A newsletter by Futures in Draft
Welcome back to Futures in Motion, our monthly newsletter where we share recommendations and cultural picks from a different contributor each month, as well as actions and opportunities you can take to support the movement for transformative futures.
This month we sat down with Liana DeMasi, a queer writer and professor living in Brooklyn, NY. We chatted to Liana about Studio Ghibli, New York’s best cemetery and the inimitable Ta-Nehisi Coates.
In case you missed it, you can read Liana’s How To Guide on resisting Big Tech here.
Who is a creative you are inspired by in 2026?
I teach English to college students, both in prison and in the community, and I’m endlessly inspired by my students, my incarcerated students especially. We had our programme’s first graduation inside the facility back in May, and I was fighting back tears (and failing to do so) the entire time. I’m constantly struck by their insights and wisdom about the world, their dedication to themselves, their families, their schooling, and their resilience. In my class, we read The Message by another inspiration of mine, Ta-Nehisi Coates. In it, he says, “the line between teacher and student is dotted.” My students remind me of that every day.What is one of your favourite places to recommend to people in your city?
Green-Wood Cemetery! I love a cemetery. I’m always inspired in places where the veil is thinner, but Green-Wood is truly special. They have nuanced and interesting programming about mortality, art, climate, and history, and the grounds are simply arresting. Think: Gothic spires, willow trees, murders of crows, ponds, and some peace and quiet from the bustle just outside the cemetery gates. Plus, Green-Wood is home to some gorgeous, green monk parrots; there’s a lot of NYC lore as to how they got there. They’re not always out, but I was once lucky enough to see them!
What is an Internet hot take/discourse you loved recently?
The memes/videos surrounding Mitch McConnell’s “return” to the Senate. I mean, they really Weekend at Bernie’s’d him. He’s being wheeled around and told how he needs to vote. He’s gone non-verbal and then occasionally throws a peace sign up like a pre-teen in an awkward photo at the mall. The state of our union? Not funny. The memes about Mitch? Hilarious. Let that man
restrot!What is your perfect way to spend a Saturday?
Usually a combination of art, good food, and quality time with my fiancé and our dog. A perfect Saturday might look like taking our dog to the park, then maybe a movie or a new exhibit, and then dim sum in Chinatown.
So much of our connection, relationships and relationship building happens over food. If you’re having a group of people over, what are you cooking?
I honestly love trying a new recipe when people come over (living on the edge), but my tried and true recipe for special occasions is crispy roasted rosemary duck.
Could you give a recommendation of something you love to do offline?
I love going to a museum or an art gallery crawl. iPhone photos never quite capture an artwork as well as the naked, human eye. I also enjoy a yoga class. No phones in shavasana.
What makes you most inspired or excited about the future?
Our rising collective consciousness. I think that more and more people are starting to wake up to the realities of our world, and with that collectivity, I believe we can get closer to the world we desperately need and deserve.
Where do you turn to when you get writer's block/looking for inspiration?
Oh, I love this question. Depending on my mood, the weather, and the severity of the block I: go to the movies alone (bonus points if it’s a matinee during the week), take the dog for a walk, take a podcast break (the over-stimulated mind lands nowhere!), clean my apartment, or go to a museum.
If you could live in any world from a book, film, series, or album - what would it be?
Such a good question. I watch a lot of intense shows and films, most of which I don’t think I’d do well living in. Studio Ghibli movies are always a comfort, though, so probably one of those! My Neighbour Totoro or Kiki’s Delivery Service come to mind. Though, if I could perhaps spend time with Emma D’Arcy, I may choose House of the Dragon.
Fiction or non-fiction
Fiction
Life on Mars or Life underwater
I went scuba diving for the first time back in June 2026 and wondered (mid-panic attack) if the deep sea was really any of my business. But I certainly know Mars doesn’t need to be colonised by Earth-dwelling humans. I guess I’d pick the sea, if I could be a mer-person or something!
4-hour hike or 4-hour rave
Oh, the hike for sure. If I’m at a rave for 4 hours, I’m probably there against my will.
Summer or Autumn
Autumn! I love the promise that chillier weather brings. Last harvest, slowing down, a time for focus and diligence and creativity. I just have to ignore the inevitability of the seasonal depression that follows.
Podcast or Documentary. Depends on the subject matter, but I’d say documentary.
If you have just a moment
Check out this reading list curated by scholar, writer and curator San Choudhury, aimed at helping us to imagine alternative futures. As San explains, “At the end of the day, the futures we want aren’t simply sitting there waiting for us to arrive at them. They first have to be imagined. Sure, analysis can help us understand the world we have, and critique helps us see what is wrong with it. But neither on its own tells us what could exist instead.
So here are some things I’ve been reading that have helped me think more seriously about imagination, imaginaries, storytelling, utopias, and our capacity to imagine otherwise.”
For more reading lists you can also check out our Pages for Changes section here.
If you have a little bit longer
Join the over 3 million viewers so far and watch the brilliant documentary, YANUNI, now available to watch for free on YouTube.
YANUNI follows Indigenous chief Juma Xipaia, who rises from activism to Brazil’s new Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. While her husband Hugo, a federal agent, raids illegal gold mines, she navigates politics, threats and impending motherhood — at the personal cost of resistance.
Image credit: YANUNI Documentary
If you have a while…
As recommended by one of our brilliant advisory group members, read the book Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta. For those looking for inspiration and new ways of thinking, this text offers a “crucial Indigenous perspective to historical and cultural issues of history, education, money, power, and sustainability—and offers a new template for living”.
UK based organiser and climate activist Samia Dumbuya, and US based disability rights advocate, climate justice organiser, and storyteller Daphne Frias discuss the role of imagination when it comes to building sustainable futures and how the wisdom and knowledge of our ancestors holds the key to protecting our communities.
Author Shon Faye curates a list of books and other resources that help us to consider what purpose violence serves in our politics.
Climate, tech and queer rights journalist Liana DeMasi offers advice on how to support a world without tech exploitation.
Suzanne Dhaliwal shares her experience of movement work, reflecting on memory and the futures we begin before we can name them.
What is it? Ecoversity is a nature-based online and offline school that provides education in permaculture, herbalism, and earth stewardship.
Why we’re interested: From designing regenerative communities to mushroom cultivation we’ve loved exploring the range of brilliant courses and curriculums Ecoversity are running.
What is it? Forensic Architecture (FA) is a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London. Their mandate is to develop, employ, and disseminate new techniques, methods, and concepts for investigating state and corporate violence.
Why we’re interested: We’re excited by the groundbreaking investigative work and interdisciplinary approach FA take to uncovering state violence and the hope this brings for providing us with the tools to hold corporations to account.
Uplift are looking for a Senior Press Officer to work with colleagues in their Communications team to help secure regular, high-profile and politically-attuned media coverage that communicates the urgent need for the UK to transition away from oil and gas extraction. Deadline: 4th October.
Support the Buy Back Brixton campaign by donating to their fundraiser which is raising emergency funds to help the community submit a serious counter-bid, protect heritage traders, and build a path towards long-term community ownership.
Join BLM alongside Speak Out, to examine how physical, legal and bureaucratic violence is limiting our ability to hold space for justice. Date: 15th October, 6-9pm.
Shadowbanned Magazine publishes work that challenges systems of power and centres anti-establishment, decolonial, and liberation-focused perspectives. They’re interested in work that connects politics and culture to the lived experiences of working people and communities fighting for a more just world.
Thank you so much for subscribing, reading along and for being a part of the Futures in Draft community.
If you have enjoyed today’s newsletter or any of the suggestions, we’d love to hear from you. Equally, if you have any recommendations you’d like us to include in next month’s newsletter please let us know at [email protected]
