events, we will be holding space centered in joy, connection, and creation while dreaming with our neighbors about the futures we are most longing for! Come and join us!
|
July 22, 6-8 pm: Community Zine Making at Moonstone Minneapolis
|
July 23, 6-8 pm: Create and Connect at Dreamstate Cafe
|
July 25, 11 am-5 pm: Mutual Aid Art Market at Dreamstate Cafe (see flier below!)
|
August 5, 5-8 pm: Sip and Shop Vegan Market at Reverie (Hosted by Vegan Witt)
|
August 8, 3-8 pm: Twin Cities Solidarity Picnic (Hosted by a coalition of Twin Cities organizations and mutual aid networks)
|
August 13, 6-8 pm: Create and Connect at Dreamstate Cafe
|
August 27, 6-8 pm: Create and Connect at Dreamstate Cafe
|
|
September 12 and 13, 12-7 pm: Art Market at Moonstone ***In addition to our art market, Moonstone will be donating 20% of ALL SALES Friday-Sunday (9/11-13) to The People’s Garden! Come see us and grab some treasures (tarot decks, stones, books, and more!) from this amazing queer-owned, community-oriented business.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We know that we can not do this work alone. Our two biggest needs for support at this time are fundraising and thought partnership. If you are excited about the vision for The People’s Garden and the additional focal areas of The House of Possibilities (art programming, intergenerational study and dialogue, and youth leadership development), please consider supporting us in the following ways:
|
- Become a monthly sustaining donor! Until we have raised the funds to purchase the land for The People’s Garden, all monthly donations will contribute to that goal. As soon as the land is acquired, monthly sustaining donations will form the foundation of financial sustainability, enabling us at The House of Possibilities to provide programming that aligns with the dreams, needs, and visions of our neighborhood, where we are all safe, fed, and free.
- Reach out to 5 people who you believe would be excited about this vision for our future and ask them to contribute to The People’s Garden. Every single donation matters, regardless of size!
- Do you have experience in fundraising and development? Please reach out to us - we’d love to hear your ideas and learn from you!
- Do you have experience in small business (social entrepreneurship) or small non-profit leadership? Please reach out to us - we’d love to learn from you and get support thinking through different structures and planning for sustainability.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Donate today to The People’s Garden by scanning the QRC!
|
|
Please consider becoming a monthly sustaining donor to help us build a future where we are all thriving!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
