novitas is the reimagined version of swimming upstream: a newsletter exploring counter cultural life as a way to communal buyout of oppressive capitalist systems in hopes of building new systems together in community.

novitas is currently going through a metamorphosis: a personal blog turned collaborative space: a podacst, a magazine, hopefully a community. Stay tuned for things to come.

My name is Kel and I’m a non-binary 40-something parent, partner, and community organizer. I’ve worked with a number of community organizations over the years focused on everything from local food to mental health. I run regular clothing swaps across Grey County where I call home. I volunteer regularly with a local non-profit food co-operative. I also moderate a weekly newsletter sharing content around self-directed education. I have spent the last 5 years unschooling my two boys, which was a huge catalyst into exploring non-oppressive ways of living in community with human and non-human co-tenants on this planet. A while back I wrote about my experience in a long form essay, which also became a zine.

I think every day (probably too much) about how to solve some of the big problems of our time and writing helps me organize those thoughts. So I’m happy to share my writing with you, dear reader, but I’d probably keep writing even if no one else was reading.

I love making zines and weaving rugs as functional and accessible art and craft. I believe in building and supporting alternative economic systems outside the capitalism paradigm. I align politically with green anarchism: the belief that top down hierarchical systems do not serve the betterment of all, and I believe that there’s a careful balance between action and theory; the balance is important both extrinsically and intrinsically. I try really hard to decenter myself in the motivation to do good work. It’s actually quite hard.