Rheanna Murray, a member of the Octavia Butler and Emergent Strategy Facebook group, generously allowed us to post a zine they compiled of Earthseed verses. Thank you, Rheanna!
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We’re pleased to share a study toolkit for Parable of the Sower which Tia Wilson assembled for Spirit House back in 2017. A big thank you to Tia and Spirit House for this; there is no shortage of rich wonder in the Octavia E. Butler-verse!
You can check out everything else they have on offer at https://www.spirithouse-nc.org/
Read MoreLarkin/Asha meets her “charismatic, dangerous, heathen” mother, Lauren. Our understanding of the timeline deepens. Marc’s duplicity continues to cause discord and heartbreak. And Earthseed does, finally, take root among the stars.
Toshi and adrienne break down the epilogue of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And offer some final questions (of this series!) for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreAll about Larkin. The final chapter. She’s living in New York. Reconnected with uncle Marc, and the church. She knows her mother’s identity, with mixed awareness. Some of her childhood dreams have come true. And yet. Meanwhile, Lauren is gathering her people, with seduction and a chance at a purpose. And still, always, hunting for her daughter.
To survive, know the past. Let it touch you. Then let the past go.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 21 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider. Back next week, with the epilogue.
Read MoreLarkin meets her uncle Mark. Her smooth, beautiful, lying uncle Mark. Mark lies about Lauren, her path, her life, a lie of her death. Meanwhile, Lauren is on the move, reenergized. Finally, with a travel companion and collaborator in Earthseed. Earthseed rising.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 20 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreLarkin’s childhood, young adulthood. Her dream-mapping, her world-building bloom and are punished. Meanwhile, Lauren searches, to exhaustion. Allie tries to plant the seed that her daughter may never return. But Lauren’s search continues, with a new young ally.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 19 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreA chapter heavy with Marcus. Octavia revisits the politics of attractiveness. Lauren asks Marcus for help finding Larkin. He can’t hear her, he won’t hear her. Lauren gets a vital clue, but at a deep cost.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 18 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.revisits the politics of attractiveness. Lauren asks Marcus for help finding Larkin. He can’t hear her, he won’t hear her. Lauren gets a vital clue, but at a deep cost.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 18 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreOnce again, we travel with Lauren and with Larkin. Larkin searches to understand her mother. Lauren searches for Larkin, alone despite herself. The children of Acorn are still missing, almost all of them. Lauren braves a Christian America shelter, navigating her terror and trauma. And she sees a familiar, unwelcome, hypocritical face.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 17 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider. Big, deep questions this week.
Read MoreAfter the storm. We gain insight into Larkin’s childhood in the Christian America children’s homes, in their vicious brutality. Lauren and her band find a lost friend, as they rebuild and survive. The first post-Acorn formation shifts, dissipates, reconfigures. A rich, dense, textured chapter.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 16 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider. Including, what is your alter ego name?
Read MoreThis is the document of collected questions a listener, Mo, kindly generated and allowed us to share with the community. Thank you, Mo!
Read MoreTW: Mention of rape, childhood sexual abuse
Camp Christian is ashes. The story shifts back to Larkin, and her strategies for survival. Quiet was good, and questioning was bad. We rejoin Lauren, as she reclaims her agency. Earthseed disperses, with intention and grief.
Toshi and adrienne break down Chapter 15 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreA dense, bruising, painful chapter.
A year has passed. A year of enslavement at Camp Christian. With an escape attempt, and its consequences. And a brutal, wasteful, pointless war.
We learn more of Larkin’s childhood life in her adoptive family, with its cruelties and violations.
Sickness strikes Camp Christian. A betrayal. A storm. And liberation.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 14 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreTrigger warnings: sexual violence, rape.
We learn what happened to Larkin, and where the children went. We learn how the women of Acorn survive, day by day, and how they maneuver. New alliances are cautiously forming, at great risk. And the sexual violence is a constant presence. We grapple with the pleasure of power, and its consequences.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 13 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 12 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreTrigger warnings: sexual violence, rape, death.
We learn more about life after Acorn is seized. The children are gone. The violence is constant. The hypocrisy is deep. The living save what little they can, and begin to plan while they try to survive.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 12 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreTrigger warnings on this episode: death, suicide, mention of sexual violence.
Acorn is overrun. Unspeakable, unthinkable losses. Loss of family, loss of life, loss of freedom. How to go on?
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 11 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and offer questions for you and your people to consider.
Read MoreOur narrator is born, and named, and welcomed. Lauren and Bankole discuss a move, again. Assessing danger, seen and unseen. Bankole tries to understand, again, how he and Lauren can shape the unknown. She shows him more of her self, this far in.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 10 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and offer questions for you and your people to consider. Not easy chapters, not easy questions.
Read MoreMarcus leaves, with the Peraltas. Dan Noyer returns, chased. A fierce battle. Lauren speaks words she can’t take back. Jarrett is ascendant.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 9 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, and offer questions for you and your people to consider. Not easy chapters, not easy questions.
Read MoreLauren and Bankole visit Halstead. Some in Acorn encourage them to move; Lauren remains adamant. Marcus preaches, and finds out.
Toshi and adrienne explore chapter 8 of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, offer questions for you and your people to consider, and dream of some fan-fiction crossovers.
Read MoreWe hear Marcus’s own Parable, his journey, and meet his religion. We get a perspective on the early life of Lauren. Bankole continues to press a move away from Acorn.
And as always, Toshi and adrienne offer questions for you and your people to consider. You’ll want to sit with these ones.
Read MoreThe Acorn community searches for Dan Noyer’s sisters. But find another, unexpected sibling. The reunion is heavy.
Toshi and adrienne explore Chapter 6 of Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Talents. And as always, offer questions for you and your people to consider.
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