PLANTCRAFT Mini: A Special Reading & More
Cutting 002
Hello, and welcome to another PLANTCRAFT Mini.
For Black folks in particular, relief-shorn times, like the ones we’re experiencing now, are nothing new.
While working through the catalogue Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful for a forthcoming piece on Black liberation and the cosmos, I came across an account of a Black community being robbed of a park in the early 20th century:
Within the Thomases’ own neighborhood, residents held mass meetings to insist on whites-only streetcars and dubbed Lincoln Park, a segregated park for African Americans just north of Rose Hill, “Lynching Park” in an ultimately successful attempt to discourage visitation and hasten its closure. The Columbus Enquirer-Sun explained the park’s demise in April 1908, just a few months before the Thomases’ move North, by asserting, “Any negro institution, solely for negroes, without the aid and influence of white people, is among the things that are impossible.” (emphasis mine)
As I attempt to keep pace with current events, I see the relief recession of the past washing over into the present: Black families are recovering from losing the relief of their homes in Los Angeles; Black communities continue to be deprived of essential shade on a warming, brutalized planet, as MaKshya Tolbert rigorously details for PLANTCRAFT. I keep returning to MaKshya’s call to build strategies to “put the relief back” amid ever-present, ever-evolving violences.
As we collectively do the work of preserving, restoring, and smuggling in relief however, whenever, and wherever we can—in ourselves, among each other, in our ecosystems—I hope you’re able to locate your buoys to reach toward and grasp onto. Despite my best judgment and the evidence that mounts daily, I still refuse to believe that a reality where relief is real and universal is “among the things that are impossible.” Onward.
In today’s mini:
A special poetry reading
A new interview out in print
Revamped PLANTCRAFT graphics
-A 🪴
🌑 A Special Reading From MaKshya Tolbert
Broadcast 006 of PLANTCRAFT has arrived, and it’s been special to see the response to MaKshya Tolbert’s brilliant insights on shade. There was so much MaKshya and I wanted to include in the missive, but we decided to save a few surprises for this PLANTCRAFT Mini.
To complement MaKshya and I’s conversation, I’m excited to share a recording of MaKshya reading a series of poems from their upcoming debut poetry collection, Shade is a place—which you can pre-order here!
👗 Mildew Magazine — Issue 3
As a child, Dr. Kimberly McGlonn was in awe of the iconic Black Panthers uniform. For her, the signature look became a pillar in the long lineage of Black folks unlocking clothing’s liberatory potential. That lineage is the core inspiration behind Kimberly’s Black Ivy Thrift, a West Philly thrift store specializing in offering Black material culture—books, records, clothing—from the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
A huge thanks to Mildew Magazine for the invitation to chat with Kimberly about her secondhand “holy grail,” overlooked Black Philadelphian history, and more for their third issue—which you can order today!
✨ Revamped PLANTCRAFT Graphics
I feel incredibly fortunate to be in community with gifted creatives of all stripes, from photographers to musicians. These folks bring immense beauty to my life and the lives of so many others, and I’m always excited to find opportunities for collaboration.
For the last missive featuring MaKshya Tolbert, I debuted a set of new PLANTCRAFT graphics—the outcome of a wonderful creative mind meld with friend and mixed media artist Ellen McAlexander. Be on the lookout for future PLANTCRAFT graphics created by Ellen, and be sure to give her a follow to keep up with her work!
