i’ve changed my mind about reading fiction

earlier in 2016 i wrote about why i don’t read fiction. i’ve since changed my mind. that’s allowed, right?

i’ve been influenced by several things:

  1. working on #the4thbox (with danielle, felicia, and angus) as it relates to the political imagining we need to do collectively.
  2. my friend erin’s response to my piece about why i don’t read fiction (is this what public discourse looks like? lol)
  3. octavia butler predicting the rise of trump in parable of the sower (h/t miriam mack!).
  4. conversations with cyndi suarez about her interest and work in bringing gamification and play into social change spaces.
  5. conversations with kate balug and her interest in utopia(s).
  6. grant williams’ fiction master’s (masters? why can i never figure that out…) thesis.

there are probably some other influences, too, but those seem like the most poignant ones. over thanksgiving break i read giovanni’s room by james baldwin and i’m still reeling from it. i’ve started several others (mostly octavia butler) and now i’m working towards holding an event on imagination in february within colab.

bringing fiction back into my life seems like just another manifestation of how important play and imagination are. where will all this end up? i don’t know, but i’m going there anyways!

writing: 11:05
spell-check, link-finding, & formatting: 7:24