Dear readers: As you may have noticed, it’s been a long dry spell. We just sent our first newsletter since June; while Mother Earth has been busy prodigiously giving fruit, cereal, root and seed for human and non-human sustenance, this land has been lying fallow. But harvest time brings the fruit of that period of quietude, and we are excited to share.

As some of you already know, we lost our funding this year, and after a long time of working for an unsustainable stipend, our wonderful co-editora of many years, Angélica Almazán, moved on to focus on her music career. Far from gone, however, she remains an important part of our network and our inspiration, and has agreed to serve on our board of directors (Check out her music on YouTube). 

Thankfully as in Nature all energy flows are cyclical, and now Esperanza has been gifted with a fresh new source of energy and inspiration: Volunteer Melanie Politron. Perfectly, amazingly bilingual, very bright and very committed to using her talents to help make the world a better place, this beautiful 19-year-old international business student at the University of Guadalajara has given me the gift of her time and attention and is helping me to resurrect our long neglected website and newsletter.

But just as I was getting ready to hit send on the first edition of our long-awaited first newsletter — a news alert about a prophetic message from Lakota leader Chief Arvol Looking Horse — it occurred to me that what is called for is really something more, and something different.

These days, as the great thinning of the veils approaches, I have been drawn in my thoughts to three mentors and teachers of The Esperanza Project. There’s Coyote Alberto Ruz, cofounder of the Vision Council-Guardians of the Earth; the pioneering Huehuecoyotl Ecovillage; and CASA, the Latin American arm of the Global Ecovillage Network, among many other important initiatives. I’ve written extensively about Alberto in these pages, and indeed he wrote for us himself. There’s the amazing Liora Adler, cofounder of Gaia University (as well as the Vision Council and Huehuecoyotl) and a behind-the-scenes organizer who introduced me to the concept of Changemaker as she herself powerfully lived that role. 

Finally there is Abuela Margarita, a friend, neighbor and internationally beloved teacher from my days at Teopantli Kalpulli. As Abuela and others have taught me, in Mexico, all things are possible. One must only have faith, and let things flow. Abuela Margarita invited me to a different way of looking at the world, a different way of life, and, indeed, an entirely different form of journalism. I loved the idea and I loved her, but I deferred, busy amidst my all-consuming commitments. But as she also taught me, everything happens when it’s supposed to happen. And now it is time to circle back.

My intention is that the new, improved Esperanza Project newsletter reflect that different type of journalism. And I offer it in honor of Coyote Alberto, who in his own very powerful way was already doing that different kind of journalism; to the mighty Liora, who through Gaia University and scores of other initiatives, was doing a different kind of education; and to Abuela Margarita, who was creating a different kind of connection with the Divine. I am still grieving the departure of each of these intellectual and spiritual giants, but at the same time I hear their voices; they are telling me they are still here. And they are also telling me to step up. 

May the work of our hands and our hearts and our minds, those of us in the far-flung international collective known as Esperanza, achieve in some measure what these three guides and teachers have in mind for us as they guide us from beyond. 

There are also three people on this material plane that I very much wish to acknowledge and thank for the burst of energy and confidence that have allowed me to circle back to this work of my heart. First, Elizabeth Jenkins, founder of the Wiraqocha Foundation and bestselling author and guide in the beautiful cosmology of the Q’ero people of Peru, the last living descendants of the Incas, who surprised me recently out of the blue with a very generous donation — “I came into some discretionary funding and wanted to share,” she said to me with zero fanfare, and a few minutes later, $1,000 showed up in my PayPal. 

Second, the irrepressible Chris Wells, that well of creative presence who has nurtured his own special binational and bilingual version of the All Species Project, who has labored tirelessly on behalf of the miracle of the Native Corn, and who also gifted us with a generous donation and told others in his Santa Fe circle of creative artivists and world-changers about our work, and they have done the same — most recently, Wendy Hitt and Rob Althouse, but also John McLeod, who has collaborated with us financially and editorially since we first launched our Patreon during the early days of the pandemic, indeed contributing some of our most popular and powerful articles to date.

And finally, my amazing uncle and aunt, Kevin and Pamela Hicks, who believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself, and whose generous support got us through some very rough times. 

So what is this new and improved newsletter about, you might well ask? Well, not to be presumptuous, but a little bit more of me. I have long known that what is called for here is not just a report of the news – or even tales from the frontlines of those amazing people who are creating that more beautiful world we know is possible.

It’s commentary, analysis and insight on those changemakers and on the changes themselves as we see them, in this time of the Great Turning, as Buddhist Eco Scholar and Prophet Joanna Macy has termed it. So that, my friends and readers, is what I shall endeavor to do. I ask your forbearance, support and ideas along the way, as it is challenging for me to share thoughts and opinions, something that my journalistic training actually taught me to repress. But all things must change, and this project of hope calls us to stretch ourselves to reach that higher purpose.

But all things must change, and this project of hope calls us to stretch ourselves to reach that higher purpose.If you would like to support the work of our freelance writers, editors and photographers in our work of creating this different kind of journalism, you can contribute via PayPal, via Venmo (@Tracy-Barnett-43), through Zelle (+1 573 530 7719), or by writing a check to The Esperanza Project, 1335 Wilderness Drive, Hillsboro, MO, 63050. 

But actually the most enjoyable way is to join our Patreon community and make an ongoing contribution each month; gain access to exclusive content, have a say in our upcoming editions and be a part of a beautiful community supporting our hope-based regenerative journalism for as little as $2 a month. And if you don’t have $2 a month, you can now sign up for free just to get a taste of what’s going on over there, because my writing for the Patreon blog is much more prolific and personal, intimate even, than what I feel comfortable publishing here on the Esperanza Project site.

There are also many other ways to support, which are outlined on our How You Can Help page. The most simple and sometimes the most powerful is just to reach out to me; it means more than you know, just to feel your presence and know that you are there. Please feel free to share your feedback, your feelings, and the fruits of your own labors replying to this email, and stay tuned to this blog. If you haven’t already, sign up at www.esperanzaproject.com and/or www.elproyectoesperanza.com and invite your friends to follow our work in the months and years ahead.

Now for the news:

Chief Arvol Looking Horse’s prophetic callout to the Nation from WILD12: This groundbreaking Indigenous-led gathering in the Sacred Black Hills was scarcely noticed by mainstream media, but our collaborator in San Antonio, Greg Harman, was there leading a team of reporters. Read their extensive reporting and see the video at Deceleration. 

The legendary Winona LaDuke, one-time vice presidential candidate, best-selling author and irrepressible Indigenous leader, writes about the courageous, federally persecuted and ultimately successful hemp-growing project of Oglala Lakota former tribal president Alex White Plume.

From a cornfield planted in the median of one of the biggest thoroughfares in center of Guadalajara, Mexico, the Colectivo Coamil Federalismo—an autonomous project focused on urban agriculture—demanded the protection of the country’s native corn at the national level. Our first collaboration from award-winning Mexican journalist Melina Gil. 

Thank you for reading this far. We know it’s a lot, especially on a busy Wednesday. Your feedback and comments are not only welcome, they are greatly desired. And please keep an eye out — we’ve got more great new material coming to you soon.

Blessings,
Tracy 

Abuela Margarita All Species Project Chris Wells Coyote Alberto Ruz Elizabeth Jenkins Kevin Hicks Liora Adler Pam Hicks Wiraqocha Foundation