Growing Pains

The people who are meant for you are going to meet you on the other side. You’re going to build a new comfort zone around the things that actually move you forward.

Instead of being liked, you’re going to be loved. Instead of being understood, you’re going to be seen. All you’re going to lose is what was built for a person you no longer are.

Remaining attached to your old life is the first and final act of self-sabotage, and releasing it is what we must prepare for to truly be willing to see real change.”

Would you personally be able to do all the work it takes to live entirely on your own? Would you be able to go hunting and fishing and foraging for all your own food? Would you be able to grow every other food you need? Would you be able to raise livestock and collect eggs and shear sheep and milk cows/goats/etc? Would you be able to tan hides and grow and prepare plants and spin wool into yarn and thread to make cloth? Would you be able to make all your own clothes from that cloth, do all the sewing and weaving and knitting?

Would you be able to cut down trees to build your home and cook your food? Would you be able to collect and filter water for drinking? Would you be able to go put and mine for metal? Would you be able to smith your own tools and other metal materials? Would you be able to build all your own furniture?

Would you be able to make your own parchment or paper? Would you be able to make all your own ink and pigments and paints and dyes? Would you be able to make things like shampoo and perfume with only things you've collected yourself? Would you be able to blow glass to make containers? Would you be able to make all your own dishes woth only materials you've gathered yourself?

Would you be able to do all that entirely on your own? For your entire life?

No, obviously not, that's just absurd. Sure, you could do some of those things, but not all of them and certainly not constantly or as well as other people could do them. And that's just the very basics; there's so much more you'd have to do to not only survive but also be happy.

Humans were not more capable in the past, they either had support from each other to thrive. . . or they didn't and often didn't survive at all. This "everyone is on their own" attitude that's become so common in anarchist and anti-capitalist communities is the result of capitalism specifically isolating people to make them more dependent on exploitative systems rather than each other.

Hi all! My artwork “New Perspectives” is up for auction in the 14th Annual UPwithART fundraiser supporting Unity Project London and Museum London here in Ontario!

You can view this piece in-person at the Museum's exhibition from April 26 to May 3 – free admission. Save the date for the arty-party on May 4 and get your tickets and/or donate now at UPwithART.ca !

"In a historic “first-of-its-kind” agreement the government of British Colombia has acknowledged the aboriginal ownership of 200 islands off the west coast of Canada.

The owners are the Haida nation, and rather than the Canadian government giving something to a First Nation, the agreement admits that the “Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai” or the “islands at the end of world,” always belonged to them, a subtle yet powerful difference in the wording of First Nations negotiating.

BC Premier David Eby called the treaty “long overdue” and once signed, will clear the way for half a million hectares (1.3 million acres) of land to be managed by the Haida.

Postal service, shipping lanes, school and community services, private property rights, and local government jurisdiction, will all be unaffected by the agreement, which will essentially outline that the Haida decide what to do with the 200 or so islands and islets.

“We could be facing each other in a courtroom, we could have been fighting each other for years and years, but we chose a different path,” said Minister of Indigenous Relations of BC, Murray Rankin at the signing ceremony, who added that it took creativity and courage to “create a better world for our children.”

Indeed, making the agreement outside the courts of the formal treaty process reflects a vastly different way of negotiating than has been the norm for Canada.

“This agreement won’t only raise all boats here on Haida Gwaii – increase opportunity and prosperity for the Haida people and for the whole community and for the whole province – but it will also be an example and another way for nations – not just in British Columbia, but right across Canada – to have their title recognized,” said Eby.

In other words, by deciding this outside court, Eby and the province of BC hope to set a new standard for how such land title agreements are struck."

Page of Swords and The Hanged Man

Hello, today is my birthday, and I would like to share a comic I made in the last year with you. It's called Broomistega and Thrinaxodon.

cleaning or wipe your bare feet

breaking off a piece of bread and handing it to someone

putting the weight of a basket on your hip or head

eating nuts or berries while hunched over close to the ground

seeing something startling just out of your line of sight and very quickly stepping or leaping on to a larger object to get a better view

cupping your hands into running water to wash your face

the unanimous protection of a baby or child in a public space where women are present

Touching someone’s face with the back of your hand to see if they have a fever

Stopping to watch animals moving in groups (geese, fish, horses, butterflies, bees)

huddling together for warmth when it’s cold

marveling at sunlight through leaves

wonderment at the brightness of a full moon

the act of self creation

words inspired by julian k jarboe