Spooky season lives on in our hearts, even if Halloween is now officially over ☹️ But there’s lots going on so let’s dig right in…

Sneak Peak/Special Announcement

If you’ve read any of the essays on my website, you may have shared my frustration with how clunky it was to read and navigate… so I’m making a change. I’ve quietly moved all of my posts over to a site hosted by Ghost, but you can still find them through the same link as before if you need.

I wrote an About page over on ghost, as well as an introductory little piece to serve as an explainer for folks who may wander there from elsewhere. I’ll announce these more publicly on Instagram this week, but you all get a sneak peak 😎

Why I’m shifting

You’ll notice that the new home also has a new title, Evidence & Evil. I explain this in the introductory post, but I’ve been missing opportunities for deeper dives and more long-form content. Instagram just doesn’t give me the space I want for really exploring ideas, or inviting you into the conversation. I’m hoping that this venue will be more conducive and easier to navigate.

The differing title reflects the differing perspective, too. Something a little deeper, and a little more empirical. Perhaps a little more research-heavy or theoretical, too.

Think of it as a somewhat separate offering under the same umbrella you already know — same cuisine, specific flavor, kind of vibe 😅

Right now the site exists at a ghost domain, and it will always live at a link directly from my website, but in the future you should expect it to live at it’s own .com too. So stay tuned for that.

What to expect

Right now I’m keeping this newsletter format the same, trying to send out announcements about the business overall, events and sponsorships, and some links. But my hope is to gently shift toward sending out the deeper dives and longer essays only to the folks who are on the newsletter list through the Ghost site. I’ll still drop links to occasional pieces here when they’re relevant, but I know a lot of you are here for the acro and handstands, so I want to offer the ones who want more the chance to opt in 🙂

Right now, I’ve created 2 tiers for subscribing to that long-form content, free dot com and $5/mo ($50/year). The paid tier gets you slightly more stuff for the moment. For those of you who generously opted to support this newsletter at a paid tier, just shoot me a message if you want me to move that over to the new newsletter (I am supposedly able to do a pretty seamless swap, we’ll see how true that is).

There’s nothing behind the paywall at the moment, but if you already know you want to subscribe, you can do that here. If you prefer, there’s also still a pay-what-you-want tipping model for specific moments or specific posts, if you feel that they brought you value.

That’s it for now, I think. But stay tuned for some upcoming announcements about more options to learn and engage with this long-form content for the new year… 🤫

Happenings from this week

So many things! But I will only highlight a few. For folks who aren’t in Chicago, I’d encourage you to take a look at those items because national news isn’t picking it up as much.

Links and News

• ICE wants to build a shadow deportation network in Texas

• Yes, it actually is that bad in Chicago

• No, but actually though

• Amazon would prefer you didn’t know about their water usage, actually

• In case you were curious about the companies behind that White House remodel, and how they’re feeling about it. For any reason.

The Good Stuff™

• Math helps us map

• What "we keep us safe" means

• Don't let them make you break the law

And also, this tree is very good! My favorite tree in all the land at this time of year, in fact.

Wrapping up Trick-or-Treat 🎃

There’s still a few days to get in any last tricks or treats, and submit them here for a chance to get a little gift 😇 Each trick or treat you did the whole month of October gets you an extra chance on top of already being a subscriber — lucky you! Winner(s) will get an email this upcoming Wednesday the 5th 😃

Also, while the court fights the administration and the states scramble for ways to hold together SNAP benefits with bubble gum and popsicle sticks, there are concrete things that you can do to help out anyone in your community who might be impacted by food insecurity. These are good things to do year round and all the time, not just right now! Obviously the Halloween-themed aspect has passed, but the need is still real.

CSAW Fundraiser is still ongoing!

I’ve partnered with CSAW to help raise money to support racial equity in circus. You can donate to get some free sessions with me, or just for the love of supporting inclusive circus.

What’s new with Necessary Evil? Looking ahead

I put out a few brief Instagram reels in the last week talking about sliding scale pricing as just one case study in how you can put your politics into practice. There will be a few more parts to this series, one addressing some FAQ that often come up with economically accessible pricing, and one that zooms out to the bigger picture of what it means to take action as an individual against systemic oppression. So stay tuned for those, plus the other promised and upcoming content about:

• what all of this ICE activity can show you about your political preparedness

• transness and sports

• separating your principled conflicts from your personal ones

• how to have hard conversations (holiday edition)

Reps for Rights (Nov 22)

If you’re in the Chicagoland area (or want to make a weekend trip 🙃), my good friend Becca is hosting a Reps for Rights event to support our communities impacted by ICE, raise money for ICIRR, and get us mobilized for action. It’s a rep-count fundraiser, so you do not even need to be good at bench pressing to participate (and you do not have to touch a barbell to help us raise money).

Ways you can help:

• Participate! Registration is open

• Donate or pledge for a lifter!

• Share/repost/talk up the event on your social media and to your friends pls and thx

Check it out and let me know if you need more info!

Whew, that was a long one, thanks for sticking around til the end!

Very open to feedback and questions, so make sure to stay in touch! Til next week 🫡

In solidarity,

Sirus