I returned to Save Your Spaces with that steadier voice I spoke of in 2023. This year I led a workshop on documenting local history. If you’re called to this work, you don’t need to be a professional historian or archaeologist or anthropologist or librarian or anything. Curiosity, open-mindedness, creativity, and discipline are more important than formal training. I spoke of the general “why” such documentation is important, the “why” for me, and, finally, using Black Wide-Awake as an example, the “how” of choosing a subject, picking a platform on which to share, establishing a format for your posts or episodes, and basic research.

I met some dope young historic preservation students and the amazing Latine and Indigenous photographers of Captura collective and learned the latest about the community collaboration space Create ATL, which hosted the event. 

Founder Nedra Deadwyler describes Save Your Spaces as “a skillshare to equip, inspire, and activate the everyday person to preserve culture, history, and narratives — grounding in a place embodied experiences and practices and extending care towards our kinfolk.” I’m grateful for her vision and for the opportunity to contribute!