Canaries

Ezra Furman’s “All of Us Flames” is an anthem for we the neurodivergentNeurodivergent, sometimes abbreviated as ND, means having a mind that functions in ways which diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of “normal.”NEURODIVERSITY: SOME BASIC TERMS & DEFINITIONS Neurodivergent is quite… More, queerBeing queer means constantly questioning what’s considered “normal” and why that norm gets privileged over other ways of being. It means criticizing who sets these norms and recognizing the privilege… More, disabledThe label “disabled” means so much to me. It means I have community. It means I have rights. It means I can be proud. It means I can affirm myself… More, and weird“Weird Pride Flag” by Ferrous and Autistamatic Be proud of what you are.We’re weird, and we’re glad we are.Weird Pride Promo 2021 Autistic Pride is inconceivable without weird pride, and… More. This is music by and for the edges, for the canariesAutistic man Freestone Wilson suggested in the 1990s that autistic people are functioning as the “miners’ canaries” of civilisation. When the air in the mine is poisoned we do not… More.

Community

“All of Us Flames” is about community, identity, and unity. It’s about finding your people.

All of Us Flames is about finding one’s tribe, learning to trustAutists conceptualise the world in terms of trusted relationships with unique people.The beauty of collaboration at human scale The Autistic way of developing trust is based on experienced domain-specific competence…. More others, and seeking to heal in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges that life presents to some.

Ezra Furman: All Of Us Flames [Album Review] – The Fire Note

Call

“Temple of Broken Dreams” is a call to action for our communitiesWhat I have always been hoping to accomplish is the creation of community.Community is magic. Community is power. Community is resistance.Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century https://www.amazon.com/Disability-Visibility-First-Person-Stories-Twenty-First-ebook/dp/B082ZQBL98/ https://www.amazon.com/Disability-Visibility-Adapted-Young-Adults-ebook/dp/B08VFT4R9T/… More.

Let's organize our lives around love and care
Let's write each other letters and call it prayer
Let's congregate in the place that isn't anywhere
At the temple of broken dreams

--Temple of Broken Dreams by Ezra Furman

“Let’s organize our lives around love and careThe activities that constitute care are crucial for human life. We defined care in this way: Care is “a species activity that includes everything that we do to maintain, continue,… More.” We integrated that line into our philosophy.

Celebrate our interdependenceInterdependence acknowledges that our survival is bound up together, that we are interconnected and what you do impacts others. If this pandemic has done nothing else, it has illuminated how… More.
Organize our lives around love and care.

Our survival is bound up together.

PluralismPluralism refers to people of diverse and conflicting beliefs coexisting peaceably, linked by their adherence to a shared social contract which commits members of different groups to treating others fairly… More is our reality.

Philosophy — Stimpunks Foundation

Furman penned the second new single “Evening Prayer” as a “rallying cry” for her fan base. “We music fans go to shows for transcendence; it’s like being called to prayer,” she says. “But as Abraham Heschel said, ‘Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism and falsehood.’ I want all our fans to become activists. We punkEverything that was normally supposed to be hidden was brought to the front.Punk subculture – Wikipedia The First Rule of Punk: Be Yourself Our Second Rule of Punk: Reframe The… More fans have so much energy to give to the fight against injustice, i.e. the abuse of the poor by the rich, i.e. climate change. So this is one to get you in the mood.”

Ezra Furman’s Summer of Pride Mix: Listen | Billboard

None of Us Ashes, All of Us Flames

I want there to be a book of our names
None of them missing, none quite the same
None of us ashes, all of us flames
And I want us to read it aloud

I want it to tell of our exile here
In a cruel machinery, our bodies between the gears
And our world back home just the ghost of a prayer
And I want us to read it aloud
I want us to read it aloud

And our names will be heard through prison walls
Through wet city streets and international calls
And we'll read it until this whole empire falls
And then we will continuе to read it

And the names will bе the real ones that are ours
Not the ones given us by the enemy powers
But the ones that we know in our bones and our bowels
And they'll be said out loud and repeated

Yes, I want there to be a book of our names
None of us missing, none exactly the same
None of us ashes, all of us flames
And I want us to read it aloud
I want us to read it aloud

“Book of Our Names” by Ezra Furman

Our survival is bound up together in the gutter adversity.

Furman is like the Springsteen of the LGBTQIA+ community – the authority on demented optimism from the gutter of adversity.

Ezra Furman – All Of Us Flames – Album Review – Loud And Quiet

Optimism comes with organizing. Turn up “All of Us Flames”, and build community.

A transfiguration’s coming, a turning in the song
To the brutal static order they’ve depended on so long
This train will carry gamblers, it’ll carry us midnight ramblers too
And a broken heart’s your ticket so be ready when the train comes through
A broken heart’s your ticket so be ready when the train comes through
Ahh
Ahh

“Train Comes Through” by Ezra Furman

Let’s organize our lives around love and care.

Mission

We exist for the direct support and mutual aidPut simply, mutual aid is a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and changing political conditions by building relationships, networks of reciprocity,… More of neurodivergent and disabled people.

We serve our loved people so we can keep on living through the onslaught.

Creed

I center the marginalized and the differentOur friends and allies at Randimals have a saying, What makes us different, makes all the difference in the world.Randimals We agree. Randimals are made up of two different animals… More. I center edge cases, because edge cases are stress casesCompassion Isn’t CoddlingPeople often mistake compassion for “being nice,” but it’s not.The point of compassion isn’t to soften bad news or stressful situations with niceties. It’s to come from a… More and design is tested at the edges. I center neurodivergent and disabled experience in service to all bodymindsBodymind: A term used to challenge the idea the body and mind are experienced separately (Descartes). Written in various ways, Bodymind or Body-mind, this usage foregrounds the understanding that experiences… More.

Covenant

We pledge to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and healthy community.

Philosophy

We steer by these acquired phrases. They are compasses and stars that align us on our mission.

Interdependence

It is time to celebrate our interdependence. Interdependence acknowledges that our survival is bound up together, that we are interconnected and what you do impacts others. Interdependence is the only way out of most of the most pressing issues we face today.

Edges

Our designs, our societies, and the boundaries of our compassion are tested at the edges, where the truths told are of bias, inequalityEquityA commitment to action: the process of redistributing access and opportunity to be fair and just.A way of being: the state of being free of bias, discrimination, and identity-predictable outcomes… More, injustice, and thoughtlessness.

Let's organize our lives around love and care
Let's write each other letters and call it prayer
Let's congregate in the place that isn't anywhere
At the temple of broken dreams