Dear Beloved,
I am tired, and it is only the beginning. I am so fucking tired, and it is only the beginning of the regime’s promised cruelties.
The empire is crumbling, yet life continues amidst the cracks like dandelions growing in sidewalk crevices. I write to you today and hope these words float to you like a directionless and purposeful seed. I hope this seed falls into abandoned soils, and I hope it takes root. I hope dandelions sprout and grow into a riot in lawns and golf courses and empty lots behind fences. I hope they feed people and give them an idea or two, and that more seeds find future generations.
Beloved, I imagine you’re tired, too: of controlled opposition and empty gestures, of seeing dead children on your screen, of watching people disappear, of cruelty being the point. I imagine you’re also afraid.
But we have to keep going because life continues on, and our words are necessary, and imagination is where action is conceived. Education is our theory and our praxis. We are each other’s salvation and our own saviors.
dandelion rebellion
let this poem be a seed
they call us weeds but
look how we grow – resistant, abundant, prolific
they call us weeds but
we are an ancestor’s most fervent prayer
deep-rooted
we have always been here
they call us weeds but
we are a child’s greatest wish
carried by their breath
we will always be here
for each of us cut down,
thousands dance freely in the wind
scattered across cities dirt roads gardens lawns
we are borderless, timeless, limitless
we are living transformation
and those who are transformed will transform
the world
when you bury us, you bury seeds
that inevitably, impossibly
bloom in coming spring
I was going to die, if not sooner then later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. - Audre Lorde, The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action
Help the Sehweil Family Evacuate Gaza
In the heart of Gaza, amid what humanitarian agencies describe as “a graveyard for thousands of children and hell for everyone else,” lies the story of resilience, love and the undying spirit of my family. I'm Shahd Sehweil with the help of my mother Rana, we are raising funds to help facilitate the evacuation of my family stuck in Gaza.
The Sehweil family was displaced from their home in northern Gaza by the Israel-US genocide and since then, their survival has been a daily struggle. The children in their family range from ages 6 months to 18-years-old. They have already lost 20 loved ones to Zionist terrorism.
You can help the Sheweil family evacuate. Please consider donating today and sharing their mutual aid campaign.
We need to raise 90,000€ to cover the evacuation costs of 9 people aged from 6 months to 60 years old. Achieving this goal is crucial to ensuring that family members are not separated.
These funds will be intended for:
Passports fees.
Border crossing permits and fees to leave Gaza.
Food, temporary housing and transportation.
GoFundMe’s transaction fee per donation (2.9% + 0.30€)
Recent Updates
While I’ve been away from seedgiver, I’ve been writing and occasionally published.
In honor of my first submitted (and accepted) written piece, I’ve edited ᎠᎦᎾᏬᏍᎦ (it's getting warmer) and released an extended edition in an e-chapbook. It’s available for pay-what-you -can on my Ko-Fi shop.
My poem “Seed-spitters” found a home in the forthcoming anthology Capitalism is a Death Cult, published by
, and will be released next week on May Day.
I’ve also joined collaborations for a handful of upcoming zine projects:
an after poem inspired by Ocean Vuong’s piece, “Amazon History of a Former Nail Worker,” in Viral Rival’s inaugural edition (COVID & WORK), based on my lived experience as a working body experiencing long covid in 2023. Set to be released in June!
a sexy little number of a poem, rooted in queer love and spiritual trauma, forthcoming in Gnashing Press’s upcoming limited-edition SEX/X/Y Zine
a hopeful take on apocalypse “welcoming rapture” in The Ave Magazine’s first issue which will welcome readers at the end of May
my poem, “dandelion rebellion,” will appear in FORGE’s Healing in Action zine in early May
just recently arrived in my own mailbox from Sheer Spite Press is Our Fantasies: An Anthology of Daydreams, where I shared my dream for my future children in a world post-empire
On my website, I announced that I am changing course and focusing much of my attention on a working climate-fiction manuscript called To Succumb to Bodily Stars.
To Succumb to Bodily Stars takes place in a post-climate crisis ocean. Centuries after the Collapsing Era, the World Histories Cooperative excavates civilizations lost to sea level rise and digital archives from late-stage capitalism societies. Oligarchy is an antiquated concept studied in autonomous universities and history guilds.
While a team of marine archaeologists explores history’s largest superyacht – considered its own sovereign state towards the end of the Collapsing Era – Bituin Rizal finds a hidden hard drive containing blueprints to an unrecognized luxury bunker. No records of it exist in any archives, and if it exists, it uncovers the final resting place of history’s last climate criminal oligarch.
When Bituin pinpoints the bunker’s location, lost to time and sea, it’s discovered that someone still lives there.
More to come on the blog as I draft To Succumb to Bodily Stars where I’ll share climate actions, archaeology papers I read, futurist thoughts, and essays on craft. Weekly updates on this manuscript will be limited to my website but big milestones, announcements, and calls for beta readers will be shared on seedgiver.
Seeds for Change
Cafe Crip: Challenging Professionalism - TODAY, Virtual
Hosted by the Disability Cultural Center, Cafe Crip is a monthly gathering to talk about important topics within our disability communities. This month’s theme is Challenging Professionalism.
To earn a living, Professionalism (ableism rebranded) often forces us to squeeze our bodies and minds into tight suits and tiny boxes. Let’s talk about that. Are there ways to subvert these oppressive standards? How can we build our own cultures of access and care in work? Come share your thoughts, horror stories, and ideas. We send readings in advance, but they are optional, and there will be plenty of opportunities to jump in if your capacity doesn’t allow for reading them. Facilitator Bianca Laureano leads the group through community agreements and access principles to ensure everyone can join this informal community-building hangout. REGISTER HERE.Read, print, and distribute Project Censored’s zine Critical Media Literacy by Eleanor Goldfield. Assembly instructions here.
Read Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde.
Download free leaflet templates to distribute to shoppers at your local markets by BDS Dorest and encourage your community to Boycott Divest Sanction Zionist businesses.
War Tax Resistance Conference - May 2-4, Virtual
Join the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee for a fully online conference. The primary focus of the weekend will be exploring war tax resistance as an action that can be done in solidarity with others. Schedule available here.Read the Abolition Collective’s publication, Abolishing Carceral Society.
Complete this Family Preparedness Packet (Spanish edition) in case of detainment or deportation by ICE.
Guidance for New Growers: 8 Steps to Starting a Small Farm or Large Garden - Sunday, May 11
With a donation to the Sameer Project, you can attend Workshops 4 Gaza’s upcoming workshop, Guidance for New Growers. In this workshop, the lead farmer of SisterLand Farms will teach participants how to create the foundations of a sustainable farm, garden, or homestead. More info here.
Train-the-Trainer Workshop: Know Your Rights - Saturday, May 3
Sign up for Colorado Immigration Rights Coalition’s upcoming Train-the-Trainer workshop. This interactive workshop will equip you with the tools, skills, and resources you need to confidently facilitate Know Your Rights trainings in your community.Check out this zine, De-Arrest Primer.
Know of other resources or upcoming events? Share them with community in the comments.
Beautiful poem, written with emotions. We are tired too of the genocide