A lil somethin' for my Native people
w/: the most ambitious podcast ep yet + the price of epic cinema
My moment has a going on in it. This here is only an update of the professional sort. The main thing going on is the raising of funds, primarily to bring to life the whole-ass film that’s living in my head. In this period screenplay is a character based on the above extinct breed of dog called a Techichi.
Before I get into the guts of the ask, let’s look at why I’ve leaned into the Indigenous imagery and whatnot.
Lil Beach Harvest
I’m in mid-edit on a supremely edifying conversation with Jay Wright, the product marketing manager of Little Beach Harvest, a Long Island dispensary. Wright is a Shinnecock Indian and Little Beach is a Native-owned operation. The dispensary is gorgeous, nestled into a prime Hamptons retail location.
Wright invited me out to Little Beach next time I’m in New York. I don’t usually go as far out on Long Island as its location, but am definitely game for a trip.
As soon as things get settled I’ll publish an edit of of our talk.
The Yanga project is in a good place, but while isolating myself in Southern California—in service of my screenplay draft—I let conditions got super austere. Writing was a challenge. The conditions, in my opinion, sharpened my storytelling.
I sent out the draft and then decamped for Portland and a more gentle, less expensive and stressful life. As pointed out in my campaign, the move has been beneficial, but I still need a cash infusion, to make it to the next day job and keep the podcast software paid for.
Yanga: The Legend of Black Mexico is shaping up to be really fucking good. Key readers, including my last book editor, have been receiving the new pages with great enthusiasm. My ending—as yet unwritten—grows more nuanced over time.
The fact of knowing that I do indeed have a movie makes me unable to leave the thing alone. Please help keep my obsession with finishing this project from becoming the death of me. Or, at least, lend a hand in making the WCS podcast not go go bye-bye. Venmo is fine if you don’t do GoFundMe. (So many of my indispensable friends and supporters have their own way of getting down. )
The new style
We’re putting together a podcast episode with Intisar Abioto of The Black Portlanders project and and Protest City author Rian Dundon. My buddy Chris Cortez helped run the show while Intisar and Rian and Lev Anderson and I had this deep dive into what Portland is and means and how our guests’ respective projects interact with all of that.
The concept here is to have a recurring podcast that focuses on our compelling PDX friends. There are so, so many of them.