DJO August Newsletter
Writing during genocide, new releases, a podcast, the Acolyte...
It’s almost September!
It’s still hot as shit in New Orleans but technically, supposedly, allegedly — Fall is coming or whatever. I dunno, man.
We’re coming up on a year of the genocide in Gaza. The end does not appear to be in sight. The peace talks that the president and VP keep boasting about are very clearly an ongoing delay tactic. Israel seems to have just opened up a new front in the West Bank with the most brutal incursion there in years. Universities have spent the summer coming up with new ways to censor, oppress, and silence pro-Palestinian students, and twisting already words into new meanings just to justify it all. Please read this earth-shaking piece by Huda Fakrheddine on being a Palestinian in academia during this genocide. Meanwhile, the nation’s largest free speech org, PEN America, hasn’t really had anything useful to say about it all beyond their regularly scheduled tepid concern. And that’s why we’re boycotting that ass.
The whole of it is sickening to behold, even worse to be paying for, which we are, here in the US.
Palestinian writer Randa Jarrar shared this excerpt of the book Palestine is My Country — The Story of Musa Alami with me. It speaks about a tradition in late 19th century Palestine of considering male children born near each other in time and place as brothers, a closeness that would last their entire lives. Palestinian Jews would participate in this along with everyone else, until the rise of zionism in the 1920s put an end to all that, and…here we are today.
Something in that tiny story reached inside of me and wrenched open yet another deep well of both sorrow and hope. We’ve seen so many broken, bleeding, burnt bodies of children and adults in the past year, I know my own mind doesn’t know what to do with the horror anymore — it’s not numbness at all, just a kind of dizzying constant sense of falling, falling forever falling and not knowing which way is up anymore.
I’m reminded of something one of my own characters once taught me, though — that a scar isn’t just the story of the wound, but also the healing. This little bit of history, — it reminded me that things haven’t always been this way, that they don’t have to be this way, and that they won’t always be this way. Another world is indeed on her way, as Arundhati Roy told us, and she’s much closer than we can imagine. In many ways, we bring forward that new world every time we gather, protest, raise our voices for freedom. Those are sacred spaces. It’s not linear, but there are turning points ahead, and freedom — the real kind, the kind that we only truly have when everyone has it — awaits.
All I know is that we keep fighting for it, keep saying no to empire and yes to one another, to community, lifting each other up, and finding new ways to rise and meet the moment.
Anyway, hang in there. One way or another — ¡Pa’lante!
STAR WARS RELEASES
If you’ve been thinking you want to jump into the High Republic Adventures, the time is now! The trade paperback of The High Republic Adventures was released this week and it’s a perfect entrance point into this third and final Phase of our gigantic, cross-platform initiative. Even if you don’t know anything about this era or Star Wars itself, this arc was designed to fill you in on all you need to know. It contains THRA issues #1-5 and you can pick it up wherever books are sold! This book has some legendary artists, including resident THRA illustrator Harvey Tolibao and newcomers Elisa Ramboli and Nick Brokenshire.
My new installment of the Crash Ongwa one-shots Crash and Burn is out on Wednesday!
After rescuing Nihil villain Krix Kamerat from a Republic prison, vigilante Crash Ongwa and her crew team up with the former Nihil to hunt down Marchion Ro. But taking out the infamous warlord is easier said than done, especially when the insufferable Krix is involved. Can Crash and her newfound partner overcome their differences, or will infighting be their downfall?
As promised, here are two little sneak peaks of this monumental issue, with fantastic art by Nick Brokenshire:
Also this week, I had the honor of chatting on Sithty Minutes about the ongoing boycott of PEN America. Listen to our discussion on writing during genocide and how organizing is a creative process.
Finally, I want to share some thoughts about canceling Star Wars: The Acolyte. As a original member of The High Republic Team, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this Star Wars era blossom first hand. The Acolyte was a brilliant extension into live action television that brought our worlds and characters to life in ways we never could have imagined. Its deep and thoughtful meditations on the Force, the path of the Jedi, and the crucial turning point in Galactic history were a breath of fresh air and I’ll be thinking about all of it for a long long time. Disney cancelling this show after only one season came as a huge shock to me just as it did with many of you. Star of the show, Amandla Stenberg, shared their thoughts via Instagram story the other day, saying they were not suprised by the show’s cancelation. Stenberg noted that the targeted hate to her and the show affected her when they first were hired onto the show, however she’s “moved through those feelings in various ways, including being vocal about it myself… It just became inarguable for me, at a certain point, that in order to continue to be myself, I would have to honor my value system by being vocal even in the context of working for Disney.”
As a fellow loudmouth (affectionate) and Star Wars creative, I love that she’s been so true to herself, and I hate that she’s faced so much hatred for it, and that that hatred was so predictable. Amandla goes out of their way in the video to very genuinely shout out Lucasfilm and thank them for being such an amazing team to work with, and I can honestly say the same about my own experience with them. It has, overall, been one of the most terrific, fun, and inspiring creative experiences of my career. At the same time, it’s disheartening that neither Disney nor Lucasfilm have bothered to make a public statement standing by her or explaining the sudden end of The Acolyte. I don’t know anything about the inner workings of these decisions or what real reasons for one thing or another are, but it doesn’t matter much, because at the end of the day not saying anything leaves the creatives on the front lines hung out to dry while catching terrible abuse just for existing, and that same silence allows the worst narratives to run rampant, unchecked. And now here we are — down one terrific show, and with the most vulnerable people once again speaking up, becoming even more vulnerable for doing it, while the most powerful people stay cozy quiet and comfortable. It’s exhausting, bro. But, speaking for myself, I’d be even more exhausted keeping my mouth shut.
There are higher powers to serve than eagles, donkeys, and mice, and that’s a thing worth remembering.
Stenberg also said something that I would like to echo here. They said: “It has been an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe… I just want to let those people know out there who supported us in that way, and supported us vocally — despite and in the face of all of the vitriol that we received and the kind of the targeted attack, I would say, we received by the alt-right — just that you were deeply loved and appreciated.”
Amidst all the chaos and contention and discourse and lack of public support and everything else, though, there are beautiful communities bursting with joy and creativity for the High Republic in all its mediums. Amandla Stenberg and the whole Acolyte team, is and forever will be a part of our High Republic family, and I am so glad they were able to see some of the flourishing love for their work shine through.
That’s all for now, see you next month!
— D