A few links, then some plans.
In case you missed it, the last message was "Impossibility Space." I've penned one more screed since:
Sonya Mann
I compiled a "Best Of" list for my about page. Handy resource if you've been wondering why people pay attention to me in the first place. (Because I'm rad, that's why 😉 jkjk, the exit > voice theme seems to resonate the most.)
My friend Travis has 19 days to go on his Kickstarter for Escape the City: a How-To Homesteading Guide. I've visited his farm, and the man's pantry is awe-inspiring. Can't wait to have this pair (!) of books on my shelf: "The book is split across two volumes because no printer can bind 1,000 pages, but this is, in essence, one large book."
My friend Nadia also wrote a book, called Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software, which is now available for preorder. Nadia is curious, contemplative, and humane. Her work has been invaluable to many of us seeking to understand online communities.
We all get it at this point: something's changed. But what is it, and how do we navigate and operate in this new world? Are there preexisting examples that can help us understand it? This year, as we're increasingly required to rely upon our online spaces for work and play, it's become even more crucial to deeply understand our underlying social infrastructure.
For me, it was open source developers that helped me make sense of the future. They've long experienced the frog-boiling that came with prior social norms of "everybody participates" butting up against the reality of "participation doesn't scale."
Up Next
The June zine is called Before the Garden, and members should expect to receive it in early July (or mid-July outside of the United States). My apologies, again, for the wait. Happily I am closer to punctual than I was last month. Progress!
Three essays that I still intend to write:
- one about narrative
- one about cyberpunk
- one about God (I owe this to people on Twitter who've asked why / how I regained faith, but I might as well mention it to you too)
I have some other ideas brewing as well, and will continue to blog off the cuff as the muse strikes. A reader asked me to write about speaking my mind, which is a question that arises often in various forms, so I'll ponder that to see what bubbles up.
Best for last: I figured out the artist-in-residence program! That's too grand of a description for the starting point, honestly, but I'm a big believer in minimum viable products. Allow me to present Wanderverse, "a realm of paths and pockets."
Wanderverse is a fiction project released under the CC0 1.0 Universal license. As with old fairy stories passed down through generations, Wanderverse is freely available for anyone to use and adapt however they wish, including for profit.
As budget allows — so, likely on a monthly basis for the time being — I'll be commissioning creative additions to Wanderverse. And of course I intend to extend the storyscape myself! In fact, Before the Garden is about the very first Wanderverse character, who will be introduced soon.
That's all for now, friends. Catch you on the flip side 👋
Header photo by Sándor.
