Whether or not you made it to last week's reading group kick off, we hope you'll join us tomorrow to discuss the first section of Rebecca Solnit's "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster." We'll be talking about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 (pages 13-72) in the context of our own experiences with Hurricane Helene. This is also a cool section because it includes the origin story of the Catholic Worker Movement, a radical faith movement that inspired BeLoved Asheville!

Copies of "A Paradise Built in Hell" are available at Firestorm with a discount, or at no cost for participants in financial distress. We'll also be continuing to provide childcare for kids five and up, so please let us know the names and ages of the young folks you're bringing!

Full event details and schedule can be found at https://firestorm.coop/events/3290-beholden-to-each-other-a-disaster-reading-group.html

#HurricaneHelene #AparadiseBuiltInHell #DisasterCapitalism #MutualAid #FeministBookstore #CatholicWorker #ChristianAnarchism #FirestormCoop (- L)

In the initial weeks after the storm, I didn't find myself with much appetite for reading, but one book came up over and over in conversation—a 2009 title by Rebecca Solnit dealing with the surprising turn toward joyful solidarity many experience in the aftermath of disasters.

It's been years since I encountered "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster" as part of a local anarchist reading group. I'd never experienced a disaster, but Hurricane Katrina was still fresh for many who had been in NOLA to participate in mutual aid efforts, and the book left a deep, lasting impression. Read in tandem with "The Shock Doctrine," a contemporaneous title on how elites exploit disasters to consolidate power, we developed an understanding of disasters as profoundly political events—contested space in which communities, politicians, and corporations all struggle to renegotiate the terms of everyday life for better... or for worse.

In the aftermath of a historic Appalachian disaster, a return to "A Paradise Built in Hell" feels necessary. Not only to understand what we've experienced, but to envision an Appalachian future worth fighting for. We'll be starting our reading group next Monday. It's ok if you don't yet have a copy of the book; we'll read the preface together and set the stage for five sessions. Books will be made available at no cost to participants who don't have the money available to buy one!

Firestorm is planning childcare for this event (ages 5+), so please email [email protected] with the names and ages of kids you’re bringing. More information, and the book, can be found at https://firestorm.coop/events/3290-beholden-to-each-other-a-disaster-reading-group.html.

#HurricaneHelene #AparadiseBuiltInHell #DisasterCapitalism #MutualAid #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (- L)