These are transitional years and the dues
will be heavy.
Change is quick but revolution
will take a while. America has not even begun as yet.
This continent is seed.
As a worker-owned cooperative and independent bookstore, we often get approached about how we got started, what our internal operations look like, and how we “do things” in general. Some questions are easier to answer than others (and we’re usually happy to share what we’ve learned throughout the years), but a big piece of context that isn’t always obvious to inquiring minds is that trust is at the core of how we operate. Our collective is a small but mighty team, and everyone brings their own flavor and skillsets to the table. Since our hiring process is rigorous and infrequent, we’ve all worked together for years, and we’ve shared with each other our own introductions to anarchism and how we engaged with Firestorm before working here.
This past year, in an effort to carve out collective time outside of the store, we started doing monthly brunches. This means we take turns hosting, and brunch topics are pre-determined—we discuss timely articles, podcasts, and zines, and process current events together. We also talk about other media we’ve consumed and inevitably veer off-course, because these brunches are technically off the clock (unless they accidentally become a meeting). The brunches are a space for us to share dreams, anxieties, things we’re excited about, and how Firestorm can respond to certain political moments.
In July, our collective took a field trip to Chicago for Socialism Conference 2025 and we attended a session on anti-colonial resistance featuring geographer Linda Quiquivix (author of Palestine 1492: A Report Back), Mohamed Abdou (author of Islam and Anarchism), and Ashanti Alston (co-author of Black Anarchist Futures and keynote speaker at Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair 2024). The conversation was definitely a highlight for us, and a few months ago we started reading Palestine 1492 together, which is a beautiful and accessible title that we can’t recommend enough.
An engaging and poetic primer in liberation, with enormous value to the new and seasoned alike. The book is split into four sections, beginning in Palestine, traveling on for a crash course in global history, through to Chiapas, Black liberation, and our impossible task ahead. As I read, I felt so many things click satisfyingly into place alongside QuiQui's big picture analysis, while her references offer a thousand worthwhile threads to follow.
As we look towards a new year, we continue to collectively reflect on global anti-colonial struggles and how we can apply what we’ve learned (and continue to learn) from these struggles to the present moment. In Palestine 1492, there is an ever-present feeling of trust in those who Quiqui learns from, and whose knowledge she weaves into a tapestry of reverence.
In the spirit of cold days and long nights, here’s a gentle nudge to spend time with the ones you love and trust when you want to isolate yourself the most—to sustain our movements we can nourish one another with small acts of warmth, whether it be with food, conversation, movement, or the simple gift of being with one another.