This post-Helene reading group recently wrapped up Dean Spade's Love in a F*cked-Up World and decided to detour into a shorter reading before selecting its next, extended journey. Enter Robin Wall Kimmerer's The Serviceberry, an essay meditation on mutuality in nature!

As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.” The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World is a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world. This series is co-facilitated by Lauren Miller.

Use promo code BEHOLDEN to save 10% on the book at checkout. Firestorm will make copies of the book available at no cost for participants who cannot afford to buy one.

The next stage of human economy will parallel what we are beginning to understand about nature. It will call forth the gifts of each of us; it will emphasize cooperation over competition; it will encourage circulation over hoarding; and it will be cyclical, not linear. Money may not disappear anytime soon, but it will serve a diminished role even as it takes on more of the properties of the gift. The economy will shrink, and our lives will grow.

Reading Schedule

Because this book is short, we'll be tackling it in just two sessions! Each will roughly stand on its own and you're welcome to join in whether or not you've attended previous sessions.

• May 12th – Pages 1-50
• June 3rd – Pages 51-112