Happy May Day, my friends
Workers of the world: unite!
Some of my favorite days of the year are the ones that celebrate and uplift the working class. International Women’s Day was originally known as International Working Women’s Day, and was created in order to acknowledge the labor of third-world women all over the globe.
May Day, in that same vein, is also known as International Workers’ Day, and is intended to celebrate laborers and working class people worldwide.
This year I’ve been lucky to be part of the editorial board of the newly revamped Abolition Journal, a spinoff of Abolition School. Both have become sort of my organizing homes over the past few months, and today, May Day, Abolition Journal has officially soft launched.
It’s been such an honor to work on this project with people I admire so much in the Philly organizing space. Chris Rogers, one of the original facilitators of Abolition School, brought me into the fold in Fall of last year. He has always been really supportive of my writing and my other work, and is part of the reason I can feel my imposter syndrome around writing diminishing. I’ve also really appreciated the opportunity to work on the other side of the writing process as an editor. The group that Chris has put together as this editorial board has been so nice to get to know. We all have very varied backgrounds, strengths, and experiences, and it’s been really beneficial to have all these eyes and opinions on so many different pieces.
We got so many submissions, and a few of them were even from my good friends and comrades. The theme of our pilot issue is ‘Everyday Shit',’ and learning just how abolition manifests in the everyday for people around the city (and beyond) has been so cool and rewarding. I’m really really excited for people to read all the pieces and learn from the various voices we put together.
We’re aiming to raise $60,000 and have created a GoFundme to do so. You can read more about the project and about where the money is going on the fundraiser page as well. Again, I’m really excited for this to be out in the world and I can’t wait to hear people’s thoughts!
