Protean was honored to feature the work of dozens of talented writers, poets, and artists this year, both in print and online. Here’s a selection of our publications from 2020.
NEWS & CRITIQUE
C.M. Lewis analyzed the dynamics of the 2020 election with an eye to falsely dichotomous rural and urban divisions.
M.K. Anderson powerfully condemned the failures of Biden’s COVID plan and clarified the human stakes.
Jonah Goldman Kay reported from Louisiana on the aftermath of two successive hurricanes and the local DSA’s efforts to provide mutual aid.
Hurricane Solidarity: In the Wake of Disaster in Southwest Louisiana, the DSA Offers Mutual Aid
Bryan Wisch wrote an accessible explainer on the life and work of Paulo Freire as an introduction to the importance of radical pedagogy.
We republished an open letter from Joseph M. Pierce and citizens of the Cherokee Nation outlining the harm caused by Elizabeth Warren’s claims of Native heritage.
James Anderson reported on the wildcat strikes among graduate students that occurred at UC Santa Cruz and examined the organizers’ use of digital strategies.
UC Santa Cruz on Strike: Mobilizing in Digital and Physical Spaces
Shane Burley reflected on the meaning of the Charlottesville tragedy.
And conducted two fascinating interviews with authors Brendan O’Connor and Vicky Osterweil.
We also released a number of articles from our Winter 2020 print edition on our site. Here’s Max Alvarez with a deeply felt and impactful reflection on his personal work history, the struggle to survive under capitalism, and the meaning of labor.
Tongo Eisen-Martin wrote a beautiful, lyrical prose polemic that considers the state of American subjugation.
Sophie Haigney examined how the corporate world repurposes language and concepts from other fields in the service of perpetuating workplace logics.
FICTION
Lyta Gold contributed “Rebis,” a meditation on modern dating and the distances between us.
In “Remediation,” Whitney Wimbish dealt with climate change and loss over the course of a surreal narrative.
POETRY
In poetry, Devyn Springer’s “the apocalypse” powerfully elucidated the pervasive crimes of empire.
Urvi Kumbhat’s “Calcutta” ruminated on the ways colonialism tries and fails to destroy the memories, languages, and practices of the oppressed.
Jayy Dodd wrote a response to a well-known poem that subverts the original by tearing the façade off the forgiveness-industrial complex.
Poet Stephanie Kaylor’s “What Do You Regret?” explored fraught histories of labor, pleasure, and trauma.
This is only a small selection of everything we’ve put out over the course of this difficult year. We’re immensely grateful to all of our contributors—those appearing on this list and elsewhere. And we’d like to thank all of our readers and subscribers for the support that allows us to keep producing radical literature and art. If you enjoy our work, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Here’s to a better 2021. – The Protean Collective ♦
