Rehearsals for Living (Abolitionist Papers Book 3)

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My only wish was that they spoke more about practical ways to tear down capitalism and these structures. A lot of talk about how bad certain people, groups and structures are but not how to create real change. Advocating and taking naps is not enough. Real change happens within our political and legal systems. Having conversations is the first step, advocating is the second - but real change occurs in the third. The epistolary form allows a vulnerability and closeness that wouldn’t have been possible in any other genre. The book, however, still manages to be immensely scholarly, journalistic, historical and theoretical all at once. Both writers use the intimacy of their domestic lives to reflect on the larger political and social phenomena around them. Rehearsals for Living by Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Published by Knopf Canada. In our group work and play, we practice living in the here and now. The work evolves out of the work that we do together, we co create from the efforts of the group participants. Rehearsals for Living explores our dynamic relationship conundrums in engaging and revealing ways, helping us to release patterns of behavior that are no longer working for us. We practice new ways of responding. We learn to become fluid, connective, and responsive to ourselves, the people in our lives, and society. .

Maynard’s first letter was written a few months before the pandemic’s onset, and Simpson’s last reply came shortly after the 2020 U.S. election. Both are lyrical, compelling writers, and their early letters are infused with the energy that defined the early months of COVID-19. “People are revolting for wildly imaginative things: for worlds radically transformed, for the end of policing, the end of prisons, the end of ICE and the CBSA, of militarism and colonialism,” wrote Maynard in May 2020. Reading that line now is almost painful; by November 2020, Simpson wrote, “We aren’t banging pots and pans every afternoon in support of health care workers. No one is baking sourdough.” If you find yourself, in 2022, crushed by exhaustion and despair, you might ask yourself: is there any hope left to truly change things? Abolition was at the core of this book. No more policing, prisons, capitalism, land abuse and title. A return of land and a return of community. No more individual gain at the core of interaction. Gift economies and reciprocity. Homelessness and sharing not hoarding. Limiting use and honouring all parts of this world beyond the human. No more change from within. Abolish it and start anew. Listen to the folks who have been resisting and rehearsing other ways of living in perpetuity. This book must be read for its future vocabularies, its political intimacies, its careful assemblage of the materials of our activisms, and its generous and fulsome thinking.” also, audiobook-wise, there's power in hearing the voices of these phenomenal activists read aloud their own writing, but because there are constraints (as opposed to them giving a speech at an event) that audiobook narrators know how to navigate, it really made me appreciate how much of a difference one's skill in their profession can provide.

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Register through Eventbrite to receive a link to the video conference on the day of the event. This event will also be recorded and live captioning will be provided.*** I enjoyed both listening and reading this one. While listening, though I often stopped the audible to write my writing ideas - the writings of both Robin and Leanne are so beautiful that they inspired waves of ideas.

In your letters, you both declare yourselves as nerds and Star Trek fans. And this is a serious question: What does Star Trek bring to your thinking in your practices? Rehearsals for Living is a finalist for the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction. The winner will be announced on Nov. 16, 2022.left to right: Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Credit: Nadya Kwandibens) and Robyn Maynard (Credit: Stacy Lee Photography) Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Robyn Maynard envision a future shaped by freedom in Rehearsals for Living A revolutionary collaboration about the world we're living in now, between two of our most important contemporary thinkers, writers and activists. This Lansdowne lecture is online, free and open to the public. It is co-hosted by the School of Social Work, School of Indigenous Governance, and the Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Engaged Research (CIRCLE) at the University of Victoria.