Kamál Academy

09/01/2026

08/30/2026

“Our stories say that of all the plants, wiingaashk, or sweetgrass, was the very first to grow on the earth, its fragrance a sweet memory of Skywoman’s hand. Accordingly, it’s honored as one of the four sacred plants of my people. Breathe in its scent and you start to remember things you didn’t know you’d forgotten. Our elders say that ceremonies are the way we ‘remember to remember,’ and so sweetgrass is a powerful ceremonial plant cherished by many indigenous nations. It’s also used to make beautiful baskets. Both medicine and a relative, its value is both material and spiritual.

There’s such tenderness in braiding the hair of someone you love. Kindness and something more flow between the braider and the braided, the two connected by the cord of the plait. Wiingaashk waves in strands, long and shining like a woman’s freshly washed hair. And so we say it’s the flowing hair of Mother Earth. When we braid sweetgrass, we are braiding the hair of Mother Earth, showing her our loving attention, our care for her beauty and well-being, in gratitude for all she has given us. Children hearing the Skywoman story from birth know in their bones the responsibility that flows between human and earth.”

~ Robin Wall Kimmerer, from the Introduction of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Art: Camille, “Braiding Sweetgrass”anima

Note: “Women gather and pick sweet grass late June and July. 21 blades per braid of sweet grass, one of the four sacred medicines given to us from Creator. We use it to pray, cleanse and purify.”
~ Jackie Traverse

08/28/2026

08/27/2026

okay so the world is on fire and a few powerful men are dragging us all toward collapse. but you’re ready to fight back. here’s how:

1️⃣ speak truth
start with your circles. friends, family, workmates. share the full reality of what’s happening without sugarcoating it. this system is violent & unsustainable. the goal is to wake people up with clarity, care, *and* patience.

2️⃣ use your gifts for resistance
whatever you do, you have power! whether you make music, build things, teach, or organise behind the scenes, your skills matter. use them to support movements, challenge the status quo, or build alternatives rooted in justice & ecology.

3️⃣ confront power directly
power will not give up willingly. join movements that are resisting fossil fuels, corporate greed, & settler-colonial violence. disrupt the flow of business-as-usual. show up where it hurts them most, & stop asking for permission.

4️⃣ divest from destruction
move your money out of institutions funding war, fossil fuels, factory farms, & deforestation. ethical banks & credit unions exist. every dollar you remove is one less fuelling collapse. starve the beast wherever you can.

5️⃣ join or build a collective
collective power is our only hope. join a climate, housing, indigenous, or justice group that aligns with your values. or start one with others who are ready to fight. you don’t need to be perfect, just present & willing to grow.

6️⃣ live like capitalism is ending
radically reduce consumption. eat plant-based. grow and share food. cut ties with fast fashion & hyper-consumerism. build your life around regeneration, repair, care, & mutual support.

7️⃣ disrupt the machine
this system will not be reformed. general strike. mass boycotts, civil disobedience, blockades & strikes have always been the tools of the oppressed.

8️⃣ reclaim community & connection
the system wants us isolated and distracted. fight that by building mutual aid, sharing skills, supporting elders, raising kids together, and restoring kinship with the more-than-human world.

08/27/2026

08/26/2026

a thought worth pondering

08/26/2026

Levi Coffin never wore a uniform. He never carried a w*apon. But for over 40 years, he waged a quiet war against slavery from inside the walls of his own home.

Born a Quaker in North Carolina, Coffin saw the cruelty of slavery as a boy and never looked away. When his family moved to Indiana, he turned his house in Newport into what became known as the "Grand Central Station" of the Underground Railroad a secret refuge where escaped slaves could hide, rest, and disappear before slave catchers ever got close.

He built hidden crawlspaces behind false walls. He demanded search warrants before letting anyone through his door, buying precious time for the fugitives inside to vanish. He and his wife, Catherine, sewed disguises, cooked meals in the d*ad of night, and drove wagons north under cover of darkness again and again, at the risk of prison, ruin, and d*ath.

By the time slavery ended, Levi Coffin had helped guide an estimated 3,000 men, women, and children to freedom.

He asked for no glory. He simply believed the Bible commanded him to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and he never once looked away from that call.

Image credit: Wikipedia

08/25/2026