Re-Humanizing Each Other
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Hello friends My intention for this week’s newsletter was to share what I’d written on community prosperity and magic a couple of weeks ago. Or the podcast I just did on love and determination during hard times. And I’m still going to, below, because those thoughts are important, too. But first, I need to speak honestly about my current state. It’s not my usual uplifting musings, and I hope that’s okay with you. Last night, my sleep was troubled. I kept waking with thoughts of the men in CECOT prison, and the planes in Texas waiting to take 200 more immigrants to that pit of brutality without even the thinnest veneer of due process. All prisons are brutal, but this one seems worse than should even be imaginable. This morning, the news tells me that the US Supreme Court finally woke up and did something to stop the latest transport. I’m relieved. And I also know this fight is far from over. Yesterday, I sent out a call to file a complaint with the UN Human Rights Commission about the abuses at CECOT and the US transports, and I still think that is a good idea. It is one small way to take action. We must approach our current situation from all angles, whether supporting immigrant’s rights organizations, writing letters, marching in the streets, monkey wrenching the companies of the people in charge of this debacle, creating safe space for LGBTQ+ kids, or supporting our neighbors. But the first thing we must do? We must re-humanize one another in order to combat this fascism based on hatred. Dehumanization is the key to their power. Did you know that Martin Niemöller was an anti-Semite who supported the Nazis? They still took him to a concentration camp. His famous poem is not a parable or metaphor. It actually happened to him. He said nothing as group after group was rounded up, until literally, there was no one left to stand with him. Niemöller’s regret and remorse were real. They also came too late. It is not too late for us. Whenever we hear dehumanizing language, or witness dehumanizing actions—be they against trans people, disabled people, racialized people, immigrants, or people of different religions—we can speak up. We can ask questions. We can intervene. We can act. And we can, whenever possible, look upon each other with kindness and support our best natures. In supporting our best natures, we have a chance to welcome each other into pockets of safety and love. We have a chance to make it through. Thanks for being here — Thorn If you are interested in more thoughts about ways to make it through, here is my recent podcast on fostering determination through love: Magic, Creativity, and Life And my essay on community prosperity: Community Prosperity, Community Health.
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, Years ago, writer Starhawk penned a novel in which city neighborhoods had fruit trees growing on the sidewalks, so anyone who was hungry could partake. It was a beautiful vision of a world we could live in, if we chose to. I now live in a city neighborhood with fruit trees growing on the sidewalk. Pear. Apple. Plum. Fig. Cherry. But, more often than not, the fruit falls and rots on the concrete in the sun. This happens unless the person who lives in the home near the tree...
“I’m always writing about the same thing, which is the human condition.” — Terry Brooks, fantasy author, WorldCon 2025 Hello friends, I’m writing this from WorldCon—the World Science Fiction and Fantasy convention—in Seattle Washington. I’ve listened to some interesting panels and talks so far: on Indigenous futures, on Afrofuturism, on the unsung heroes of the space program and magical systems in fantasy, plus some indie publishing business panels. I’ve talked with writers and readers both,...
Hello friends, On a walk the other day, I encountered a big metal sign covered in layers of peeling stickers. One read “Don’t look back! You are not going that way!” I snapped a photo and headed forward. But, as intended, the old sticker got me thinking. First, it reminded me of an old card I kept in my office for years. A Mary Engelbreit print, it wasn’t my usual style, but the message was clear. It was a person at a crossroads and the street sign read “Your life,” in one direction and “No...