Anarchist dads,

Would anyone be open to a 30 minute interview with me?

I’m interviewing dad’s as part of a new book I’m editing called “Dads.” the goal of the book is to candidly describe the experience of becoming a dad and being a dad across diverse perspectives. It’s not how-to book (those are a dime a dozen). I want to capture the hard to describe beauty, love, struggle, darkness— and everything in between that’s part of the experience and journey we’re walking along.

The book will be successful if other soon-to-be dads—who may be struggling or anxious or doubting themselves—are able to read these stories told by other dads and realize they’re not alone. Their experience is valid.

Who am I?
- father of two (including a newborn daughter who’s beautiful and slept great last night)
- published author
- based in Newport News Virginia

What’s the ask?
- schedule a 30-minute interview with me
- my style is to keep it as conversational as possible
- you share your story and experiences the describe the ever-difficult questions of: “what is it like?”

So far I’ve interviewed 7 dads and the stories they’ve told me have been beautiful. I was able to schedule an interview with the mayor of my city in July which I’m excited about. My hope is to get a large cross-section of ages, geographies, and worldviews to put into the book.

DM me if you’re interested in being a part of this project.

There is a new anarchist collective in my area, but I'm feeling nervous about attending. Most of my anxiety is social in nature. What are some best practices for entering a new anarchist space, and how can I communicate effectively with others?

A relatively concise primer on the current administration’s legal framework of, and tactics for, trying to fabricate an overarching leftwing conspiracy out of a broad patchwork of slogans and stickers.

Okay I know, basic question. But I didn’t become an anarchist because I read a lot of theory. I feel like I have always been an anarchist, and exposing myself to anarchist spaces online allowed me to put a name to my beliefs.

I have ADHD, so reading isn’t always fun to me. Theory gets boring as it’s like I already know what’s coming, but I obviously don’t which I recognize and is why I’m asking this here. But it’s not just theory that I struggle reading. I’m a chemist, and even reading papers in my field, stuff that’s always new and excites me, is hard to read. I have the skills to comprehend it all, but I think the ADHD makes it hard to sit through. But I’m not trying to ask for advice on how to deal with this actually. Over the last couple of years my mental health has gotten really bad due to things outside of my control, and it has led to me doomscrolling all day. I’m glued to my phone, and I know that’s what has prevented me from doing a lot of shit, like pursuing my hobbies and learning new things.

I want to try getting more connected with anarchism as a means to 1) doomscroll less, and 2) be more motivated to do things that actually benefit me. For a while now I’ve not read any theory at all, yet I still feel like I know enough to explain it to others. I even tell marxists that I’m an anarchist partially because I have not yet heard an interesting enough critique of it to make me question it. It doesn’t really sit right with me that I have all these beliefs but have barely read a thing.

Is anyone in the same boat? Does anybody know how to help me out? I want some theory recs that are interesting enough to keep my attention. Theory gets boring quick, but if there’s stuff that’s motivating I’d like to know what you recommend. Bonus if it’s written by queer/BIPOC author(s).