food, not garbage

For the upcoming eighth issue of our print publication, we’ve been reflecting on George Jackson’s final message to his comrades in Blood in my Eye. Written within the walls of San Quentin prison, Jackson's analysis of the faces of fascism and his masterful critique of anything other than total revolution are cornerstones of his enduring legacy.

“Freedom means warmth and protection against harsh exposure to the elements. It means food, not garbage. It means truth, harmony, and the social relations that spring from these. It means the best medical attention whenever it’s needed. It means employment that is reasonable, that coincides with the individual necessities and feelings. We will have this freedom even at the cost of total war.”
— George Jackson, Blood in My Eye

It means food, not garbage.

        food, not garbage.

 food, not garbage.


Since studying this text earlier this year in our 1919 Internal Study program, we’ve been driven to interrogate what garbage we are responsible for and what food we wish to produce. We ask you to reflect as we did; to criticize the perverse elements that drain us, and elevate that which we need to thrive. To ask yourself what it would mean (and what it would take) to have food instead of garbage.

We need food. We’re fed garbage. We’re sold garbage. We’re taught garbage. We are consumed by so much garbage that it is difficult for us to identify the forms of waste that are necessary to our biological and ecological development. What distinguishes natural and necessary waste from the mountains of garbage we must eliminate?

In your submissions, consider the following themes:

  • Fatigue and Endurance

  • Nutrition and Slop

  • Information and Education

  • Harmony and Imbalance

  • Expiration and Time

  • Hope and Survival

  • Consumption and Complicity

  • Distractions and Passivity

  • Analog and Digital

  • Ecology and Industry

Consider some of the following examples:

  • The sound of the street musician playing on a busy corner, in a world where generative music invades our devices. 

  • A processed meal hurriedly eaten on a 15-minute break that still gets cut short

  • The pain of a brilliant craftsman, abandoning his practice in the pursuit of a living wage 

  • Gambling ads taking over your every feed

  • The compost that fertilizes next season's crops 

We are accepting all forms of artwork including: visual and cultural artwork, informal prose, formal prose, photo essays, poetry, photography, comics, plays, paintings, sculpture and graphic collages, critical essays & scholarly work(s), creative writing/fiction, short stories, and investigative/public interest journalism. Please send your submission(s) to us by November 15th. We will be working on submissions on a rolling basis and recommend submitting or reaching out to us about your idea promptly! We may close submissions early if we receive an extensive amount of work. All selected works will receive an honorarium from 1919 for their time and labor.

Please send all submissions for Issue 8 food, not garbage to submissions@1919mag.com by November 20th