This summer I came across an article called The Dungeons & Dragons Players of Death Row written by Keri Blakinger for the Martial Project and published by the New York Times, which illustrates the link between trauma and mass-incarceration and D&D not just as a therapeutic modality for processing trauma but also as a critique of the carcel state. [...] It was a narrative mode that finally allowed them to access their imaginations, form bonds, and work out their own stories. Prison abolition is an inherently speculative project, one that imagines a world without prisons and police. Political ends that are often dismissed as pure fantasy. But a deep dive into its ideas reveals abolition to be a world-building project, one that values every human life. The liberation of every prisoner requires the dismantling of carcel logics, from addressing the root causes of crime like food and housing instability towards one of accountability and rehabilitation.

There is a paywall (🙄 if someone has a suggestion how to override please share) but I wanted to link the article here because, while I've never played D&D, to reimagine this program and the purpose behind it not only by the article, but Villarreal's points on prison abolition is such a stunning connection. Especially thinking through the lens of how fantasy as a genre is regurgitating and recycling colonialism and white saviorism, and that D&D is a form of agency for prisoners to reimagine, control, and process their experiences not through the systemic system we abide in.

(Librarian moment: thinking on how to partner with our juvenile detention center and make this a program.) (Also, forever disgusted by the state of Texas and the prison system.)

AI's uses—generating human content, data, images, and labor without the human being—is just the latest dehumanizing force that continues the capitalist project of slavery without slaves. Black domestic workers, Chinese railroad workers, braceros, hacendados, undocumented migrants, women, children, and prisoners were and are dehumanized labor subjects; what will it mean for all labor itself to be dehumanized?

any use of AI is a form of colonization !!! to the extent of environmental and physical damage to marginalized communities, but love Villarreal's analogy of labor and dehumanizing the people who do that labor. made me think of how Western history tries to depict slavery and forced labor as if "the people wanted/liked it", or as if such labor didn't completely create the society we have today. that sense of erasure is dehumanizing because it separates the person from the work, which then separates the necessity for acknowledgment or accountability of that person and that work.

Hello, everyone! Happy holidays!

The last book I read in 2025 was The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer from our Winter readalong. Inspired by Kimmerer’s work, I found a small way to contribute to our already flourishing gift economy here on Pagebound. I decided to start a blog series “Courtesy of Tarot” where I do a monthly tarot reading for the collective, to potentially bring us some bookish inspiration for the month ahead.

The way this will work is: I will pull some cards for us and then write a little bit about what I’m seeing when it comes to reading inspiration for the month ahead. You are welcome to simply take what resonates from the reading and move on with your day, or, if you think of any specific books that align with what I’m describing, comment those titles down below for people to check out. These readings don’t aim to be particularly predictive, and they aren’t meant to be taken as gospel. This is simply a bit of fun, something to bring you some reading inspiration if you need it, and an opportunity for us to further connect as a community.

The deck I’m using here is called Lilifer tarot, created by Marion Costentin, published by Little Darkness. The spread is lovingly designed by me. Here are the questions we will be looking at, and the cards we got. For a better experience, I recommend viewing the pictures below on the Pagebound website!

Let’s start by looking at the first two cards, which give general reading advice for January. We have Ace of Pentacles telling us about our overall inspiration and potential for our January reads. This is a fun card to get for January because it talks about taking on a new goal, specifically something that you are likely to have great benefit from in your life. A lot of us here on Pagebound are currently setting our reading goals for 2026, and this card suggests that we are likely to start strong! Aside from this, if you look at the card, the main element is a big round coin in the center, and I’m immediately reminded of our Pagebound badges! Perhaps there is potential for us to collect some new badges this January, whether because we finish up some reads from a quest we joined in 2025, or because we take part in a new quest or community event this month. Fun stuff!

The second card talks about potential issues in our reading journeys that we may face this month, and offers us advice on how to either avoid them or handle them if they come up. For this we are being offered the wisdom of the Seven of Swords. What I’m seeing here is a bit of potential for toxic comparison when looking at other members in the community, the goals they are setting and the amount of books they are able to read. Being a part of a reading community such as this is wonderful and most of the time very inspiring, but we must take care not to allow all that shiny inspiration to overwhelm us. We are being reminded here that we all live under different circumstances which affects how much we can read, but it doesn’t necessarily have to affect how enjoyable and beneficial the reading we are doing is to us. If we ensure our goals are realistic, we are giving ourselves permission to have a meaningful reading practice that is flexible and personal to us. The year is full of potential, as the Ace of Pentacles affirms, and we should start our yearly reading journey at our own pace to ensure success. Failing to do this might make us overcommit ourselves, which can take away the joy of reading from us and in some cases lead to burnout. Let’s set our goals realistically, remind ourselves that we aren’t missing out on anything and that we aren’t in competition with anybody, and I’m sure we can make January a productive reading month for all of us!

Now let’s talk reading inspiration, starting with nonfiction. Our top row is looking rather creative here! The suit of Cups deals with emotion and creativity, and The Magician is all about putting that into action! Overall, we might be talking about some books focusing on the creative fields as well as the realm of emotions and relationships. If the Queen of Cups is telling us to look at some books about art, creativity, and/or the relationships we have with ourselves and with others, The Magician is asking us to specifically look at what blocks us in these areas, and it is advising us to try to find books which give us some practical advice so that we are able to implement some real changes into our lives. The Two of Cups is suggesting balance, which means we should look for books which approach these topics in a holistic way. Perhaps we are being gently encouraged to learn about our emotional health, and to ensure we aren’t giving more than we are receiving in relationships. For the more creatively inclined, maybe this is a call to find a resource which will encourage you to not only learn about a specific art practice or skill, but actually participate in some creative acts yourself. The cards are suggesting we listen to our heart when it comes to nonfiction and pick something that helps us connect to our sense of empathy, creativity and self-care.

Our second row is talking about fiction and it’s looking adventurous! The Wheel of Fortune in its full glory at the front of the row is suggesting books about destiny! The Six of Swords is saying that the story might be framed as a character starting over after a difficult time, and The Hanged Man isn’t making their life much easier on this journey, as it is suggesting discomfort, being rejected from the wider community, and something that requires a personal sacrifice. This journey is as much about leaving something behind as it is discovering something new. We are looking at characters who are going into the unknown in some way and they are scared. Here we might be talking about a good old adventure story, but it may also be a story about one of those moments where we meet somebody and feel like all the stars have suddenly aligned. Maybe our main character, through a wildly complex and unpredictable turn of events, ended up meeting the love of their life, or ended up with a specific group of people they would normally never find themselves with, and they go through this story together. Either way, something beyond their control got our characters to where they are, and they are navigating this as they are dealing with the ghosts of their past. _

That’s it for our monthly inspiration reading! I hope you got something out of it, if only a little bit of entertainment! If any book titles came to mind for you, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Beautiful illustrations done by John Burgoyne. _

"John Burgoyne is a member of the New York Society of Illustrators and an alumni of Massachusetts College of Art. John has won over 100 awards in the United States and Europe including Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, Hatch Awards, Graphis, Print, One Show, New York Art Directors Club and Clio." (information taken from the artist's website)

You can support him and find the rest of his work through his website: John Burgoyne Illustration _

”…as though evolution were suggesting if there’s not enough of what you want then want something else.”

In our scarcity based society, this is so hard to wrap your head around. We constantly hear about things that we eat or use going extinct because we are overusing them but no one is willing to slow down their consumption. If it’s going away soon, we send that consumption into overdrive. We’ve gotta stop.