October Newsletter
Hi all!
Our October Entry is spooky in a nontraditional sense. Kyla Wazana Tompkins’ book Deviant Matter will raise the hair on your arm, as will Esther Perel and Priya Parker’s deep dive into the fights that activate us all. The cover art for Born on the Day the Sun Didn’t Rise speaks for itself— eerie! Finish the collection with the greatest spook of all: Climate Disaster in our lifetime. No jack-o’-lanterns, but these conversations still keep me up at night!
Enjoy,
KM
Kyla Wazana Tompkins. Deviant Matter: Ferment, Intoxicants, Jelly, Rot on a pink background with slimy, bubbling pink liquid underneath the text
Kyla Wazana Tompkins is at the frontier of critical food studies. This masterful inquiry reminds us of how queering ourselves is an embodied practice. To be defiant like jelly, we must shapeshift, disrupt social order, mystify some and disgust others. She calls on us to recognize the political nature of form itself. Which flavors and textures are reserved for those on the margins? Deviant Matter is an astonishing contribution that deserves your attention. I wish I wrote this book!!
WATCH
Esther Perel | Where Should We Begin? feat. Priya Parker
Psychotherapist Esther Perel interviews Priya Parker, author of The Art of Fighting and The Art of Gathering.
“Where should we begin Esther Perel” Esther Perel & Priya Parker “Good Relationships Need Better Fights”
This conversation pulls together two of my greatest interests: Enjoyment and Healing. How do we create space to experience this world more deeply? I want to know what lunchbox you carried in the 3rd grade. I want to sip tea from a 1000-year-old tree in Yunnan, sit still together, and see what awakens. I want to trust that when we do misunderstand each other, we’ll make a meaningful repair so we can heal and get back to basking in what this planet has to offer. Priya and Esther share this desire, and their conversation guides you in cultivating the deepest level of intention in your life.
LISTEN
Born on a Day the Sun Didn’t Rise x Black Moth Super Rainbow
collage like image. A morose face is cut out and pasted on a black and white photograph of a hand motioning in front of the lapel of a trench coat.
This song reminds me of Ray Bradbury’s All Summer in a Day. In the classic science fiction short story, a 9-year-old girl shares her excitement for a once-in-a-lifetime event with her classmates. They respond by locking her away for the duration of the event. When I think of harm, I think beyond individual actors. What kind of society breeds this behavior? The neglect and harm bring me to melancholy. Being a little Black girl feels like this story. I brought a lust for life, and I was met with racism, a cruelty so intimate that only metaphor gets close to the pain. I would embody this glamorous despair if I were born on a day when the sun didn’t shine (which I probably was because I was born in the middle of winter and I’m Black).
Follow
“Everything you make returns to the earth as either food or poison” encircling a black and white globe.
The Slow Factory recognizes that we’re more than just connected; we are interdependent. Stay informed about global climate and political news. Follow the Slow Factory as we work for collective liberation on every front. For even more, visit their website: slowfactory.earth
