Author | Lightnews

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Oct 3

read my homie’s elegant story

Deceleration @deceleration.news · Oct 2

The principles of #mutualaid that are increasingly being built into community #climate efforts—out of deep and growing necessity. Some case studies here to be aware of.

deceleration.news/trump-crushi...

#climate #publichealth #globalwarming #activism #cities

www.splitthisrock.org/poetry-datab...

Reposted by M Cortez

Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · Oct 2

Meditations in an Emergency
By Cameron Awkward-Rich
I wake up & it breaks my heart. I draw the blinds & the thrill of rain breaks my heart. I go outside. I ride the train, walk among the buildings, men in Monday suits. The flight of doves, the city of tents beneath the underpass, the huddled mass, old women hawking roses, & children all of them, break my heart. There’s a dream I have in which I love the world. I run from end to end like fingers through her hair. There are no borders, only wind. Like you, I was born. Like you, I was raised in the institution of dreaming. Hand on my heart. Hand on my stupid heart.

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M Cortez @mcortez.net · Sep 30

South TX friends and fam--gonna be at UTRGV (@utrgvnewsroom.bsky.social) next Monday for a writing workshop/reading from The Bird Church, and on Tuesday moderating a talk by musician/sound studies scholar @jonathanjleal.bsky.social. see flyer for times and location. come by if you're around <3

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Sep 25

the only thing about that video is you can tell the casting is not 100% san antonio peeps cuz there would need to be wayyyyy more chicanos stuck in that traffic jam

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Sep 25

i remember when REM came to town to film that video in the fall of 1992. i was in 8th grade, and the Express-News ran a little story about it. do you like REM? my mom wanted to know as she handed me the paper in the morning before school. boy did i!

R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts (Official HD Music Video)

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Sep 25

earlier this eve at traffic jam o'clock, drove past that exact lower stretch of I-10 where REM shot their video for "everybody hurts," and for a moment out the window i felt like i was watching it on MTV

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rOi...

YouTube video by remhq

www.youtube.com

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M Cortez @mcortez.net · Sep 23

an elegy for our friend and comrade jack elder. deceleration.news/podcast-reme...

PODCAST: Remembering Jack Elder—Activist, Peacemaker, Defender of Human Rights & La Madre Tierra – Deceleration

In a moment convulsed by questions of who we remember and how, we choose to commemorate the life of our friend and comrade Jack Elder (1943-2025). In a moment convulsed by questions of who we remember...

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Sep 19

granted l was a kid in the reaganite 80s, at the decadent end of the Cold War…but it was just sort of in the air of the cultural imaginary, everyone said it to everyone

Messages from Jess’s Last Days—A Social Autopsy – Deceleration

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Sep 19

with a weird kind of haunted feeling, I keep thinking about how, in elementary school, when someone told you to stop doing or saying something for idiot reasons, the standard retort was: IT’S A FREE COUNTRY

like—is that even conceptually available to today’s elementary school students?

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M Cortez @mcortez.net · Sep 14

People shocked that Fox commentator casually advocates killing homeless people. But writing about the street death of a friend last year who was unhoused and schizophrenic, this view was not far from the surface for many ordinary people in her neighborhood. deceleration.news/messages-fro...

A close reading of the last week of Jessica Witzel’s life reveals predictable failures by public agencies, facilitated by the dehumanization that housed residents often direct at their unhoused neighb...

Reposted by M Cortez

Deceleration @deceleration.news · Sep 12

“I could hear a woman’s voice screaming, ‘We’re coming back!’ ... and as I approached the wrecked tripod, a black late-model Jeep turned its headlights on and started to drive toward me."

#environment #activism #forests #biodiversity #news

deceleration.news/slaying-mons...

collage featuring forest defenders and relates species.

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M Cortez @mcortez.net · Sep 8

I have been squirreling away “No Spurs No” and “Stop Spurs Stop” for about ten years…finally vindicated in seeing it put to good use.

Deceleration @deceleration.news · Sep 7

Our latest opinion piece kicks off a series of stories about the projects we want to see funded in a time of colliding crises. This multi-billion dollar "Project Marvel" entertainment district isn't one of them.

deceleration.news/san-antonio-...

#climate #food #cities #development #justice #hr

'Vanishing Ice, Melting ICE'—A Deceleration Quarterly Creative Review – Deceleration

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Sep 7

normally I’m a party-averse person, but tonite I went to the best party. My friend was turning 60 so there was a bouncy house and miniature donkeys, ice cream making, cigars, and to top it off a Jesus Christ Superstar singalong

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Aug 30

I laugh every time this song plays

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Reposted by M Cortez

Deceleration @deceleration.news · Aug 29

All over our community and all over this land, people are fighting back and protecting each other by writing, singing, drawing, chalking sidewalks. Check out our first creative review here: deceleration.news/melting-ice-...

w/ @pacifistwarvet.bsky.social & otrxs

#poetry #art #visualart #resist

Deceleration's first quarterly creative review taps into deep wells of community talent responding to the vanishing ice of warming seas and recent ICE vanishings of our family, friends, and neighbors....

Toxic Tour Highlights Environmental Justice Struggles on San Antonio's South Side – Deceleration

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M Cortez @mcortez.net · Aug 28

whenever i go somewhere intending to write something about it, i'm never sure whether i'll be able to pull it together quickly enough for it to be useful. this was one of the times i was able to do it. w @deceleration.news & @publiccitizen.bsky.social among others. deceleration.news/toxic-tour-s...

A coalition of organizations led residents and media across San Antonio's 'red line of inequity,' spotlighting the overwhelming burden of polluting industries that persist south of Highway 90. Coaliti...

Support Respond Crisis Translation | Donate Today

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Aug 27

missed the reading with naomi shihab nye, but fundraiser is still open for gaza translators: givebutter.com/XUQBSA

Join Respond Crisis Translation in breaking language barriers. Your donation ensures vital translation services for refugees and asylum seekers.

givebutter.com

I insist on survival every day I stay in Texas...

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Aug 24

I feel it

Texas Observer @texasobserver.org · Aug 24

In poetry, by @earthtokb.bsky.social: Everything’s bigger in Texas. Even the aching hearts.
Love is wrapped up in a land that wants me
more than the news lets on, so I run to it
quicker than a governing body says get out

Poem: Texas, No Exodus

www.texasobserver.org

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Aug 15

beautiful piece by @nopalerahinojosa.bsky.social with @asle-us.bsky.social.

Deceleration @deceleration.news · Aug 15

Can #poetry save the world from extractivist plunder and climate violence?

These scholars of multi-lingual poetry from Latin America say yes—and that the Earth has a language that is archived by poetic thinking.

deceleration.news/can-poetry-s...

#climate #literature #ecolit #clifi #environment

graphic cover of flowers, trees, and ecologicial distress w/ headline reading: 'can poetry save the world from extractivist plunder and climate violence?'

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M Cortez @mcortez.net · Aug 14

had a lot of fun working with @kitoconnell.com to bring this story to light, amid the immense grief it names. w/ @asle-us.bsky.social

Deceleration @deceleration.news · Aug 14

ASLE 2025: From #BartonSprings Attack to #Poland’s ‘Sister Rivers’—Femme Friendship as Eco-Resistance

' #Queer #ecology’ can show the way toward an alternative politics capable of establishing and honoring ‘femme-coded’ ways of thriving beyond violence.

deceleration.news/queer-ecolog...

collage illustrating title: 'from barton springs attack to poland's sister rivers—femme friendship as eco-resistance

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M Cortez @mcortez.net · Aug 14

a friend who is no less hunted by state violence asked me why i felt like we couldn't abide living here and in that moment at least, i couldn't articulate a good answer.

M Cortez @mcortez.net · Aug 14

i wanna say too that when we were swimming i was struck by how, even in the deepest reddest heart of the implosion of democratic institutions, still there are these slivers of a public or common good that remain. the city pool was still free, so cool and refreshing in the august heat.