STANDING IN SUPPORT OF THE NATIONAL STRIKE JANUARY 30, 2026,
THIS WEEK’S PONY IS RELEASING A DAY EARLY.
We recognize what we see on the streets of our cities from front page images of US troops scouring foreign villages and towns — the posturing, the masks, the protective gear, the weapons juxtaposed next to civilians. Military forces called peacekeepers demonstrate US might globally. This domestic peacekeeping force has been created, like the golem, and it is rising, lawlessly lurching among us.
The abuse of power is already well understood by most of our writers. In their letters and subsequent pieces of memoir, they write of the direct line between physical abuse and violence in their childhood homes and neighborhoods pointing to their crimes. In workshops, we discuss the tribal scars that scaffolded their identities as gang members, as soldiers, as criminals. What continues is a lifetime of unpacking this embodied history to understand their own fall. There is no better articulation of this than I Remember by former marine Jeff Witt.
The threat of violence acts as a physical armor to protect the perpetrator’s internal weakness. The federal agents are frightening to all of us. I would argue that the rage we are seeing in these officers reflect the deep-seated fear at the core of each person. Like our writers, there is a moment of betrayal, of abuse, of boundary crossing that has released their resentment, their rage, a sense of entitlement. The drum beat of the administration to isolate and incarcerate a class of people is a historic playbook and the catalyst that has ignited these agents’ unchecked, unexamined cruelty.
This collection fits the moment, as we consider who holds power, and how a person can transform destructive violence into mature, embodied strength. What does it mean to be a warrior?
Matt: A Letter to Younger Self
You became that little 9-year-old kid all over again at the age of 26. With all the dysfunctional ways of thinking that you learned along the way, all the war stories you ever heard, all the movies you ever watched … you ended up assuming a lot of things within a 24-hour period.
I Am a Survivor by Matt Reyes
For me, the best warrior that I can be is one who is there for family helping them repair themselves from the horrific and painful harms have been imposed upon them through generational trauma.
Hugh: Sleeping Giant
All that crushing emotion you’ve stuffed in your gut, it’s a sleeping giant that’ll crush you, you must know that you’re enough; to face the conversations, some adults will show you love. You feel persecuted; they feel blind. No one understands the mind that silences itself.
The Ceremony by Hugh Crow
And I am the wild —
Open and free.
What spirit is this upon Mother Earth
That has called us to touch our intimate worth
For the joining of hearts forever beat
Satya: Letter to Younger Self
Be precise and intentional with your words. Learn their meanings and think deeply on them; they have more power than you now know. Read Thoreau, his night in a cell, and “On Civil Disobedience.” Spoiler alert: he’s a boss. When speaking truth, with good intentions, have no fear. Tyranny can be dominate temporarily, but eventually love wins out, every time.
Letter to Younger Self, Part 2 by Satya Krishna Dasu
When federal agents detained Padilla against his will, that was the day a sitting US senator got a tiny taste of being the legal property of another, forced to obey them. I had a small sample at a very young age.
Michael: Letter to Younger Self
The change was slow, the battle in my mind, reputation, false values all surfaced. I didn’t feel like I deserved to be loved — the reality of sitting in prison and knowing I was so selfish. I deserted my family, my children to be the “man” and put fear into others for control, because I had the false reality of what a man really was.
I Truly Am by Michael Wise
I lived a life created to survive.
So many roads and city lights.
So many masks worn.
So many Me’s.
In our writing group (largely Native, Asian, and Pacific Islander folks) on the medium side of Snake River, we discussed the televised violence we’ve witnessed in Minneapolis. Tiny (he’s anything but) admitted that before he came to prison he was a lock ‘em up conservative. He testified that through sweat lodge, he has redirected his thinking, found some peace in the strength of connection — and healing through fellowship. I can think of no better articulation of Tiny’s transformation than the practice of standing in warrior pose. Arms lengthen and stretch away from the core, reaching further grounds the base more fully. Body and mind are unadorned, vulnerable, open. Strength shoots from the fingertips. Deep work that energizes and lifts the soul. | TDS
For those of you unfamiliar, Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from an American provides a generous, intelligent, and history-based presentation of the day’s events. In this sea of distressing images and bombastic language, Richardson provides context and perspective.
Keep going.