Ep 19 - Practicing New Worlds with Andrea J. Ritchie

The squad hops back into the lab one more time to discuss our convos with three community crisis response projects: REP, Cambridge HEART, and Care-Based Safety. Dame and Kiss are joined by Deana Lewis and Eva Nagao. Deana is a founding member of Just Practice Collaborative–a group that builds communities’ capacities to respond to intimate partner violence and sexual assault without relying on state-based systems. Eva is a member of Interrupting Criminalization, a movement resource hub offering information and networks for advocates building a world free of criminalization.As our sociopolitical reality births crisis after crisis, the 1ME squad of Dame, Kiss, and Eva dig deep with three different experiments to learn how we can better show up in moments of communal and structural crisis. As we figure out what redefining and creating safety look like under the carceral conditions of our time, it’s just as true as ever that we don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments.SHOW NOTESSupport REP - https://repformn.org/support-this-work/Support Cambridge HEART - https://cambridgeheart.networkforgood.com/Support Care-Based Safety - https://secure.givelively.org/donate/non-profit-nonprofit-enterprise-at-work-inc/care-based-safetyWatch the 1ME film - https://www.respairmedia.com/one-million-experimentsCheck out 1ME online - millionexperiments.comLearn more about Respair - respairmedia.com

One Million Experiments is back in your ear for Season 3, and we're diving deep with experiments around community crisis response! As our sociopolitical reality births crisis after crisis, the 1ME squad of Dame, Kiss, and Eva dig deep with three different experiments to learn how we can better show up in moments of communal and structural crisis. They also  are joined on every episode’s Peer Review by special guest Deana Lewis, a founding member of Just Practice Collaborative–a group that builds communities’ capacities to respond to intimate partner violence and sexual assault without relying on state-based systems. As we figure out what redefining and creating safety look like under the carceral conditions of our time, it’s just as true as ever that we don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments.On Episode 3 of this season, the crew talks with Liz Kennedy and Sheri Wander of Care-Based Safety, an experiment working in the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti in Michigan to build a community response program that brings loving, unarmed support to people directly impacted by structural violence – without police. Currently in the third iteration of their pilot program, they are a daily downtown presence in downtown Ypsilanti responding to crises as they arise in real time, including: basic first aid (wound care, wellness checks); overdose prevention, reversal, and aftercare; noise complaints and neighbor concerns; and distress related to mental health and other stressors. Liz and Sheri talk through how they've battled cooptation, their collective decision-making practice, and how they've learned to make sure their presence is both welcome and useful.SHOW NOTESSupport Care-Based Safety - https://www.instagram.com/carebasedsafetyWatch the 1ME film - https://www.respairmedia.com/one-million-experimentsCheck out 1ME online - millionexperiments.comLearn more about Respair - respairmedia.com

One Million Experiments is back in your ear for Season 3, and we're diving deep with experiments around community crisis response! As our sociopolitical reality births crisis after crisis, the 1ME squad of Dame, Kiss, and Eva dig deep with three different experiments to learn how we can better show up in moments of communal and structural crisis. They also  are joined on every episode’s Peer Review by special guest Deana Lewis, a founding member of Just Practice Collaborative–a group that builds communities’ capacities to respond to intimate partner violence and sexual assault without relying on state-based systems. As we figure out what redefining and creating safety look like under the carceral conditions of our time, it’s just as true as ever that we don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments.On this episode we chop it up with Dara Bayer, a founding member and former co-director of Cambridge HEART. An ongoing experiment born from the 2020 uprising, Dara and her comrades have rigorously wrestled with the challenges of scaling a crisis response organization in the face of cooptation, divestment, and the challenges that emerge from centering those most impacted by carceral systems. In the early days of her step away from leadership, Dara reflects on what she's learned building this experiment with love, dedication, and commitment to her people.SHOW NOTESPainting the Ocean & the Sky by Shira Hassan - https://www.interruptingcriminalization.com/resources-all/ocean-skySupport Cambridge HEART - https://cambridgeheart.networkforgood.com/Watch the 1ME film - https://www.respairmedia.com/one-million-experimentsCheck out 1ME online - millionexperiments.comLearn more about Respair - respairmedia.com

One Million Experiments is back in your ear for Season 3, and we're diving deep with experiments around community crisis response! As our sociopolitical reality births crisis after crisis, the 1ME squad of Dame, Kiss, and Eva dig deep with three different experiments to learn how we can better show up in moments of communal and structural crisis. They also  are joined on every episode’s Peer Review by special guest Deana Lewis, a founding member of Just Practice Collaborative–a group that builds communities’ capacities to respond to intimate partner violence and sexual assault without relying on state-based systems. As we figure out what redefining and creating safety look like under the carceral conditions of our time, it’s just as true as ever that we don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments.On this episode we welcome back organizers from REP (Relationships Evolving Possibilities), a true experiment made up of dedicated community members showing up to support others in moments of crisis or urgency, with care and respect for the full dignity and autonomy of the people in crisis. REP core members Rox and Jason break down how they've learned to stay grounded in heightened moments, what committing to each other for ten years has made possible for the group, and much more.SHOW NOTESReceive support from the REP hotline - 952-737-3730Watch the episode on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu5_d2IGmSAConnect with REP - https://repformn.org/Watch the 1ME film - https://www.respairmedia.com/one-million-experimentsCheck out 1ME online - millionexperiments.comLearn more about Respair - respairmedia.com

The 1ME squad has some announcements to make to you, the public! First off: the One Million Experiments film is now available online on Apple TV, Google Play, and Youtube Movies–check out the film and spread the word. Next, the podcast is coming back this summer for Season 3: Crisis, a suite of brand-new episodes focused on what we can learn crisis response in our communities to help us move through the sociopolitical crisis of this moment. And last but not least, we're hyped to announce 1ME: In the Field, a new travel show from Respair coming Fall 2025! Five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to reconnect with the experiments featured on the 1ME podcast, explore the spaces and places these local organizers call home, and showcase the vibrant, joyful conversation creating new possibilities for wellness and protection. Continuing the work of the podcast and film, the series makes tangible and irresistible the community-built definitions and strategies for safety that are already being created, and serves as an antidote to the despair created when carceral systems are the only option. We don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments. Watch the film on Apple: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/one-million-experiments/umc.cmc.68zguswxm7obivz6mc84a68zk Watch the film on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/One_Million_Experiments?id=inFVsotZISU.P&hl=en_US Lock in to the Respair youtube channel for In the Field: https://www.youtube.com/@RespairMedia Check out 1ME: https://millionexperiments.com/

The crew snuck back into the lab for this bonus episode of One Million Experiments! Dame and Kiss talk with Martina and Matt from Collective Justice, a Seattle-based restorative justice organization brought together by a diverse group of survivors and imprisoned community members in Washington State. Between their work with survivors of violence and survivors within the "belly of the beast" of jails and prisons, Collective Justice shows the revolutionary possibilities of connecting the different dots on the spectrum of harm and violence.SHOW NOTESFind One Million Experiments on tour! - https://www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] with Collective Justice -https://www.collectivejusticenw.org/RSVP for the Seattle screening of 1ME on 7/24/24! - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/one-million-experiments-screening-conversation-washington-hall-tickets-886455972677

This is it! We've reached the end of Season 2, and the last episode of 1ME (for now). And who better to close us out than our OG partner in decriminalization and 1ME creator Mariame Kaba. Mariame returns to the show to discuss what she's learned across twenty episodes of the show, the importance of movement-led archival work, how she understands the shifts in our political landscape since 2020, and the importance of the choir. Let's go out in style!SHOW NOTESBook a screening of the 1ME film! - Hit us up at [email protected] Peep 1ME - http://millionexperiments.com

On the penultimate episode of One Million Experiments, our hosts turn to collaborator and movement mentor Andrea J. RItchie. Andrea, who is the cofounder of Interrupting Criminalization, talks about how the emergent power of movement can sustain us as people and communities in the face of state violence. She also explores what she learned in the creation of her new book Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies.SHOW NOTESPracticing New Worlds by Andrea J. Ritchie - https://www.akpress.org/practicing-new-worlds.html Octavia Butler - https://www.octaviabutler.com/

The 1ME squad has the honor of talking with Vivien Sansour, the founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library (PHSL), which seeks to preserve and promote heritage and threatened seed varieties, traditional Palestinian farming practices, and the cultural stories and identities associated with them. Recorded five weeks into the 2023 flashpoint of genocidal violence enacted upon Gazans and Palestinians across Israel/Palestine, Vivien reflects on how she is surviving from across the ocean, how she loves seeds more than ever before, and what is at stake for all of us in this test of our humanity.SHOW NOTESJoin the 12/8 vigil on the Bard College campus - https://www.instagram.com/p/C0MIO7jMfJK/Support Vivien and the Seed Library - https://viviensansour.com/

The 1ME crew welcomes the homies from Just Practice Collaborative, a training and mentoring group focused on sustaining a community of practitioners that provide community-based accountability and support structures for all parties involved with incidents and patterns of sexual, domestic, relationship, and intimate community violence. Collaborative members Shira Hassan and Deana Lewis talk through the intentionality of their design, what Transformative Justice should and shouldn’t be used for, and the importance of relationship to political experimentation.SHOW NOTES Critical Resistance - https://criticalresistance.org/INCITE - https://incite-national.org/Fumbling Towards Repair - https://www.akpress.org/fumbling-towards-repair.htmlCreative Interventions Toolkit - https://www.creative-interventions.org/toolkit/Rachel Caidor - https://just-practice.org/rachel-caidorSaving Our Own Lives by Shira Hassan - https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1938-saving-our-own-livesCombahee River Collective - https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/combahee-river-collective-statement-1977/ Are the Cops in our Heads and Hearts By Paula X. Rojas - https://sfonline.barnard.edu/paula-rojas-are-the-cops-in-our-heads-and-hearts/Pods and Pod Mapping Worksheet by BAY AREA TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE COLLECTIVE - https://batjc.wordpress.com/resources/pods-and-pod-mapping-worksheet/NAVIGATING CONFLICT IN MOVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS by AORTA - https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e9ddc272ee6fa03a5f1ccbe/t/606249bda86e8a2d9f9902bc/1617054141617/CONFLICT+IN+MOVEMENT+ORGANIZATIONS_handout.pdfHealing Justice Lineages by Cara Page & Erica Woodland - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710523/healing-justice-lineages-by-cara-page/Let This Radicalize You by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba - https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1922-let-this-radicalize-youPracticing New Worlds by Andrea Ritchie - https://www.akpress.org/practicing-new-worlds.html