Seven (Additional) Characters in Search of an Apocalypse
[These 7 characters, as well as the original 12, are excerpts from I Want a Better Catastrophe (forthcoming 2019-ish). 12 Characters is now also a series of interactive conversations touring England and Wales.] SEVEN (ADDITIONAL) CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN APOCALYPSE We can fix this. We are facing the greatest challenge in the history of humanity. In a few short...
Twelve Characters in Search of an Apocalypse
[originally published in: Dark Mountain Issue 11 (Spring 2017)] TWELVE CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN APOCALYPSE I did the math I did the math. But I wish I hadn’t. It was right after Hurricane Sandy. Over a week-long binge I read everything I could find. I work downtown, you see. And they’d lost power, but uptown...
I WANT A BETTER CATASTROPHE
I WANT A BETTER CATASTROPHE: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope and Gallows Humor (An existential manual for tragic optimists, can-do pessimists, and compassionate doomers) Available NOW at: BookShop | Amazon | Goodreads Read samples of the book, catch the tour, join the conversation, and more at: bettercatastrophe.com. In this grave and irreverent philosophical manual, Andrew...
The Church of Skeptical Mysticism and Compassionate Nihilism
Mystical Gatherings Some readers have been so taken with The Book of Daily Afflictions, that they have begun to create their own spiritual circles, centered around the book’s message and teachings. In living rooms and rented halls across America, like-minded folks have been coming together in self-organized gatherings under various names, among them: the Church...
Hopelessness can change the world
Hopelessness can change the world We are all incurables. —Archbishop Oscar Romero (when asked why he was attending to the sick at a hospital for incurables) When you look around you, it is easy to feel hopeless. Things always seem to be getting worse, not better. Even those of us still working for a better tomorrow...
Being in it for yourself
Being in it for yourself I don’t do this work to change the world, I do it so the world doesn’t change me. —A. J. Muste Sometimes when you’re involved in an idealistic crusade, you get wrapped up in your cause and lose perspective. If this happens, it’s important to step back to better understand...
The Inner Bigot
The inner bigot We contain the other, hopelessly and forever. —James Baldwin We live in a society scarred by hatred and misunderstanding. You look out at this world and figure that because you’re not a church-burner, gay-basher, or with the LAPD, you’re not a bigot. But inside each of us is an inner bigot waiting...
Sermon: “Can hopelessness change the world?”
[Sermon delivered by Brother Void during convenings of the Church of Skeptical Mysticism and Compassionate Nihilism, national tour, 2002-3] [SPEAK, DON’T READ] Tonight my sermon is on politics, specifically the dark inner world of the political activist, the poisoned thoughts and feelings seething in the hearts of those working to make the world a better...
Don’t Wait for the Revolution—Live It
[originally published in: Yes Magazine, Issue 66, Summer 2013] We can’t create a better world if we haven’t yet imagined it. How much better then, if we are able to touch such a world, experience it directly, even live in it—if only to a partial degree and for a brief moment. This is the idea...
BEAUTIFUL TROUBLE: A Toolbox for Revolution
Puts the accumulated wisdom of decades of creative protest into the hands of the next generation of troublemakers. Use it to instigate anything from a flashmob to a revolution.
Koch-Blocked
Oil barons David and Charles Koch are America’s new Public Enemy #1. Whether they’re supporting Governor Walker’s union-busting efforts, wining and dining Scalia and Thomas at secret meetings with right-wing billionaires, or funding climate change denial, Koch Brother influence and money are on the wrong side of almost everything progressives are fighting for in America....
US Uncut
Taking a page from the successful UK Uncut campaign, US Uncut flips the script on the current austerity mania by taking grassroots direct action at the offices and storefronts of corporate tax dodgers like Bank of America, Verizon, GE and Apple. By demanding “No more cuts until corporate tax cheats pay up,” and shifting the...
