2022 was the worst year for me spiritually, emotionally, and physically! i haven’t been well and i’m disinterested in hiding it! things are getting better, and yet i’ve still seen new depths of rock bottom that shattered me beyond my core.

i lost my favorite auntie and uncle, my mother (not physically, but in spirit or presence), and a friend. i also lost myself. i survived an abusive relationship and subsequent breakup. i’m still here fighting for past, present and future neta.

i spent most of my year in bed, laying in the shame of the mess of my physical space and life, wondering when things became so vulnerable to cosmetic dysfunction (taking over longstanding internal dysfunction). it was mostly through close friends and confidants who listened, sent meals, and encouraged me that things shifted.

i played the same traumatic memories on repeat for months until they went to static noise. i didn’t find life meaningful or worthy. i even lost my capacity to remember dreams in my sleep, and preferred the quiet darkness of over sleeping.

i became my own antagonist, shifting blame for all the systemic problems of the world into my self, entertained the foolishness of bootstrap logic, and over indulged the self until my ego folded in on itself.

my plants died as a reflection of my interior ecosystem: lacking in nutrients, dry in soil, thirsty after water—

there is no turn of events, no happy ending, no silver conclusion: my life remains a terrain characterized by ups and downs of deltas, trying shit and figuring it out, slamming the computer shut, tucking myself in, showering myself in kindness and grace or letting the rage pour.

sure, i’ve made it to today, and yet, i don’t overpromise myself tomorrow, consuming water steeping in pragmatism where my optimism cosplaying as cynicism once was.

Human Computers

A tribute poster for the Black women who were human computers at NASA. Human computers include Annie Easely, Christine Darden, Dorothy Vaughan, Jeanette Scissum, Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Melba Roy, Valerie Thomas, and Miriam Mann (not pictured). The poster is a 2 color tabloid sized risograph print designed and printed by Neta Bomani in an edition of 100 copies on 80 pound text weight paper.

in spring 2022, i taught my first full 14-week semester of a class i developed from scratch titled Reading, Writing & Compiling Zines to an amazing class of 16 students! i'm so proud of our study and the amazing zines we made! check out the slides for someone highlights of work by the students in my class! thank you to all the students in my class: Charlie C., Cortney C., Divya N., Jason D., Jordan R., Lia E., Mercury M., Milenka B., Natalie R., Natasha T., Noelle H., Sapphrodite, Sophia N., Sully W., Zoe T., and Zoe V. 💞

Reading, Writing, & Compiling is a class to learn about the historical ways of reading, writing, compiling, and learning, both with and without computers informed by critical counter histories of radical publishers and do-it-yourself cultures. i guide students in deep study of various forms of printed and digital matter such as zines and posters, and how they are published as mediums for creative and political expression.

i started a press with my friend and collaborator Mariame Kaba called Sojourners for Justice Press (@sojourners4justice)!

“Sojourners for Justice Press is a micro press that opens its platform to people working experimentally with print based media. We publish short form and ephemeral zines, pamphlets, and booklets that engage do-it-yourself, black feminist, and abolitionist philosophies. SJP is an imprint of @haymarketbooks and we operate independently in terms of our editorial content and decisions.

We welcome and encourage work from currently and formerly criminalized people; Black people; queer, trans, and gender non-conforming people; disabled people; people from low-income backgrounds; people from non-traditional educational backgrounds; and people who have been historically excluded in their respective crafts and industries.”

U can get limited edition copies of our latest publication by @ashoncrawley titled "Meditation on Abolition" designed by @kathryn_kayy printed on risograph by @luckyrisograph through our website or directly at @haymarketbooks

read more about us at: https://sojourners4justice.press 💌

i remember my life before dweller and after dweller. for many, dweller is a turning point. we need something fun for the black radical tradition, and this is that and more. endless gratitude to organizers @negrolith @frankiefatgold @enyo_face

a group of six beautiful black people (myself, @keiyaa, @beedotnet, @lil_sunchoke, @negrolith, and @joselia_pdf) pose in an embrace for a photo on a nyc sidewalk. s*an is in the middle, nearly falling yet caught by the group’s embrace.

myself (left) and Ryan (right) pose outside of Ryan’s Shirley Sounds installation with @rhizeomedotorg at the knockdown center in queens, ny

a screenshot from the @nts_radio web archive of the @dwellerforever 2022 show, featuring Amplified Black Secrecy, Underground Resistance, and Dark Matter Objects by me. the header image is a still from my project and shows my hands flipping throw square gray cards, one of which you can read that says, “on off.”

poster featuring a phat number 4 illuminated by a soft purple and blue hue designed by @beedotnet @hassanrahim @deybidree

in july 2022, i was invited to participate in my favorite residency of all time, EUREKA! i extended my invitation to my friends and collaborators Sam Griffith and Gabrielle Octavia Rucker who spent a week lounging, cooking, eating well, sculpting, plotting, silk screening, photo documenting, zine making, chatting, reminiscing, being present, looking forward, sims playing!

i learned new things, i experimented with different mediums, played with the cutest black lab ever, met the funniest farm animals, participated in the women's studio workshop upstate art book fair @wsworkshop @upstateartweekend, and most importantly went to bed early and slept in often!!! i’ll never forget the beauty and joy i experienced in the sun room.

thank you to Sam, Eden, and Lucy of @eureka_mindspace for being political accomplices and radical publishers who make aesthetic inquiry, rest and creation even more of a possibility for the people who find it increasingly inaccessible to do so. special thank you to my dear comrade and collaborator @woolandbrick for recommending me <3

from oct 2021-sept 2022, one of the zines i made with abolitionist community organizer and friend Nabil Hassein titled "Cycle X Reflections" was featured in the "Wet Networks" exhibition @queensmuseum!

organized by @rhizomedotorg curator @rojakgirl and inspired by the artist Shu Lea Chang, "Wet Networks" artists offer reflections on their experience at Geek Camp located on Shu Lea Chang's experimental farm in upstate new york in the Neversink Resevoir.

"Together their reflections and offerings illuminate the relationships between new technologies and traditional ways of knowing, the challenges of collective care, and how land and water shape and are shaped by one another and us."

so much gratitude to Celine and all the artists and supporters: @cheesetopherlin @fff00slut @melanieh0ff @nativetec #NabilHassein #JanMun #ErwinKarl #EvanTPritchard @shulea2 @michaeljconnor #SophiaMarisaLucas and many others

crop of a single zine hanging to the right on a wall with a collage of papers peaking out in the lefthand corner.

from february to august 2022, i had the pleasure of being in struggle with my friend, confidant, collaborator, and co-organizer Melanie Hoff (@melanieh0ff) who invited me to support them in realizing their vision for a world in which accessible, queer centered, non-universal and gradiated, sex education was possible for 18 student-participants! together, Melanie, Zainab Aliyu and i made Sex Ed happen @sfpc_nyc!

the idea for sex ed was originally conceived 2 years ago in a collective visioning exercise at sfpc, where teachers and workers responded to the question: “what could SFPC be?” in my understanding, Melanie started sex ed in the hopes that we would create a model for all people to have access to the sex ed curriculum of Melanie and many other leading teachers including: Venus Cuffs (@venuscuffs), Elizabeth Perez (@elizabethslash), Daemonum X (@daemonumx), Belinda Adam (@adambelinda), Sophie Lewis (@reproutopia), Rebelle Cunt (@rebelwithoutabra), Nahee Kim (@nahee.app), and Es Leso (@babyratqueen). we’re working on a forthcoming publication that will make this a reality!

this was the hardest project i’ve ever taken on as an educator, organizer, DIY archivist, and person living as a survivor of gender based (sexual) violence. we didn’t accomplish this program without conflict, rigorous feedback from participants and teachers, and deep confrontation amongst ourselves as organizers and people. i’m thankful to the bundles of gifts of feedback from everyone who participated — i carry them with me every day. working as documentarian for this session challenged me to compile some of the most meaningful archival artifacts i’ve ever stewarded into the public domain! i’m proud of our work!

as Melanie said, we broke historical records for what “material is taught, of who teaches at the School for Poetic Computation, and what parts of themselves teachers can bring to their classes. We have surfaced, decomposed and witnessed each of our relationships to poetic computation changing, a relationship that always was and always will be changing.” endless gratitude to their visionary imagination! i’m infinitely amazed at what’s possible whenever we put our minds and resources together!

Me and my sister, Brooklyn, NY, November 2022

CRTs, 2022

Mirrors, 2018-2022

Khari Lucas and Sam Waymon in conversation about Ganja & Hess (1973), scoring, and embodied instrumentation, Philadelphia, PA, 2022.

Are.na Wikimedia meetup, 2020

Galen and the copper sculpture he made for me, summer 2021

Views from my apartment, summer 2021