Video: My Descent into America’s Neo-Nazi Movement — And How I Got Out
At 14, Christian Picciolini went from naïve teenager to white supremacist — and soon, the leader of the first neo-Nazi skinhead gang in the United States. How was he radicalized, and how did he ultimately get out of the movement? In this courageous talk, Picciolini shares the surprising and counterintuitive solution to hate in all forms.
T. R. Hummer: William Blake and the Alligator
A young man still, to me he is the Ancient of Days
standing stern in the stern of the skiff, poling us
Over the jade mirror of the Tickfaw River.
Video: While I Yet Live
A trip to Gee’s Bend, Alabama, where masterpieces hang from clotheslines.
Arlene Weiner: More
Before he could speak my grandson learned
two signs, Finished, More,
like the first wordless words
at the breast, turning the head
or latching on.
Jim Daniels: My Security Question
The closet in her room
remains as she left it
clothes losing their dark
interest. Ghosts in the dust.
Lindsey Royce: God is the Fish in my Mouth
Do I walk away, heart tight as a walnut
Doug Anderson: Be Whole Again Beyond Confusion
The young blame us for everything that is wrong
with the world, as if we’d plotted it that way
just to torment them, as if poisoned
the very land we’re standing on. Some of us did.
Erica Etelson: In order to transcend Trumpism, we must tend to suffering — not celebrate it
Our survival as a species depends on our ability to turn away from the delusion of sweet revenge, and show compassion for those we may dislike or detest.
Enheduanna: Seven Sumerian Temple Hymns (2300 BCE)
The temple seems to listen as she describes its resident: “your lady a water bird — sacred woman of the inner chamber,” she says to the temple in the intimate conversation that characterizes each hymn.
Bhikshuni Vijaya: Keep Going
Sometimes the most direct path is not a straight line.
Melanie M. Kirby: Nectar Nomad in the Land of Enchantment
What bees taught me about building community.
Alison Luterman: Witch Walk
I don’t know what I’d expected–a portal, perhaps,
to magic me elsewhere, but she spoke only of a slight shift
in perception, that which might allow
a tiny purplish wildflower to be a doorway.
Video: When the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence canonised Derek Jarman
Born on the streets of San Francisco in the late 1970s, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI) is a gay rights group known for their subversive use of religious imagery – and, in particular, donning Catholic nun attire to upend gender norms, protest oppression and satirise moral hypocrisy.
Anoa J. Changa: Muslims and the War on Terror
Maha Hilal’s “Innocent Until Proven Muslim” lays bare the War on Terror’s toll on constitutional rights and marginalized communities.
