Let's set the intention for Defying Gentrification and Crafting Liberation in 2025

Using this January 1, 2025 letter to reset how I want to approach this space and all my creativiy going foward.

In my last email/post, I had all but given up on this idea of defying gentrification. Then it hit me, my very existence in a world hostile to everything I am is defiance. I am enough. And when I thought about that I was like hey, there’s still something I could do with this. So I got out my actual journal (I promise, it’s not this) and this is what I came up with.

Kristen’s Definition of Defying Gentrification:

(Action Verb): A healing practice to build oneself up to a life of affirming interdependence, despite encountering affordability challenges and other issues of false scarcitiy in urbanized areas, and at the mercy of governmental authorities.

In plainer English: overcoming the many levels of housing and transit-related isms, especially those that would make life in a body like mine (Black, agender, nonbinary, pansexual, chronically ill, and underpaid/disrespected at work) harder.

I’m extremely frustrated that I even have to explain this at all. But then I realized that frustration comes from years of rejection trauma and sensitivity, and yes, my clinical depression, anxiety and its resulting complex PTSD and religious trauma

I also didn’t want to tell you this straight up without putting a price tag on it, because I have the trauma of having to show up in a certain way just to get paid and be loved. And the deferred dreams due to not being able to afford to advance.

I often ask, where is the limit to what you all require me to do for free before I can get paid?

I know that government contracting and other activities require grant applications to be received and invoices to get paid. However, I feel like we can do so much better than IOUs and billable hours in what we do. I’ll apply for them and file them anyway, but the process needs improvement.

Especially since funding community initiatives and basic government services is rooted in what we think certain people and communities are worth.

Even with my educational background and access, I have fallen through so many cracks. But I’m ready to get up in 2025. But, I have to get up in a way that I can remain supported and firm.

I created the six pillars of defying gentrification to help me make sense of it all and have a framework to pinpoint myself back to when I feel discouraged.

What are those six pillars? They should be familiar to you if you’ve been following along with me for the past year. But over the past year, I’ve wanted to experiment with how they worked, before handing you that workbook I’ve been promising.

Far too many people are making promises and claiming they know all the answers. They don’t and while I have some answers, I want to make sure that they could be a good experiment for you and not cause harm.

Anyway, stick around, after this brief interlude to squeeze in some liberation crafting, I’ll be back to tell you how I see the six pillars a year out from me creating them.

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This Crafting Liberation Art Reflection is brought to you by Bookshop.org. Purchase the books I refer to in my podcasts and emails from a company not committed to our demise. Plus I get affiliate income and can continue to pay my rent in case opportunities like paid subscriptions are out of your budget at the moment.

So the reason this email is called Defying Gentrification, Crafting Liberation is because for me, it’s not just about being a healer or nurturer of folks who have been hurt by gentrification and related harms related to the environment, I have to make art as well. For long-time readers, you’re getting a sense of my new art practice in this section and for new readers, this is where I wax philosophical about my art. This week, it's the new imagery I’ve conceived for the Defying Gentrification part of this project.

The full site banner with the three most impactful skylines. I could have easily done six, but these three have shaped my professional practice the most.

When I did the original logo, I wanted to pick colors that spoke to Black power and Black healing. Gold, which is the goddess Oshun’s color, does that for me (and Beyonce!). I chose a generic image for starters, because, no lie, this generative AI thing has scared me. However, I wanted it to be more personal over time. So I figured I’d start by taking a picture of the side of my head in the bathroom.

A selfie of my head in profile

Then I dropped the image in Canva and ran a Duotope filter, then sharpened, contrasted, and clarified it to every inch. And then I did the magic background cleaner. Realizing my head without the background was a hard straight line, I angled it against the page, then I realized it’s got me looking forcefully at buildings. Not all of these buildings represent gentrification, but all of them were built by white men.

And while I like some of these buildings, I don’t like that I have to swallow parts of myself to be able to be the person to do the kind of work I need to live in them…

…Or so I’ve thought … I hope that by crafting liberation through my art, I can, in turn, defy gentrification. Now, back to those new principles I’ve offered to defy gentrification, but first a preview of the new imagery for my art platform, Kristpattern. I’ll break down its origins and influences in this section in my next email.

I can’t wait to break this one down and show you the final version!

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As I mentioned before, over the past year, I’ve been writing up a workbook around the six pillars I’ve developed for Defying Gentrification and testing it out to see if there are some things I can do to help myself defy gentrification, and if some of those things could apply to others going through similar challenges.

Immediately, I realized that I needed to go deeper than just defying gentrification, I needed to do what I could to end gentrification.

But, as an individual, especially a Black and queer and disabled and feminine-appearing and broke one, I found over this past year there are hard limits as to what I can do about gentrification for myself. However, collectively and in keeping in mind our skills and power, there are things we can do.

Below, is an illustration of the framework, and a brief introduction to each principle that I’ve been testing.

This is a more “branded” version of what it looks like in my journal.

If you’ve been here over the last year, a lot of this will sound familiar to you, but some of it is more refined and solidified after I stepped back and looked over what seems to be working and resonating. For the next seven emails, I’ll be sharing what I feel confident in about each principle, along with episodes of my podcast and other YouTube videos and resources and people who can be helpful with said tactic.

Then as time goes on, I will revisit each principle, adding new podcasts, videos, and resources, along with highlighting more of my artwork and other useful things.

So now, without further ado, my new framework around defying and ending gentrification in one paragraph.

First, to defy gentrification as an individual, especially if you share any of my identity markers, you need faith in yourself, and the cultivation of positive obsessions and/or hobbies. You also need to practice self-care. Doing those three things will at least make you feel less shitty about the hand life has dealt, even if you’re doing your hobbies as you live in a tent or car or a too-small apartment (shout out to my livingkitchen and my bedoffice). Then we need others, namely major institutions such as funders, houses of faith, developers, and others who seek or to be or see themselves as community leaders, to care as a community about us, and provide us adequate infrastructure and access to make our lives as convenient as possible.

Yep, it’s really that simple, but we will break it down even more.

Last email, I was beating myself up for not defying gentrification in a year. However, I am embracing this concept as a lifelong journey, one that will come with wins and losses, big steps up and steps back, but all average in a fruitful life. Now, if you community leaders step up, more of my losses can be wins, but I can only work with my own resources and power and I accept that now. And instead of feeling shame with having to revise, I can feel peace at knowing you, my readers, will be right here with me as I return to the drawing board.

And if not, that’s ok, thanks for your time on our journey, I value the lesson that you’ve given me.

Until next time,

Kristen