THE PEOPLE'S PROJECT

Facing hard times.

After the election of 2024, poets Jones and Smith looked to their “mentors, siblings on the page, and friends” for hope and solace, strategies and commiseration. Their collection of 27 essays, poems, and artwork honors that diverse community of writers and artists who share their reflections on how to cope with oppression and how to move forward. “I started typing up my own Project 2025,” Smith texted to Jones. “First item: no self-abandonment.” By self-abandonment, she meant pretending “you don’t know what you know, don’t hear what you hear, don’t see what you see.” And not abandoning others, as well. Several contributors consider forms of resistance. “I think the act of resistance I take the most pleasure in is raising my sons to be good men,” writes illustrator Aubrey Hirsch. For Chase Strangio, simply being a transgender person signifies resistance: “Part of what makes trans people so central in this small and toxic moment is the power we wield by being insistently ourselves.” Disability justice activist Alice Wong considers the challenge of countering fascism: “the fear, chaos, and danger many of us live in changes our relationship with time. To fight, to provide mutual aid, to listen, care for, and love our people, to nourish and sustain yourself—all of these things take time and energy. We must give ourselves space, grace, and time if we are to fight fascism.” Some pieces exude anger; others, sadness; all face the future with more questions than answers. As scholar Imani Perry puts it, “Today I ask: How do we raise the young in the face of deportations, expulsions, captivity, abandonment and targeted cruelty? How do we feed those writhing with hunger pangs for freedom?” All underscore the crucial power of community.

A stirring anthology.