Ep.59 – "We're All Preppers Now" feat. Margaret Killjoy

"We're All Preppers Now" feat. Margaret Killjoy

Margaret Killjoy is a transfeminine author and editor currently living in a self-built cabin in the Appalachian mountains. She is the author of the Danielle Cain series of novellas, published by Tor.com. She hosts the podcast, "Live Like the World is Dying," in which she interviews people who think about how to prepare for and survive crises. Politically, she is an anarchist: she believes that society would be better off without systems of hierarchy and oppression such as the state, capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and the like.

Margaret and I have known each other since the early 2000s in Portland, Oregon, where we were both involved in the Indymedia and forest defense scenes. We lived in the same activist house for awhile, and I always appreciated her analysis, creativity and hard work. We hadn't talked for over a decade at the time of this interview, but we fell right back into an easy, enjoyable dialogue. There's more laughter than usual in this episode, as both of us can approach serious topics with levity.

Our conversation was centered around an essay she wrote in early January called, "We're All Preppers Now." We discussed elite panic; the three essential components of successful prepping: skills, gear and relationships; the different scales of preparation including individual, community and grid-level; the difficulties of agriculture; the challenges of off-grid living, including our own personal experiences; "frontiersman" mythology; the importance of being in relation to the land where you live; how abstinence is not the most effective response to exploitation; anarchism as social organization; anarchists in history; the role of imagination in making positive change; electoral politics and activism; the possibility of famine; and climate change. We end the podcast with a recording of the song "Cast Fire," from her band, Alsarath, which also plays in the background of this episode's introduction.

"We're All Preppers Now" article: http://www.liveliketheworldisdying.com/2021/01/11/were-all-preppers-now/

Where to follow Margaret Killjoy and her work:
Blog: http://birdsbeforethestorm.net/
Podcast: http://www.liveliketheworldisdying.com/podcast-episodes/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/magpiekilljoy
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/margaretkilljoy
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/margaretkilljoy
Musical projects at bandcamp: Nomadic War Machine, Feminazgul, Alsarath, and Vulgarite

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