reflections
I no longer dream of the apocalypse by Samara Almonte
Illustration by Javie Huxley @javhuxThis week I took a trip into the shado archives to look at this reflective piece by fellow editor Samara Almonte. It’s about how dreaming of another world can be a powerful survival tool, and more beneficial than imagining the destruction and chaos of our own.
It’s sad to tie everything back to Trump, but it would be wrong of me to deny the looming feeling of societal collapse that his first two weeks in office have already manifested. Or is it just me?
This piece, however, has given me an alternative outlook to being forever doom-pilled.
imagine draggin’
Using Indigenous P’urhepecha teachings, Samara shows us that structures coming to an end can be viewed as part of a larger cycle of time. A vital part of our existence is dreaming of something better: “the envisioning of a new world, no matter how radical it may seem is fundamental to the process of getting there.”
This made me think about how envisioning something new is a fundamental tool in how we deal with that underlying sense of hopelessness and despair in modern society. Imagination is a human skill that we take for granted – it is not necessarily an innate instinct, we have to work on it and flex it like a muscle.
Not to sound too boomer but I do worry that our phone and social media addictions – creating ever-lessening attention spans – limits the scope of our imagination. This renders us less able to create other worlds away from the misery of our current moment. For me, imagination requires deep thinking and time to allow the mind to wander and reach new places. But the allure of the black mirror, shiny app icons and online validation has replaced this creativity with a version of dead-eyed reality.
it’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine
I see this as linked to the general pessimism of our present era. Don’t get me wrong – there’s plenty to be cynical about – I won’t list the things that can go wrong / are going wrong here because you already know them, and probably think about them most days.
But if we spent as much time picturing something completely new, we might have more of the will to fight. We don’t allow ourselves the proper time and space to dream of alternative structures, ways of life that differ drastically than what we’re used to. The confines of our reality are dictated by the news cycle and political institutions, reinforced by our manufactured reliance on quickfire dopamine hits.
Let’s consider not the end of the physical world, but the end of oppressive structures, and think beyond armageddon.
don’t let the small things go
Samara talks about the power of small things, in order to dream beyond the apocalypse. It’s things we can do today, they are not seismic in themselves but they lay the groundwork for tomorrow, “the seeds of a new world.”
She focuses on maintaining good relationships with those around you – not just friends and colleagues but the land too. Being in nature is a proven healer. It creates a relationship with the earth, where you don’t exist merely within these man-made systems we’ve built, but as part of an ecosystem which has existed before us, and will extend beyond our time.
Taking the time to do small acts of love and care may not seem like standalone revolutionary acts, but it can allow us to expand our minds before the chaos of this world, and glimpse into a radical future.
To quote Samara: “I no longer dream of the apocalypse because I am too busy dreaming about our liberation.”
~ Tommy
smirk of the week 😏
shado in focus
Check out this shado in focus episode: Pipeline to genocide: British Petroleum’s oil route to Israel by Energy Embargo for Palestine – detailing how BP supplies Israel’s energy, and has even obtained a gas exploration license in occupied Palestinian waters.
It’s especially important to remind ourselves how predatory resource extraction is linked to colonialism, especially in light of the precarious ceasefire, Trump’s remarks that the Gaza strip could be “cleaned out,” and an earlier statement by his son-in-law Jared Kushner that Gaza’s waterfront property could be “very valuable”.
one thing to groove to:
FKA Twigs – Girl Feels Good
FKA Twigs is back – the hypnotic, genre-defying artist has continued a stellar run of albums with 2025’s EUSEXA. I suggest listening to the LP in its entirety, but Girl Feels Good is probably my favourite song – a pulsating, trip-hoppy feminist anthem, it feels at once an ode to ‘90s Madonna and Massive Attack.
It’s catchy, it’s dancey, it’s too damn cool. L I S T E N !
“When a girl feels good, it makes the world go round.” Wise words.
one thing to listen to:
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