I should also share: we explore some potentially useful tips and tactics related to this in my asynchronous class on political writing here: guante.info/meetingthemoment

...It can be an excuse to do the relationship-building work we need to win. This work can be a first step, when we don’t know what the whole journey is going to look like.

Even more thoughts (and my endless caveats) in the caption to this original post over on IG: www.instagram.com/p/DPzolp4DpNQ

...Sometimes, there’s an assumption that art and culture work is always about “changing minds.” It can be, but this work can also be about bringing issues into new spaces, inviting more people in, creating a permission structure to care and get involved.

...None of these ideas are enough. No art project is ever going to be the magic key to stopping this. But no one thing ever will be. It takes lots of people, being creative, contributing where and how they are able, sometimes in unseen/unappreciated ways, to move the needle. That includes artists.

...POSSIBILITIES: Poets get together to write cooler chants for the next protest. Visual artists collaborate on a yard sign campaign. A group of emcees and songwriters compete to see who can write the most vicious, withering takedowns of ICE. Add your own ideas at padlet.com/elguante/crushICE

...It matters that our rulers are pathetic, cringey, uncharismatic, small-minded, entitled, brittle losers.

That fact alone is not enough; just laughing at them won’t be enough to get them out of power. But laughter can be a tool. Spite, disdain, mockery: all tools. What can we build with them?

...(1) Their policies are unpopular. Most people do not like seeing families torn apart or cities under siege. (2) They are bullies, and we have centuries of stories about how bullies are insecure cowards. (3) They are bumbling and mediocre—still dangerous, but their incompetence can be useful.

...The worst people in this country hold power right now. They have the billionaires, the courts, the cops, and a media ecosystem constantly pumping out propaganda. The harm they are causing is real. But they have weaknesses. A few of them:

...A prompt:

What are your enemy’s weaknesses?

How can art apply pressure to those weaknesses?

...and yes, we know that making art about what we DON’T like isn’t enough. We can and should also make art that celebrates the people, and liberation, and possibility.

But I would argue that we need both, and that angry, sharp-edged, venomous art has a role to play right now too.

...Yes, there’s already a lot of good movement art being made right now. There always is, and there can always be more.

And yes, we all have different relationships with what is happening, different levels of danger/safety. So nothing here is “advice” or anything I’m not grappling with myself too.

I generally don't do long threads on here, but if you'll all allow it, a longer thought:

A CALL FOR MORE ANTI-ICE POETRY, MUSIC, VISUAL ART, AND BEYOND

...if there's anyone out there just hearing about him now that he's passed, two recommendations:

1. The Charade live: youtu.be/IRCLjK5OWjU?...

2. Devil's Pie live: youtu.be/95Aes_r98sY?...

So many other great songs, but these two performances really stuck with me over the years.

Only time I ever skipped school (I know) was to buy Voodoo, still one of the best albums ever.

No one would guess this because it isn't a... linear relationship of influence, but D'angelo is one of the main reasons I'm an artist today. His work opened so many doors in my brain, if that makes sense.

"Because the history of the American Indian Boarding School era was not even written into history books, Indigenous Peoples Day can do much to bring that history to the forefront." - Denise Lajimodiere, Turtle Mountain Ojibwe

Organizing is essential. Courage is contagious. Social proof is persuasive.
People do the thing they think people like them do.

So much of what this country is... is contained in this story.

Read it, be angry, and donate.

(via @releasemn8.bsky.social over on IG)

Got my mobile zine library set up at @queermunitymn.bsky.social for the Freedom to Read Book Fair.

Find all my zines at guante.info/zines

Art by @seemore.bsky.social up at Caydence Records for Solidarity Street Gallery. Me, SEE, and @katparent.bsky.social will be playing music here, 6:30-9pm. Just outside on the porch, beautiful night.

Hi! @guante.info and I are in northeast and are interested in connecting. Also, if there are folks interested in working through this worksheet together, we'd be happy to facilitate/discuss with NE neighbors! organizingmythoughts.org/mapping-comm...

...and then on Sunday, it's the Freedom to Read Book Fair at @queermunitymn.bsky.social, where I'll have my mobile zine library set up. Promo code "FREETOREAD" for half-off admission:

More info: www.simpletix.com/e/school-boa...

one thing about me is that I really like Gritty.

I like the way he moves, his electric hips, his roving gaze.

The rumors are true: Boneshaker is headed to a new location! We need your help to dig up our bones and move on over to 26th and Lyndale. We're hoping to raise $15,000 total, $6k of that by 10/17. Learn more at bit.ly/boneshakermove and thank you for helping Boneshaker thrive!

A thread in my new asynchronous online class is trying to move beyond easy answers and maximalist positions. Both "art IS the revolution!" and "art is pointless!" sand the edges off a much more interesting conversation about the function(s) of art in a movement context: guante.info/meetingthemoment