What’s in a Gherkin?

The ideas that shape us

• What is an idea from someone else that has shaped and inspired your worldview/practice?

  All of us as activists and organisers are grounded in the work and efforts of those who came before us. Recently, I’ve found myself coming back to the world of Grace Lee Boggs, a philosopher and activist who spent a lot of her time in Detroit with her husband James. Together, they were active in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in the US, and trained up many generations of organisers. 

  Boggs studied revolutions of the 20th century and worked with a concept called dialectics or dialectical thinking. Dialectical thinking says that the way towards change – towards revolution – is to acknowledge that multiple things can be true at the same time and that we need to anticipate the struggle between them. It is through these cycles of conflict and tension that a new reality can emerge. Dialectical thinking teaches us that we can allow ourselves to feel grief and rage, alongside hope and joy. That we can move through the emotions, and also move towards action. I find this concept more important than ever.

• What is a piece of culture that inspired a shift or idea for you?

  One of my favourite thinkers and writers, Gloria Anzaldua, wrote a book called Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza and it’s one I come back to time and time again: “living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one’s shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new element, an ‘alien’ element.” 

  Anzaldua was a queer and feminist Chicana scholar in the US, who grew up at the Texas-Mexico border. She understood that borders were not just something physical but boundaries that exist across language, race, gender, sexuality, immigration, class, culture, history, psychology and so many other levels. I came across her work as a young queer and undocumented Polish immigrant in Chicago – feeling both the intense isolation of this “alien element” that defined my life and also the freedom and exhilaration that came with living at these creative intersections. 

  For Anzaldua, borders are dividing lines. They define places as safe and unsafe. They distinguish us from them. But they also give rise to borderlands, which are less defined and more malleable. As she writes, borderlands are “vague and undetermined places created by the emotional residue of unnatural boundaries. They are in a constant state of transition.” And because of this, they are sites of resistance, creativity and imagination that challenge us to think beyond the binary, to act and not only react. Anzaldua’s work always grounds me in what can emerge from the depths of these “unnatural boundaries” and spaces of transition.

• What is a project that you are most excited about that’s enacting change now?

  I just wrapped up the first online pilot of RadSchool, which is a 3-month political education curriculum that explores the role of narrative power in contemporary social movements. It uses Liberation Stories as the foundational text, which is an anthology I had the honour of co-editing and publishing last year. My co-facilitators and I were over the moon with the reception from participants! It reminded me of the importance of shared learning spaces. We’ll be kicking off another cohort in early 2027, so register your interest here!

• What has been an unexpected source of inspiration for you or your work?

  Video games! Specifically of the couch co-op variety. I already shared my foray into Overcooked on Instagram, but a few others I’ve been enjoying with my partner lately: Baldur’s Gate 3, Tools Up, and Split Fiction. These types of games really help you practice good communication and cooperative strategy in real-time. Good skills for organising and world-building.