Good morning, Left Unread Family!

Just wanted to remind you that we have an event coming up on Monday, October 26th! If you haven't already marked your calendars, please carve out an hour at 7pm CST (5pm PST/8pm EST) to discuss our current Cost of Freedom bookclub pick: Chain-Gang All-Stars.

For those of you who have already finished the book, consider taking some time to really think about what you pulled out of it and what big questions it left you asking so that you are ready to meaningfully engage on Monday.

And if you haven't finished it yet, try to find some time over the next four days to dive in and read it, or as much of it as you can.

I have a lot I want to discuss regarding this book, and I am hoping we can have a really really good conversation.

Here are some themes you should be prepared to dive into:

• Abolition as a concept

• The American Prison system is a legal loophole for slavery

• Prison work programs and the exploitation of imprisoned people

• Blackness as guilt

• Our role in challenging the American Carceral system

• Society's collective view of anyone who has been convicted of a crime vs our view of people we know commit crimes but do not get convicted

As you can see, it is going to be a very full conversation, so come ready for some real dialogue.

And once we have had this conversation, we are going to switch modes and I will be providing some content over the next month with resources on how to really shift our thinking regarding prison reform and what practically things we can do right from home to effect change.

Thanks for being a part of our Cost of Freedom book club. Looking forward to seeing you all!

Reminder, we will have two more meetings regarding this too. This first one is open to the entire bookclub, but we will have two more exclusive meetings for the Thirsty Readers and LaBorniacs tiers, to have more focused conversations on everything we've read and how we can apply it real world. I will put out a poll to those tiers directly once this bookclub meeting has happened. It is not too late to upgrade if you'd like to participate!