About
Grounded Connections is an online zine created by Erin Thomas.
In our elemental world where less and less is real, I’d like to keep contact with the living — in me and in you. A grounded connection, if you will.
Zine [zeen]
Definition: small-circulation, self-published, non-commercial magazine. Motivated by self-expression, not profit. More.
We’re online, and I understand there are fewer and fewer things living here on the internet.
"computers are useless they can only give you answers." Pablo Picasso
Grounded connections is an experiment in what questions we can find here, among us.
I often ask questions about people and the thorniness of our relationships with one another, especially the ones we ignore. The interconnectedness we miss when we mistake ourselves alone. I also ask what’s possible, driven to embolden us to fight more creatively and with more accountability for the futures we all deserve.
How does it work?
This is a publication for subscribers. Subscribing is free, and it gives you full access to everything published here. Subscribing also allows you to comment on posts and connect with others.
It's gated, so I can protect my work while that's still possible, and I hope it also offers a more intimate space with you. I'll send you an email when there's a new issue out, and of course, you can unsubscribe at any time.
I'd also love to hear from you! I'll regularly ask questions that I hope you chew on.
Who am I?
Well, my parents gave me the name Erin Thomas. I was raised in the U.S. (Indiana). I descend from early Irish, Scottish, German, Swiss, French, and English settler colonisers in the U.S. and Canada, and I currently live near by the Pacific ocean in the southeast of the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand.
My interests in facilitation, education, solidarity, and community building have led to other projects too including co-founding Gathering at the Gate, facilitating workshops on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, creating the Launch Community, and managing an Olympic weightlifting club.
Here, I'm a writer. And for your context, I’ve experienced the world for three decades:
- One decade in a very white suburb in Indiana that didn’t feel as affluent as it was only because the neighbourhood over had mansions with elevators
- One decade split between a quasi-military boarding school and undergraduate study in Washington, D.C. during the Trump’s first election
- One decade humbly calling Aotearoa New Zealand home working as a human rights advocate on gender-based violence and climate justice across the Pacific region
I’m also a partner, daughter, sister, auntie, flatmate, friend, and highly caffeinated neighbour. You can call me Erin.
Where do I write from?
Primarily, my flat in Ōtepoti Dunedin at the kitchen table, but sometimes cafes, libraries, and airports. It’s worth telling you that the lands that have and continue to raise and care for me have been alienated from the Indigenous peoples who have stewarded them in the highest order. Here, that’s Kai Tahu, and in Indiana, it’s the Kickapoo and Miami nations. Part of my work is interrogating the way Empire has taken root in my lineages (of thought and ancestry) and to “pay the rent” — short of the reparations owed, but a step towards integrity for individuals.