Black Earth Institute
@blackearthinst.bsky.social
We are community of artist-fellows and scholar-advisors | A progressive think-tank dedicated to re-forging the links between art and spirit, earth and society. | blackearthinstitute.org | Publisher of the literary journal: @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
Pinned
Call for Submissions ➡️ The Ground Beneath Us: Place, Power, and Resistance. | We seek works that engage with land, home, borders, environment, and community, not as static backdrops, but as living terrains that hold grief, memory, & the seeds of transformation. aboutplacejournal.org/submissions/
Submissions – About Place Journal
Call for submissions of poetry, prose, visual art, multimedia and hybrid work that explore place as a site of struggle and survival.
aboutplacejournal.org
The call for the next issue of About Place Journal, "The Ground Beneath Us: Place, Power, and Resistance," is now open. We would love to have your work!
🗓️ Submission period: January 1 to March 10, 2026
🖋️ Editorial team: Amanda Ngoho Reavey, Seth Copeland, Nora Boxer & Beatrice Szymkowiak. #LitMag
🗓️ Submission period: January 1 to March 10, 2026
🖋️ Editorial team: Amanda Ngoho Reavey, Seth Copeland, Nora Boxer & Beatrice Szymkowiak. #LitMag
Read #BlackEarthInstitute Fellow Tom Montgomery Fate’s new review, “Poetry as the Art of Activism,” @terrainorg.bsky.social.
He says: "What readers will find is that this 'joyful resistance' springs from the poets’ radical attentiveness to the world around them..."
www.terrain.org/2026/reviews...
He says: "What readers will find is that this 'joyful resistance' springs from the poets’ radical attentiveness to the world around them..."
www.terrain.org/2026/reviews...
The Nature of Our Times: Poetry as the Art of Activism - Terrain.org
Tom Montgomery Fate reviews The Nature of Our Times: Poems on America's Lands, Waters, Wildlife, and Other Natural Wonders.
www.terrain.org
February 9, 2026 at 2:20 AM
Read #BlackEarthInstitute Fellow Tom Montgomery Fate’s new review, “Poetry as the Art of Activism,” @terrainorg.bsky.social.
He says: "What readers will find is that this 'joyful resistance' springs from the poets’ radical attentiveness to the world around them..."
www.terrain.org/2026/reviews...
He says: "What readers will find is that this 'joyful resistance' springs from the poets’ radical attentiveness to the world around them..."
www.terrain.org/2026/reviews...
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
Our culture’s inability to believe women has brought our democracy to its knees.
February 3, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Our culture’s inability to believe women has brought our democracy to its knees.
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
Haitians in America worry they’re Trump’s next target www.vox.com/politics/478...
Haitians in America worry they’re Trump’s next target
The president falsely accused Haitians in Ohio of eating pets. Now he’s trying to deport them.
www.vox.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:25 PM
Haitians in America worry they’re Trump’s next target www.vox.com/politics/478...
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
Crazy photo of me, but I stand by what I said. Thank you for coming to Springfield, Michelle Goldberg. Thank you for the truth://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/opinion/ohio-resistance-trump-ice.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JlA.SauA.VyZweSlydP6S
Opinion | In Ohio, I Caught a Glimpse of the New Resistance
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Crazy photo of me, but I stand by what I said. Thank you for coming to Springfield, Michelle Goldberg. Thank you for the truth://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/opinion/ohio-resistance-trump-ice.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JlA.SauA.VyZweSlydP6S
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
The call for the next issue of About Place Journal, "The Ground Beneath Us: Place, Power, and Resistance," is now open. We would love to have your work!
🗓️ Submission period: January 1 to March 10, 2026
🖋️ Editorial team: Amanda Ngoho Reavey, Seth Copeland, Nora Boxer & Beatrice Szymkowiak. #LitMag
🗓️ Submission period: January 1 to March 10, 2026
🖋️ Editorial team: Amanda Ngoho Reavey, Seth Copeland, Nora Boxer & Beatrice Szymkowiak. #LitMag
Call for Submissions ➡️ The Ground Beneath Us: Place, Power, and Resistance. | We seek works that engage with land, home, borders, environment, and community, not as static backdrops, but as living terrains that hold grief, memory, & the seeds of transformation. aboutplacejournal.org/submissions/
Submissions – About Place Journal
Call for submissions of poetry, prose, visual art, multimedia and hybrid work that explore place as a site of struggle and survival.
aboutplacejournal.org
January 1, 2026 at 4:17 PM
The call for the next issue of About Place Journal, "The Ground Beneath Us: Place, Power, and Resistance," is now open. We would love to have your work!
🗓️ Submission period: January 1 to March 10, 2026
🖋️ Editorial team: Amanda Ngoho Reavey, Seth Copeland, Nora Boxer & Beatrice Szymkowiak. #LitMag
🗓️ Submission period: January 1 to March 10, 2026
🖋️ Editorial team: Amanda Ngoho Reavey, Seth Copeland, Nora Boxer & Beatrice Szymkowiak. #LitMag
Lauren Camp’s new poetry collection, Is Is Enough, will be released on February 18 from @tamupress.bsky.social
Camp is a #BlackEarthInstitute Emeritus Fellow.
"The collection flickers through and locates in distorted realities, loss, and gentling."
www.tamupress.com/book/9781680...
Camp is a #BlackEarthInstitute Emeritus Fellow.
"The collection flickers through and locates in distorted realities, loss, and gentling."
www.tamupress.com/book/9781680...
Is Is Enough
Is Is Enough begins in heritage and harmony then breaks apart into the strange world and tautly stretched emotions that accompany dementia. The collection fl...
www.tamupress.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:28 AM
Lauren Camp’s new poetry collection, Is Is Enough, will be released on February 18 from @tamupress.bsky.social
Camp is a #BlackEarthInstitute Emeritus Fellow.
"The collection flickers through and locates in distorted realities, loss, and gentling."
www.tamupress.com/book/9781680...
Camp is a #BlackEarthInstitute Emeritus Fellow.
"The collection flickers through and locates in distorted realities, loss, and gentling."
www.tamupress.com/book/9781680...
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
The passing. Gifts from the ocean. One stone from the beach for today’s full moon and the Cailleach’s retreat. Three stones gathered above high tide line like drops of sun-drenched honey for Brigid on her day. 1/3
February 1, 2026 at 10:18 PM
The passing. Gifts from the ocean. One stone from the beach for today’s full moon and the Cailleach’s retreat. Three stones gathered above high tide line like drops of sun-drenched honey for Brigid on her day. 1/3
Congratulations to #BlackEarthInstitute Emeritus Fellow Mary Swander whose new touring play 'Coop' is based on "historical fiction, an enactment of true stories of Amish, Mennonite, and other conscientious objectors during WWI and WWII."
Check out the upcoming 2026 dates ⬇️
maryswander.com/coop/
Check out the upcoming 2026 dates ⬇️
maryswander.com/coop/
Coop: Mary Swander's new play tours the Midwest - Mary Swander
“Riveting. Inventive. Coop is a play in the best sense of the word, an artful mix of both seriousness and fun.” ... Read More →
maryswander.com
February 2, 2026 at 2:06 AM
Congratulations to #BlackEarthInstitute Emeritus Fellow Mary Swander whose new touring play 'Coop' is based on "historical fiction, an enactment of true stories of Amish, Mennonite, and other conscientious objectors during WWI and WWII."
Check out the upcoming 2026 dates ⬇️
maryswander.com/coop/
Check out the upcoming 2026 dates ⬇️
maryswander.com/coop/
📖 New book by Fellow Alexis Lathem:
"Through elegant prose and insightful investigations into pressing contemporary issues, Lathem evokes the world of her farm and the surrounding countryside with a spiritual awareness of the human journey on this earth."
www.umasspress.com/978162534901...
"Through elegant prose and insightful investigations into pressing contemporary issues, Lathem evokes the world of her farm and the surrounding countryside with a spiritual awareness of the human journey on this earth."
www.umasspress.com/978162534901...
Lambs in Winter
Finding hope in a small farm, an engaged community, and an age-old connection to the earth After half a lifetime spent moving from place to place, Alexis Lat...
www.umasspress.com
February 1, 2026 at 3:11 AM
📖 New book by Fellow Alexis Lathem:
"Through elegant prose and insightful investigations into pressing contemporary issues, Lathem evokes the world of her farm and the surrounding countryside with a spiritual awareness of the human journey on this earth."
www.umasspress.com/978162534901...
"Through elegant prose and insightful investigations into pressing contemporary issues, Lathem evokes the world of her farm and the surrounding countryside with a spiritual awareness of the human journey on this earth."
www.umasspress.com/978162534901...
ICYMI: Backlit Podcast episode with #BlackEarthInstitute Fellow Laura-Gray Street.
➡️ "Weaving together gender, industrialization, ecology and work, Laura-Gray’s work sparks new insights as we approach literature and life as an opportunity for discovery."
www.abenantoso.com/podcast/back...
➡️ "Weaving together gender, industrialization, ecology and work, Laura-Gray’s work sparks new insights as we approach literature and life as an opportunity for discovery."
www.abenantoso.com/podcast/back...
Abena Ntoso - Just Labor: Work, Gender and Writing in the Modern Age
Backlit Podcast
with Abena Ntoso
Just Labor: Work, Gender, and Writing in the Modern Age
www.abenantoso.com
January 29, 2026 at 5:24 PM
ICYMI: Backlit Podcast episode with #BlackEarthInstitute Fellow Laura-Gray Street.
➡️ "Weaving together gender, industrialization, ecology and work, Laura-Gray’s work sparks new insights as we approach literature and life as an opportunity for discovery."
www.abenantoso.com/podcast/back...
➡️ "Weaving together gender, industrialization, ecology and work, Laura-Gray’s work sparks new insights as we approach literature and life as an opportunity for discovery."
www.abenantoso.com/podcast/back...
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
Given that there is no intelligence, wisdom or grace in the Trump White House, we will have to see/hear them lie about the lives of American citizens that they have destroyed. Keith Porter, Jr. Renee Nicole Good, and Alex Pretti should be alive. Now is time for resistance & defiance. #abolishICE
January 26, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Given that there is no intelligence, wisdom or grace in the Trump White House, we will have to see/hear them lie about the lives of American citizens that they have destroyed. Keith Porter, Jr. Renee Nicole Good, and Alex Pretti should be alive. Now is time for resistance & defiance. #abolishICE
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
"In a fractured age, when cynicism is god, here is a possible heresy: we live by stories, we also live in them. One way or another we are living the stories planted in us early or along the way, we are also living the stories we planted -- knowingly or unknowingly -- in ourselves.
January 27, 2026 at 3:59 AM
"In a fractured age, when cynicism is god, here is a possible heresy: we live by stories, we also live in them. One way or another we are living the stories planted in us early or along the way, we are also living the stories we planted -- knowingly or unknowingly -- in ourselves.
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
Kid randomly reading The Book of Disquiet by Pessoa before class. Not for a class just out of interest. It was like having an Irish Red Deer stare down at me off the mountains, hold me in its gaze for a moment and move off to high ground. Youthful readers of difficult texts albeit rare still exist
January 29, 2026 at 4:15 AM
Kid randomly reading The Book of Disquiet by Pessoa before class. Not for a class just out of interest. It was like having an Irish Red Deer stare down at me off the mountains, hold me in its gaze for a moment and move off to high ground. Youthful readers of difficult texts albeit rare still exist
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
In online culture, at least, too much energy goes into trying to persuade the unpersuadable, convince the unconvincible, understand the inconceivable. We are finite beings; it seems better to devote that energy to mobilizing the sane.
January 25, 2026 at 3:56 PM
In online culture, at least, too much energy goes into trying to persuade the unpersuadable, convince the unconvincible, understand the inconceivable. We are finite beings; it seems better to devote that energy to mobilizing the sane.
You love your home
but leave it, visit when
shells cease and soldiers
go to military tents
beyond the concrete
tons of Ukrainian grief.
From 'Epistle to Liubov Tymchenko'
by Theresa Senato Edwards (poem), Lori Schreiner (painting)
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
but leave it, visit when
shells cease and soldiers
go to military tents
beyond the concrete
tons of Ukrainian grief.
From 'Epistle to Liubov Tymchenko'
by Theresa Senato Edwards (poem), Lori Schreiner (painting)
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
January 24, 2026 at 3:10 AM
You love your home
but leave it, visit when
shells cease and soldiers
go to military tents
beyond the concrete
tons of Ukrainian grief.
From 'Epistle to Liubov Tymchenko'
by Theresa Senato Edwards (poem), Lori Schreiner (painting)
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
but leave it, visit when
shells cease and soldiers
go to military tents
beyond the concrete
tons of Ukrainian grief.
From 'Epistle to Liubov Tymchenko'
by Theresa Senato Edwards (poem), Lori Schreiner (painting)
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
"I moved to New Mexico decades ago on a whim, entranced by the high desert spaciousness and the fidelity of the light. I haven’t tired of what there is to see and learn here. This landscape teaches me patience and attention."
-Lauren Camp, Emeritus Fellow
otherwisecollective.com/camp-issue-19
-Lauren Camp, Emeritus Fellow
otherwisecollective.com/camp-issue-19
Lauren Camp — OTHERWISE COLLECTIVE
PHQ Issue 19 - Lauren Camp
otherwisecollective.com
January 24, 2026 at 3:00 AM
"I moved to New Mexico decades ago on a whim, entranced by the high desert spaciousness and the fidelity of the light. I haven’t tired of what there is to see and learn here. This landscape teaches me patience and attention."
-Lauren Camp, Emeritus Fellow
otherwisecollective.com/camp-issue-19
-Lauren Camp, Emeritus Fellow
otherwisecollective.com/camp-issue-19
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
apnews.com/article/minn...
Thousands rally against immigration enforcement in subzero Minnesota temperatures
The citizens of Minnesota are holding the line for all who believe in Democracy.
Thousands rally against immigration enforcement in subzero Minnesota temperatures
The citizens of Minnesota are holding the line for all who believe in Democracy.
Thousands rally against immigration enforcement in subzero Minnesota temperatures
Police have arrested about 100 clergy who were demonstrating against immigration enforcement at Minnesota’s largest airport.
apnews.com
January 23, 2026 at 11:27 PM
apnews.com/article/minn...
Thousands rally against immigration enforcement in subzero Minnesota temperatures
The citizens of Minnesota are holding the line for all who believe in Democracy.
Thousands rally against immigration enforcement in subzero Minnesota temperatures
The citizens of Minnesota are holding the line for all who believe in Democracy.
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
There is so much ugliness in the world that sometimes I need a little break to remember the importance of beauty. youtu.be/CPUSVZf3elM?...
Ólafur Arnalds & Talos - We Didn't Know We Were Ready (feat. Niamh Regan & Ye Vagabonds)
YouTube video by Ólafur Arnalds
youtu.be
January 22, 2026 at 11:29 PM
There is so much ugliness in the world that sometimes I need a little break to remember the importance of beauty. youtu.be/CPUSVZf3elM?...
Exciting news! On March 6th, at 6:00pm, Cutthroat and the #BlackEarthInstitute @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social are holding a reading during the @awpwriter.org conference at the Black Genius Art Show. We hope that you can join us.
January 21, 2026 at 2:24 AM
Exciting news! On March 6th, at 6:00pm, Cutthroat and the #BlackEarthInstitute @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social are holding a reading during the @awpwriter.org conference at the Black Genius Art Show. We hope that you can join us.
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
~ Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
~ Robert Frost
January 20, 2026 at 3:19 AM
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
~ Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
~ Robert Frost
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
Coined a new term over coffee this AM: Bloast. To bloast is to take the blame for something in a way that asserts a pleased ownership. E.g. you bloast that you fired the shot igniting the revolution. Or, yours was the fart that was strangely audible and had a ferocious pungency at the opera.
January 18, 2026 at 3:25 PM
Coined a new term over coffee this AM: Bloast. To bloast is to take the blame for something in a way that asserts a pleased ownership. E.g. you bloast that you fired the shot igniting the revolution. Or, yours was the fart that was strangely audible and had a ferocious pungency at the opera.
We’ve traveled to a field with its inner
servings of sand and wolves. The sand is owned and never
appears on a map because the owners want its hard
tender invisible. The space trembles and is built up and seems
-Lauren Camp, #BlackEarthInstitute Emeritus Fellow
www.thenation.com/article/cult...
servings of sand and wolves. The sand is owned and never
appears on a map because the owners want its hard
tender invisible. The space trembles and is built up and seems
-Lauren Camp, #BlackEarthInstitute Emeritus Fellow
www.thenation.com/article/cult...
Love Loves
www.thenation.com
January 17, 2026 at 2:10 AM
We’ve traveled to a field with its inner
servings of sand and wolves. The sand is owned and never
appears on a map because the owners want its hard
tender invisible. The space trembles and is built up and seems
-Lauren Camp, #BlackEarthInstitute Emeritus Fellow
www.thenation.com/article/cult...
servings of sand and wolves. The sand is owned and never
appears on a map because the owners want its hard
tender invisible. The space trembles and is built up and seems
-Lauren Camp, #BlackEarthInstitute Emeritus Fellow
www.thenation.com/article/cult...
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
My mantra to keep myself from spiraling out. Employed every time I start to slip into doom.
January 16, 2026 at 5:29 PM
My mantra to keep myself from spiraling out. Employed every time I start to slip into doom.
Reposted by Black Earth Institute
Young twins, somber eyes
below scuffed foreheads. The artist’s painting holds
you amid the ship’s sway before disembarkment
from a porthole you’ll never stop looking through.
Poet - Theresa Senato Edwards / Artist - Lori Schreiner
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
below scuffed foreheads. The artist’s painting holds
you amid the ship’s sway before disembarkment
from a porthole you’ll never stop looking through.
Poet - Theresa Senato Edwards / Artist - Lori Schreiner
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
January 17, 2026 at 1:57 AM
Young twins, somber eyes
below scuffed foreheads. The artist’s painting holds
you amid the ship’s sway before disembarkment
from a porthole you’ll never stop looking through.
Poet - Theresa Senato Edwards / Artist - Lori Schreiner
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
below scuffed foreheads. The artist’s painting holds
you amid the ship’s sway before disembarkment
from a porthole you’ll never stop looking through.
Poet - Theresa Senato Edwards / Artist - Lori Schreiner
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...