Created May 2025 and last updated August 2025.
Preamble
Zea mays everta is the scientific name for popcorn. Everta is the Latin word for “turn inside out” which is part of why I changed my last name. I long to transform our society and culture from one that is hard to one that is light, nourishing, and fun. Pop on!
The Principles
The Popcorn Program is prefigurative.
The work I do must be grounded in an intersectionality which necessarily focuses on liberation for the society as a whole.
I practice mutual aid instead of charity and philanthropy. I practice co-conspiratorship in solidarity instead of allyship. I organize horizontally instead of hierarchically.
A Just Transition is the way we will meet the challenges of the present moment. We must build the world we want to see and we must resist efforts to limit collective liberation.
Solidarity Economics is the development framework that I support and engage with to live in alignment with my values.
Instead of expecting perfection, I expect and I am open to honest self-evaluation regarding the ways in which I and others act.
Life is about relationships. I strive to live in right relation is a succinct way express the Popcorn Program.
The Principles Expanded
The Popcorn Program is prefigurative. All this means is that in the tradition of the Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World) we are “building the new world within the shell of the old.” We are not waiting for some day when someone will save us or when we will be free. The way we do things makes the way we will be.
The work I do must be grounded in an intersectionality which necessarily focuses on liberation for the society as a whole. Individual “freedom” can only get one so far. In fact, whatever emptiness one hopes to fill with personal achievement, wealth, or status will never be filled. Only working for collective liberation can bring one the simple joy of being free.
I practice mutual aid instead of charity and philanthropy. I practice co-conspiratorship in solidarity instead of allyship. I organize horizontally instead of hierarchically. All these methods I work not to engage in are so ingrained in the society we work, play, and pray within. Consequently, I understand that I must work with and even perpetuate some of these methods I disavow just to survive. I continually work to make my life in alignment with my values of sharing power with instead of benefiting from power over.
A Just Transition is the way we will meet the challenges of the present moment. We must build the world we want to see and we must resist efforts to limit collective liberation. I support several organizations doing the work of making the world we want. I make connections in my local area to implement strategies that democratize, decentralize, and diversify. We must make choices that support Justice as we adjust to survive.
Solidarity Economics is the development framework that I support and engage with to live in alignment with my values. Economics undergird everything. A Marxist analysis of the world is extremely valuable in understanding how things work. My anarchist heart knows that we need a revolutionary program that doesn’t reproduce oppression. Solidarity Economics focuses on solidarity, cooperation, equity, democracy, sustainability, pluralism, and putting people and planet first.
Instead of expecting perfection, I expect and I am open to honest self-evaluation regarding the ways in which I and others act. I value forgiveness and provide loving correction to those in my life, especially myself. This is a challenge, but clear communication is an essential part of the Popcorn Program. I value learning from mistakes and the grace necessary for the learning.
Life is about relationships. I strive to live in right relation is a succinct way express the Popcorn Program. My hope is that this program is universal, not culture specific. I believe all cultures have an origin that holds the value of right relation to each other, the world they interact with, and to the universe. Personally, the Native American part of my heritage holds this more obviously in our culture, so I can access these teachings there more easily. The dominant culture really messes with my ability to maintain healthy relationships, but I persevere. All of the work, all of the struggle, all of the beauty of life is in maintaining healthy relationships.
Learn More About the Principles
The Popcorn Program is prefigurative. What is that? Here are some explanations:
https://slingshotcollective.org/building-a-new-world-in-the-shell-of-the-old/
Here are a few of the resources mentioned at the end of that article which I also like:
Book – Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown
Podcast – Srsly Wrong ep. 243 “Revolutionary Prefiguration (w/ Anark)”
https://srslywrong.com/podcast/243-revolutionary-prefiguration-w-anark/
Pamphlet – “What is Prefigurative Politics: How large scale social change happens” by Paul Raekstad and Eivind Dahl, available on anarchistlibraries.net
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/paul-raekstad-and-eivind-dahl-prefigurative-politics
The work I do must be grounded in an intersectionality which necessarily focuses on liberation for the society as a whole.
“Intersectionality is the path to collective liberation; our liberation is intertwined with that of oppressed people around the world.” This is from the Values page of a group called the Catalyst Project. Here is that page which I really agree with on every level:
https://collectiveliberation.org/about/values/
Here is the referenced Combahee River Collective Statement:
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/combahee-river-collective-statement-1977/
Here I pause to thank my good friend, David Cobb for educating me on this point in 2019 (Egads! So late to understand.). I had dismissed intersectionality as a cool new buzzword and he kindly shared the history of the Combahee River Collective Statement and gave a precise definition of the concept. I find the interaction all the more powerful as it was one straight white man educating another on the topic. This is the work.
I practice mutual aid instead of charity and philanthropy.
Mutual Aid by Dean Spade is an amazing book that I am 100% on board with. Find an interview with Dean Spade on your podcast or video clip of your choice. Always fantastic and right on.
Also this video explains the problem with philanthropy (Get off the man’s back!):
https://youtu.be/3O8fr0e1VGY?si=TurB3IbNkywUhG3O
I practice co-conspiratorship in solidarity instead of allyship.
Here is a great short clip of Bettina Love explaining the difference between allies and co-conspirators.
https://www.c-span.org/clip/public-affairs-event/user-clip-co-conspirators/4804332
This essay (Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex) published in 2014 still hits hard:
https://www.indigenousaction.org/accomplices-not-allies-abolishing-the-ally-industrial-complex/
I organize horizontally instead of hierarchically.
This one is the most challenging. It is so easy to slip into just running the show. I’m a “natural leader” as they say. So I continually work on leading from within the group rather than in front of the group.
Here’s a nice resource from the Neighborhood Anarchist Collective:
https://neighborhoodanarchists.org/organizing-guide
I am working on transitioning my business into a Worker Owned Cooperative. I can start at the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives here:
A Just Transition is the way we will meet the challenges of the present moment. We must build the world we want to see and we must resist efforts to limit collective liberation.
Movement Generation has thought this through and presents the material quite well:
https://movementgeneration.org/justtransition/
Solidarity Economics is the development framework that I support and engage with to live in alignment with my values.
The People’s Network for Land and Liberation is doing the work to make these ideas real:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/65a2231d95d641e9b1586063894ca09f
I like Resist and Build as well:
The US Solidarity Economy Network (USSEN) is a catalyst for transformative economic change, championing a vision of a just and sustainable future for all.
Instead of expecting perfection, I expect and I am open to honest self-evaluation regarding the ways in which I and others act.
Nobody’s perfect, especially me. One of my favorite people I haven’t met, adrienne maree brown has a book about this called Loving Corrections:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/loving-corrections/20154084?ean=9781849355544&next=t
Life is about relationships. I strive to live in right relation is a succinct way express the Popcorn Program.
There is so much to explore in this principle about how to create and maintain healthy relationships. Expectations, patterns, boundaries, and love all come into play. This is all the work above, so let me share a story of how one of us did the work so well.
One of the all time greats in my pantheon of community organizers is Ina Harris. From her obituary:
Ina called herself a “community activist.” She served 10 years on the Humboldt County Human Rights Commission. She contributed to two KHSU-FM Radio programs: “Through the Eyes of Women” and “Labor USA: Essays for Yesterday and Today.” She co-chaired the Humboldt County “Jesse Jackson for President” campaigns in 1984 and 1988. She was an active member of the NAACP-Eureka Branch since 1959. She was a charter member of the Community Multi-Cultural Education Committee and served as a board member of the Mitchell-Redner Homeless Center. She could be seen many Friday afternoons standing with “Women in Black” at the Humboldt County Courthouse flagpole.
When I first moved to Humboldt County I somehow was connected to Ina who was putting on a ballot study night with the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, a recently formed organization that had split from the Communist Party USA. She drove from Eureka to pick me up as I did not have a car. These older folks welcomed me in to the discussion.
Years later as I was exhausted from my night shifts as a baker, Ina called me to invite me to a protest in solidarity with unhoused folks. I reluctantly declined due to my fatigue. Hearing my sheepishness and shame in letting her down, she said something that has become crucial to my understanding of how to live the way I want the world to be. She said, “Solomon, I understand. Even if you can’t make it to the event I will still be your friend.”
Life is about the stories we tell each other. The act of telling those stories together is community. The strength of a community is in relationships.
The Ina and Noel Harris Collection resides at the Cal Poly Humboldt Library Special Collections & Archives. The Finding Aid lists much detail on Ina and Noel’s lives.
https://specialcollections.humboldt.edu/ina-and-noel-harris-collection
Local Expressions of the Popcorn Program
These are some groups that manifest my vision for a better world (for themselves, obviously, not for me exclusively or specifically). I love them.
Humboldt Solidarity Coalition
Fourth Tuesday of the month at 6 pm sharing what we have been and will be doing to resist fascism.
https://humboldtsolidaritycoalition.wordpress.com
Our Space Arcata
These folks are doing important work. We need all people to craft culture!
“Playhouse Arts is offering free art classes for our unhoused and housing insecure neighbors in different art disciplines: writing, illustration, crafts, movement, music, storytelling, jewelry, sewing, theater, and more. We believe in the importance of having all voices contribute to creating culture, and in the need to humanize all experiences. We believe the arts are a transformative medium for self-knowledge, self-worth, and collective contribution toward the world we deserve.”
https://www.playhousearts.org/ourspacearts
The Agenda Review Group (ARG!)
Meets every Monday at 6 pm to review the agendas of municipal and nonprofit boards, commissions, committees, and councils.
Redwood Roots Farm
This is a worker owned Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm.
https://www.redwoodrootsfarm.com
Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives AHHA!
Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction
https://www.facebook.com/HACHR707/
https://www.instagram.com/hachr707/
Old Town Community Alliance
https://www.facebook.com/oldtowncommunityalliance/
https://www.instagram.com/oldtowncommunityalliance/
Eureka and Arcata Food Not Bombs
Eureka at 3rd and E Streets Sundays at 3 pm
https://www.facebook.com/EurekaFoodNotBombs
Arcata Plaza Sundays at 4 pm
https://www.instagram.com/foodnotbombsarcata/
Moss Oak Commons
Open Hours are 1 to 4 pm Mondays through Thursdays at 1905 Alliance Road in Arcata. So pleased!
Synapsis Union
https://synapsisperformance.com
The Ink People Center for the Arts
Centro Del Pueblo
Humboldt Asians & Pacific Islanders (HAPI) in Solidarity
Queer Humboldt
Black Humboldt
SURJ Humboldt (Standing Up for Racial Justice)
https://www.facebook.com/SURJHumboldt
Other Locals Doing Good Work
The following groups are not specifically dedicated to what I would call implementing the Popcorn Program, but are adjacent to the work and, of course, have their own approach to making the world a better place (or at least surviving). I love them, too, just in a different way.
North Coast Growers’ Association
https://www.northcoastgrowersassociation.org
Redwood Region Economic Development Coalition
Humboldt Kiters
What an amazing community event the Redwood Kite Festival is every year!
“We need our biggest selves for the emergency we’re in. The good news is that we have them, but whether or not these selves are available and imaginable is, to some extent, a matter of what stories we tell and listen to and take in as our instructions on how to be.” — Rebecca Solnit in 2025
Solomon Everta 