Trichelle Lee
AUSTIN COMMUNITY LEADERS TACKLE TOUGH ISSUES WITH A NEW MODEL OF ACTIVISM
As Seen In, TRIBEZA Magazine’s Website
TO SAY THAT SOCIAL TENSIONS in America are running high these days would be an understatement. There are countless contentious issues up for debate in the current political environment and so many people engaged in the discussion. But knowing how to step up and work towards your goals can be confusing and overwhelming, which is where seasoned activists Martha Pincoffs, Sera Bonds and Casey Chapman Ross step in. This group of Austin women have set out to help people, who want to make a difference, cut through the noise and take action. Pincoffs and Bonds merged their backgrounds in strategy and social activism to found quarterly subscription kit Waking Giants in 2019. Each kit delivers “tools for the good fight,” gifts and materials that are as thoughtful as they are informative, that will educate and inspire.
The first kit of 2020, Gun Culture + Control, came about when the women sat down with and realized they all had been affected by gun violence. At the same time, Pincoff has a son that she hopes to teach how to hunt someday and aims to encourage change that will allow people to use guns responsibly. The Gun Culture + Control box contains literature that opens with the Second Amendment and contains historical context, a poem, an essay on hunting and more.
There’s also a “tool kit” to read that opens with a letter from Bonds and Pincoff. “One thing that we know matters to you is making a difference, and we’d love to help you do that through the actions in this kit,” the letter reads. “There are postcard writing activities, a petition action, and a donation action.”
The box also contains a candle by Christina Hurt Smith and palo santo (bits of pine-, mint and lemon-scented wood that when burned is believed to bring about healing and protection), as well as a coloring book by Ross. Her “I Am an Activist!” series is an important part of the Waking Giants boxes. Meant for children ages 4 to 10, the books serve as a creative and meditative outlet, but also as a way for parents to simplify hard-to have conversations about issues like gun safety, women’s rights, climate change, immigration and more. More than just a coloring book, the series encourages budding activists to search for a solution and enables kids to share confusing and difficult feelings that come up when talking about these things.
Gun Culture + Control is just the first box of 2020 with more coming from the Waking Giants team on these themes: Represent(ation), Health + Care and The Gender Box this election year. Shop for the kits an these and other topics as well as Waking Giants merchandise like t-shirts, candles, bandanas and more at their online shop.
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