Professor Dwayne Dixon has been reinstated by UNC CH -- turns out it's a BAD IDEA to try to terminate professors based off loose allegations of being "antifa" made by far-right Brietbart/Fox News journalists supported by VDARE and Groypers. Who would have thought?

How do you hold a millionaire developer accountable to the working class in your town? Morgan, a Colorado teacher, is trying to figure out just that. Latest on Working Class Storytelling.

Professor Dixon is a friend to many folks across NC and a beloved teacher at Carolina. Yesterday, he was put on leave for being "antifascist." No other allegations or complaints against him. He's now barred from the campus where on Friday he worked. www.change.org/p/reinstate-...

We can't let them pick people off. Ain't a soul @uncchapelhill.bsky.social who feels unsafe with this prof there; ain't a student who can't form their own beliefs. Don't let them label any of us as extremists when we are anti-fascist or anti-racist. www.dailytarheel.com/article/2025...

“You don’t necessarily need people doing things that are high-risk. You just need large numbers of people doing them,” says Hardy Merriman in an episode of @newyorker.com’s ‘The Political Scene’ discussing strategies of resistance in a backsliding democracy. Tune in now!

Gamers get stereotyped as weird recluses, but what if I told you there is a whole movement of gamers who use their platforms for connection, support, and community building? open.substack.com/pub/workingc...

Libs of TikTok and the Cape Fear Proud Boys have spent the entire week trying to get things to pop off at #UNCW. This is where our kids go to learn, to become adults. Adults stoking fire at a campus is not just childish, but cruel. Tonight the kids are sheltering in place. It shouldn't be like this.

My treatise on how outrage on the internet might not be outrage at all. open.substack.com/pub/beaconme...

Because I love my craft, I ate two plates of hash browns. For research. My treatise on how "internet outrage" often just isn't outrage at all. open.substack.com/pub/beaconme...

Organizing to watch: Residents in a small desert city have figured out a way to protect affordable housing after disasters and keep out-of-town investors from swooping in to flip them. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...

Judge Farmer: At this time I do not find the Attorney General had the authority to bring this RICO case

People doing community organizing in some fashion or another: Tell me about a time when things got MESSY! Like the fight got hot and you considered quitting or you got pretty freaked out. When the people in power flexed that power and the road ahead seemed harder than you thought. What you got?

For my latest, I talked with counter-recruiter Rory Fanning about how we should communicate with National Guard troops deployed in US cities, and how we might counter ICE's current recruiting blitz.

“The stories I’ve been finding in small, working-class towns across the country are action-oriented. Instead of making requests of those in power, these projects & people are USING power.” @gwenfulton.bsky.social‬ workingclassstories.substack.com/p/stick-with...

I headed to Knoxville TN to meet the moms behind Tennessee MomTok. I asked them: Is what you are doing political? Their answer surprised me. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...

I used to think that only rich people, the good ol' boys, could be in government. But now I know that people like Preston cannot only run, but win. Preston is Fletcher NC's first Black mayor and he's a janitor by day. Latest on Working Class Storytelling: open.substack.com/pub/workingc...

The same week that Mandy Hodge was evicted from a national forest and into town, that town's housing prices hit a record high. When we sweep homeless camps, where are people supposed to go? My latest on Working Class Storytelling: open.substack.com/pub/workingc...

What the hell do I know about international law, but I'm pretty f-ing sure you can't just blow up boats of civilians in international waters even if they have drugs on board.

This Labor Day, love and admiration to all workers, from the mines to the carwashes, the kitchen to the classroom. open.substack.com/pub/workingc...

Kudzu, mountains, sky. North Carolina.

“Democracy is messy…It moves fast and requires constant recalibration by all of us—citizens & our elected representatives. From my view, there’s no better place than local government to muck through and figure it out.” @gwenfulton.bsky.social‬ workingclassstories.substack.com/p/mucking-th...

My kids enthusiastic updates from his college cafeteria feel like a real referendum on my cooking.

“It is unlikely that…the Democratic Party, can now outcompete the GOP in rage, or even should do so, but they can outcompete the GOP if they can show working-class people that they have rational-actor goals in their behalf to pursue.” @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Somewhere in last 15 years or so the belief that longform journalism usually works best as narrative, & that narrative usually works best with fully-drawn characters—vs talking head experts—became an exotic notion, replaced by virtuoso marshaling of damning facts too dully arranged to digest.

Everyday people are finding that showing up at public meetings can bring about big, impactful change. Don't sleep on local gov, it's where we can flex the most power. Latest on Working Class Storytelling: open.substack.com/pub/workingc...

“Public goods—from public land to the weather service—are being sold for parts to private for-profit entities based on the assumption that millionaires know more than park rangers, scientists, or a town’s people.” @gwenfulton.bsky.social‬ workingclassstories.substack.com/p/public-mon...

Less food on the table, more medical debt, bigger billionaire tax breaks– this is what the Broken Budget delivers. Join us in Greensboro as we demand better for families, children, and hard-working North Carolinians: www.mobilize.us/megaphonenc/...

Local politics is where it's at. In towns across the country, local residents want to be involved and local representatives want them to be too- where is the gap? My latest column in Courier News: cardinalpine.com/2025/08/07/i...

I love the borderlands.

Update on this story out of Colorado: The petition drive re:using local tax dollars to fund Martin Linds stadium was successful! They got enough signatures to get this issue into the Nov ballot, meaning the residents of Greeley will have a say! Organizing works! open.substack.com/pub/workingc...

My Uber driver in New Orleans has a wife and two toddlers; his two year old has Downs. They are being evicted Friday. "I don't know what to do," he said. "I work every minute, all the time."

Washington Post: “Is fascism bad? The answer may surprise you” Teen Vogue: “Here are three fun tips you can use this summer to disable an armored personnel carrier”

The generals said "The military cannot stop Trump from giving these orders." Politicians said "Congress cannot stop it." The lawyers said "We cannot stop it." Only the left activists said: "We have an approach of mass noncooperation that can stop this.” wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-t...

Another great article from @gwenfulton.bsky.social about how million/billionaires don't give a shit about the towns that they supposedly want to change "for the better." open.substack.com/pub/workingc...

Organizing to watch: Local residents in Greeley, Colorado, are pushing back against their city's decision to fund a development for a millionaire. My latest about working class people doing cool organizing stuff: open.substack.com/pub/workingc...

Organizing to watch. Here, a wonderful interview with my 72 year old colleague who has been organizing for my entire life: barnraisingmedia.com/the-long-tim...

Read this essay by @gwenfulton.bsky.social if you are a middle-class liberal puzzled by why so many working-class people voted for Trump. workingclassstories.substack.com/p/people-kno...

It is an authoritarian playbook, not just an "echo." This is no longer something that "could happen," it is happening. Responsible writers should be writing in the present tense.

“The president cut your health care so he could build himself a golden ballroom” is a pretty easy message to sell

It’s 6 mo. since launching Working Class Storytelling. I didn’t think it would be hard, but I had no idea it would be this easy. Every town, in every state, is organizing, launching projects, and building the future we want and need. workingclassstories.substack.com/p/dirt-roads...

Organizing to watch: Finding public space to gather, especially in rural America, is hard. That's why working folks from Alabama to New Mexico are creating their own third places. My latest on Working Class Storytelling: workingclassstories.substack.com/p/opening-up...

Here's an example of exactly what we need more of at this time: local, working class, grassroots organizing. @convergencemag.com convergencemag.com/articles/uni...

This week, I wrote about a woman in PA who felt very alone in her outrage about the cuts to Medicaid. But instead of despairing, she decided to organize. Now, a few short weeks later, she has a growing group of hundreds of neighbors who share her sentiments —and they are ready to act.

Why DIY disaster prep matters more than ever www.motherjones.com/environment/...

I used to love a good thunderstorm, as any Southerner would, but now each one feels like a potential catastrophe for our towns. Working class people are getting hemmed in by climate change. My latest on Working Class Storytelling: workingclassstories.substack.com/p/higher-gro...

People want to be together. As funding gets cut for parks/public places & local businesses where people gather struggle to stay afloat, people are organizing to create third places in their hometowns. My latest column explores some of the places: cardinalpine.com/2025/07/11/a...

In Appalachia, there are "Hillers" and "Creekers" -- denoting rich folks and poor folks. What regionalisms do you have about class?

Fletcher, N.C. Mayor Preston Blakely shares how his family's local civil rights legacy has shaped his path and purpose. “The struggle for rights is a legacy I now have the power to influence.” beaconmedianc.substack.com/p/preston-bl...

South Carolina residents are being clear that they don't want their neighbors targeted and they reject ICE. www.wsav.com/news/local-n...

I’m speaking at this summer’s @Netroots_Nation conference, August 7-9 in New Orleans – and I hope you’ll join me! #nn25 is a critical event for training organizers to be more effective & rallying folks to fight for a better world. get 10% off your ticket: registration.socio.events/e/netroots25...