Welcome to Dispatch #39! In this Action & Resources issue we’ll be sharing the story of Corita Kent, an artist-activist & nun who used her art to bridge pop culture and politics, three calls-to-action to participate in now, five content pieces worth consuming, a new program from aspiring writers, new resources, and more!
Scroll down to find an interview our good friend Michael Mezz from Better Future Media recently conducted with Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Network, about the need to cultivate radical imagination when tackling the climate crisis. He reminds us that “one of the most important gifts we can give our imagination is to fill it with stories of the incredible things happening around the world.” To us the same goes for all social movements, not just the climate movement. We’ve often written about the need to not only learn about what's wrong, but also who is taking action today and imagining a better tomorrow so that we can both resist and build something better for all of us. This is the work that makes civic education, independent journalism, and artists so critical in movement building. Check out the interview, and more, below!
PS: For our Advocate-level and up members ($10/mo+), please keep an eye on out for a follow-up email with our first Quarterly Content Vote to help us choose topics we will cover in our Deep Dives over the next few months!
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Easy Actions to Take
⏱~3min | Write government officials and demand Saif Abukeshek and Thiago Ávila be released from Israeli custody
Why: Israel took two humanitarians — a Swedish-Spanish-Palestinian and a Brazilian — from international waters in the Greek SAR zone to occupied Palestine and are reportedly being tortured while in Isareli custody. The other 173 crew were released to Greece. Demand Spain, Sweden, Brazil, Greece and the European Parliament act now. Organized by Global Sumud Flotilla
⏱~3min | (Worldwide) Send accuracy complaints to 6 media outlets who have misrepresented Israel’s bombing of Lebanon and ceasire fire violations
Why: Western headlines call Israeli strikes on Lebanon 'amid' or 'despite' a ceasefire. Lebanon, the UN and Al Jazeera call them what they are: violations. Demand accurate, agentive language because these headlines shape how the world perceives Israel’s actions. Organized by Newscord
⏱~3min | (US only) Oppose the ICE and CBP Budget Reconciliation Funding Bill
Why: The Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees have released the proposed text of the Republican budget reconciliation bill. It provides $38.2 billion for ICE, $26 billion for CBP, and $1 billion for “security” related features of Trump’s ballroom. The committees may do markups on the text to make changes during the week of May 11th before it goes to the full Senate for a vote. Organized by 5Calls
Little (Movement) Wins
Join the Disruptors Mentorship Program for 2026!
Organized by the Center for Cultural Program, the Disruptors Program aims to disrupt the status quo in Hollywood and to uplift and normalize narratives that have historically been underrepresented on television.
This year they are offering a mentorship program (which you can apply for now!) as well as 5 FREE TV-writing workshops hosted monthly starting on May 11.
Content Worth Consuming
- Flashback: The Best Propaganda is Entertaining AF by Ray
- Why: Don’t miss our latest Deep Dive essay breaking down the relationship between the Entertainment industry and the US government, and how nearly all forms of entertainment from movies and TV to internet memes are being turned into tools for propaganda.
- An Article: The Screen is the Battlefield by Scot Nakagawa
- Why: A great, and short, essay about the recent consolidations in American media, why it’s happening now, and ways that we can push back against the dominant narratives of the ruling class.
- A Video: The Project for the Next American Century (Video Essay) by The Conscious Citizens
- Why: We just released our latest video essay (based on our previous Deep Dive) about how the pillars that maintain US power around the world, the challenges to that power by China, and how that connects all of the US’s recent aggressive actions around the globe.
- A Podcast: How to Cultivate Radical Imagination with Rob Hopkins by Better Future Podcast
- Why: A great interview by our friend Michael Mezz from Better Future Media as he speaks to the co-founder of Transition Network about the need for a daring and radical vision for the future and how we can better embody that even when things look bleak.
- A Book: Orientalism by Edward Said
- Why: This is a foundational book to read this AAPI month if you haven’t already that has profoundly shaped how we interpret Western society and geopolitical issues. So much of our current media and academics reinforce an Orientalist worldview and it’s important to understand it if we want to move past it.
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"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”
–Earl Nightingale
Conscious Creatives: Corita Kent
Corita Kent was an American artist, educator, and social justice activist whose vibrant silkscreen prints made radical politics feel like a celebration. She spent over three decades as a nun and art teacher in Los Angeles and earned the nickname "the Pop Art nun" but she was anything but conventional because she spent her time quietly, joyfully radicalizing her students and anyone who came across her work. She taught at Immaculate Heart College, where her classroom became a legendary place where students learned to really see the world by finding meaning hiding inside a soup can label, a grocery store aisle, or a billboard on the freeway - the same instinct that drove her art.
Drawing from the visual language of Pop Art and inspiration from Andy Warhol (who was a fan!), Corita took everyday pop culture items like Wonder Bread wrappers, Del Monte tomato labels, and advertising slogans and wove them together with scripture, song lyrics, poetry, and her own handwriting to create prints that about love, poverty, racism, hunger, and the Vietnam War. She printed in large, unnumbered editions and kept her work deliberately affordable, because she believed art should belong to everyone, not just collectors. Kent worked tirelessly to transform Immaculate Heart College into a vehicle for bringing secular people together and she embraced many of the revolutionary movements of the 1960s, such as the anti-Vietnam War movement, Civil Rights movement, and Women’s Rights.
In 1968, exhausted and increasingly at odds with the conservative Catholic hierarchy in Los Angeles who labeled her work as “blasphemous” and her college “communist,” Corita left the convent and moved to Boston, where she lived alone for the first time at 50 years old. She learned how to drive and cook for the first time, went through cancer diagnoses and grief, and continuously worked on her art. By the time she died in 1986, she had created nearly 800 serigraph editions, thousands of watercolors, and even designed a Love postage stamp. Through her life and work, Corita reminds us that the symbols the powerful use to sell things can always be reclaimed to say something true, and that you don't have to choose between faith and politics, or joy and resistance; you can hold all of it at once.
Resources & Tools
Here are some recent adds to the directory. Please share these links with anyone that might find them helpful:
- Transition Network | A great international grassroots organization to get involved with that supports local communities around the world in building resilient, sustainable futures.
- 💰 Whisqr | A screening tool to learn if your investments are supporting ethical companies and what your money is really going toward. They help individual investors, financially curious beginners, and advanced self-directed portfolio managers who want stronger alignment between values and holdings.
- ⛑ Fast Alert | A free Emergency Alert System for public safety & rapid response that allows you to notify friends, neighbors, and family of danger anonymously - no apps or sign-ups required.
- 📓 How to Feed Your Community | A helpful guide by Food Not Bombs (FNB) for anyone wanting to feed their neighbors/localized community. If you’ve been waiting for a permission to help your community or thinking you need to work through an established non-profitor mutual aid group, please consider this “permission” to roll up your sleeves and just start doing!
- 🖼 Artist Opportunity Database | A helpful, non-exhaustive database by Fractured Atlas with active artist grants, awards, fellowships, open calls, and residencies from across the world–collected into one place for easy access.
➡️ Explore More on our Directory!
Know any resources that you think would be a great add to our directory? Share it with us! (We only see so much from our corner of the world)
If you're new here, don't forget to sign up to get full access to our directory and free newsletters sent to your inbox every other Sunday. Till next time, do your best and take it one day at a time. Care for yourself and the people around you. Believe that the world can be better than it is now. Never give up. And remember, you're not alone. We always have each other.
With Love & Light,
Elisa & Ray
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