Bruce Springsteen, Olivia Rodrigo, and The Future

It's not just a clickbait headline. All three are real, and inspiring, and show up in some form later in this message:

Video: Secret Rivers at the No Kings national flagship rally in St. Paul

I performed alongside SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE (as our duo project, Secret Rivers) on the mainstage for No Kings' national flagship rally back in March. I've always been an opening act, but now I can say I've opened for Bruce Springsteen and Joan Baez. Here's a transcript of my verse, a medley that pulled from a few different songs.

I didn't actually get a chance to meet Springsteen, but he performed a short while after we did, and it was incredible. Oh and here's a post from this very newsletter, something I wrote after the first No Kings march: What's next? Things to do after a big march.

As we keep working on our debut full-length, we're playing more and more shows (including the Immigrant Defense Network's Midwest Democracy & Power Summit this past week); get in touch to bring us to your conference, college, festival, etc., or to add us to a lineup.

Next up: a virtual workshop on poems as narrative interventions

June 25, 2026: I'll be facilitating a virtual workshop exploring how poets and other creative writers can contribute to narrative-shifting/shaping work. It's part of Button Poetry's running "Button Up" series. At the registration page, there is a dropdown menu: you can register for just my class, OR for monthly admission, OR for a full year.

Speaking of poetry, here's a deep dive into the new Olivia Rodrigo album

It's a rich text! Here are some notes, some discussion questions, and a few writing prompts. I made this especially for teachers and teaching artists, but I think it's good for all of us to more deeply engage with the art we like. Not like, as homework or anything, but because it can be fun. Read it on my blog and/or in this IG post.

New song: Practice by The Neon Sound (featuring me)

A brand new poem, over some gorgeous music by The Neon Sound. It's really their song; I'm just the guest. Streaming now wherever you listen to stuff. The poem uses the setup of a few artists walking through a dead mall to create some "illegal" art to explore... I already over-explain things, just go listen to it, haha.

A few more notes

• Here's a link to the Legal Defense Fund for MN Anti-ICE Organizers
• I got to present at Netroots along with Na Eng this month about how artists and culture workers continue to show up in Minneapolis. Na was also celebrating the release of a very cool project: The Art of Saving Democracy
• Also wanted to shout out Monica Trinidad's ongoing series about making art in the times in which we live. The latest episode quotes me, as well as sharing some very cool and useful tips on the money side of this work.

The future: booking and beyond

If you can't tell by the world-weary tone of this message, it's been a tough few months. I'm planning to be away from social media for a while to really focus on this new book, but definitely appreciate your reading this. The last thing I'll share in this entry is what I often end these emails with: a booking pitch.

I can't ever really complain about what I do, but I can let you know that because I make a lot of my living by performing and presenting at colleges, and colleges in the US are currently (not all, but many) running away from diversity programs, consent/counter-narrative masculinity programs, artsy stuff, and a lot of the kind of work that I do, it's an uphill battle.

It's also exactly why it's important to me to keep doing this work. In times like these, when there are forces that want us to feel isolated and alienated, I think arts programming (especially arts programming that has some connection to themes of community, agency, and possibility) is worth prioritizing. So if anyone out there is connected to a college, conference, festival, or anything else, please feel free to be in touch.

Thanks again!