We feed our dreams as surely as we feed our bodies.
Media corporations know this and in these times of deepfakes and doomscrolling, they have more control over our imaginations than we might care to admit.
But we can take back that power and nourish our dreams with what we most long for. We can tell stories of deepening relationships, of abundance, of all the collective care we have ever wanted.
We can tell stories of coming together to meet our needs without authorities or charities – whether we call that mutual aid or just showing up.
I grew up in a culture with practically no oral story-telling traditions beyond bedtime stories for children. Until I started reading from my novels in squats, parks and bookshops, I had barely thought about these traditions and I didn’t realise how much I had been longing for those moments of listening, telling and co-creating.
I asked myself: What would it look like if we could grow and regrow story-telling traditions so compelling that collective liberation became inevitable?
What would happen if our stories came from within our communities, expressing our needs and powering our dreams of something better?
I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for networks of care and the many ways marginalised people keep each other alive. I wouldn’t have survived the hard times without the ecological relationships I’m embedded in.
By writing about hopeful, beautiful things, I don’t want to bypass the difficult realities of dismantling oppression. I feel in my bones how tired we all are and I long for us to get more rest so we can thrive (and resist) another day.
For as long as we are trapped in these systems, perhaps momentary escape and deep dreaming can be one form of medicine among many.
This project is an emerging experiment, offered as one tiny part of the uncountable ways in which we care for each other.
Relationships are at its heart and – like many working-class and chronically ill authors – I can only dedicate my time and limited spoons to this work with community support. With that in mind, I’ll be offering most of these stories through my Patreon.
If my stories speak to you, I’d love to travel this journey by your side.
Available now at: patreon.com/otterlieffe
