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Cassandra Mayela Allen
Who are you as a human being outside of the art you do? Walk us through your daily habits.
I believe that my creativity as an artist is deeply intertwined with my everyday life. I cannot tap into a nice workflow if my house/environment feels off balance or cluttered. I need a combination of good tunes, flowers, fruits, and a fresh pot of tea to start my day. Though I can’t say I’m 100% committed to any kind of routine, I often start my day by stretching my body and giving thanks. Vibes are important! And so is rest!
How do you Mother yourself? How do you Mother your community and in turn, how do they Mother you?
Rest is very important to me. I have at least three different types of chairs (for different postures) and a daybed in my studio. I’m obsessed with my work, which is a beautiful and exciting feeling, but it can be hard on my body since I’m crunched up, sewing, weaving, and drawing most of the time. I try to move, stretch, and change positions throughout the day.
My work is divided into two forms. There’s my individual creative process, which takes place in my studio and feels like meditating since it is often repetitive, almost like a physical mantra. And then there’s my social artwork, which is community driven and relies entirely on other people’s participation. Opening space for these gatherings is important to me because I know what it feels like to want to belong and connect, and perhaps not finding opportunities to do it in an organic way. I believe working with your hands is healing and makes us engage with our creativity and contributes to our mental well-being in ways that working on a computer never can.
Working together with people… it’s such a wonderful feeling.
Your work deals with themes of exile, migration, and displacement. How do you connect these themes to this current time?
In my life, I’ve had to constantly reinvent myself. As an immigrant, a woman, a person of color, a child from a broken home, a part of a growing diaspora, and an artist.
My story is mine, but it is not singular. So many of us, regardless of our backgrounds, must reinvent ourselves and cope with the struggles, challenges, and joys of adapting to new environments while holding on to our roots. I believe as long as we’re still living, moving, and pushing for a better life, these themes will always be current.
How do you use your work to connect these themes with our relationship to the Earth? How does it affect your relationship with Nature?
The materials I mainly use in my work are found, donated, and discarded clothing and fabrics, can be seen as a thread moving between sustainability & criticism to the consumerism we live in.
Every donation I receive has its own symbolic significance. Not only as a contribution, but also as a voluntary release from material memories.
There’s an underlying connection between experiencing an exodus and letting go of the belongings that also made that journey. Trauma lives in the body, but it also lives in the materials that hold us.
Growing up in a country where “things” didn’t work the way they were “supposed” to, taught me how to live resourcefully. Developing these skills and learning how to provide for myself comes directly from trying to live in peace with the environment. This is the future.
{
"article":
{
"title" : "Cassandra Mayela Allen",
"author" : "Cassandra Mayela Allen",
"category" : "interviews",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/cassandra-mayela-allen",
"date" : "2025-05-12 12:21:00 -0400",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/78556_CFA_Cassandra_003_04.jpg",
"excerpt" : "",
"content" : "Who are you as a human being outside of the art you do? Walk us through your daily habits.I believe that my creativity as an artist is deeply intertwined with my everyday life. I cannot tap into a nice workflow if my house/environment feels off balance or cluttered. I need a combination of good tunes, flowers, fruits, and a fresh pot of tea to start my day. Though I can’t say I’m 100% committed to any kind of routine, I often start my day by stretching my body and giving thanks. Vibes are important! And so is rest!How do you Mother yourself? How do you Mother your community and in turn, how do they Mother you?Rest is very important to me. I have at least three different types of chairs (for different postures) and a daybed in my studio. I’m obsessed with my work, which is a beautiful and exciting feeling, but it can be hard on my body since I’m crunched up, sewing, weaving, and drawing most of the time. I try to move, stretch, and change positions throughout the day.My work is divided into two forms. There’s my individual creative process, which takes place in my studio and feels like meditating since it is often repetitive, almost like a physical mantra. And then there’s my social artwork, which is community driven and relies entirely on other people’s participation. Opening space for these gatherings is important to me because I know what it feels like to want to belong and connect, and perhaps not finding opportunities to do it in an organic way. I believe working with your hands is healing and makes us engage with our creativity and contributes to our mental well-being in ways that working on a computer never can.Working together with people… it’s such a wonderful feeling.Your work deals with themes of exile, migration, and displacement. How do you connect these themes to this current time?In my life, I’ve had to constantly reinvent myself. As an immigrant, a woman, a person of color, a child from a broken home, a part of a growing diaspora, and an artist. My story is mine, but it is not singular. So many of us, regardless of our backgrounds, must reinvent ourselves and cope with the struggles, challenges, and joys of adapting to new environments while holding on to our roots. I believe as long as we’re still living, moving, and pushing for a better life, these themes will always be current.How do you use your work to connect these themes with our relationship to the Earth? How does it affect your relationship with Nature?The materials I mainly use in my work are found, donated, and discarded clothing and fabrics, can be seen as a thread moving between sustainability & criticism to the consumerism we live in.Every donation I receive has its own symbolic significance. Not only as a contribution, but also as a voluntary release from material memories.There’s an underlying connection between experiencing an exodus and letting go of the belongings that also made that journey. Trauma lives in the body, but it also lives in the materials that hold us.Growing up in a country where “things” didn’t work the way they were “supposed” to, taught me how to live resourcefully. Developing these skills and learning how to provide for myself comes directly from trying to live in peace with the environment. This is the future."
}
,
"relatedposts": [
{
"title" : "100+ Years of Genocidal Intent in Palestine",
"author" : "Collis Browne",
"category" : "essays",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/100-years-of-genocidal-intent",
"date" : "2025-10-07 18:01:00 -0400",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/1920-jerusalem.jpg",
"excerpt" : "Every single Israeli prime minister, president, and major Zionist leader has voiced clear intent to erase the Palestinian people from their lands, either by forced expulsion, or military violence. From Herzl and Chaim Weizmann to Ben-Gurion to Netanyahu, the record is not ambiguous:",
"content" : "Every single Israeli prime minister, president, and major Zionist leader has voiced clear intent to erase the Palestinian people from their lands, either by forced expulsion, or military violence. From Herzl and Chaim Weizmann to Ben-Gurion to Netanyahu, the record is not ambiguous:{% for person in site.data.genocidalquotes %}{{ person.name }}{% if person.title %}<p class=\"title-xs\">{{ person.title }}</p>{% endif %}{% for quote in person.quotes %}“{{ quote.text }}”{% if quote.source %}— {{ quote.source }}{% endif %}{% endfor %}{% endfor %}"
}
,
{
"title" : "Dignity Before Stadiums:: Morocco’s Digital Uprising",
"author" : "Cheb Gado",
"category" : "",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/dignity-before-stadiums",
"date" : "2025-10-02 09:08:00 -0400",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/EIP_Cover_Morocco_GenZ.jpg",
"excerpt" : "No one expected a generation raised on smartphones and TikTok clips to ignite a spark of protest shaking Morocco’s streets. But Gen Z, the children of the internet and speed, have stepped forward to write a new chapter in the history of uprisings, in their own style.The wave of anger began with everyday struggles that cut deep into young people’s lives: soaring prices, lack of social justice, and the silencing of their voices in politics. They didn’t need traditional leaders or party manifestos; the movement was born out of a single hashtag that spread like wildfire, transforming individual frustration into collective momentum.",
"content" : "No one expected a generation raised on smartphones and TikTok clips to ignite a spark of protest shaking Morocco’s streets. But Gen Z, the children of the internet and speed, have stepped forward to write a new chapter in the history of uprisings, in their own style.The wave of anger began with everyday struggles that cut deep into young people’s lives: soaring prices, lack of social justice, and the silencing of their voices in politics. They didn’t need traditional leaders or party manifestos; the movement was born out of a single hashtag that spread like wildfire, transforming individual frustration into collective momentum.One of the sharpest contradictions fueling the protests was the billions poured into World Cup-related preparations, while ordinary citizens remained marginalized when it came to healthcare and education.This awareness quickly turned into chants and slogans echoing through the streets: “Dignity begins with schools and hospitals, not with putting on a show for the world.”What set this movement apart was not only its presence on the streets, but also the way it reinvented protest itself:Live filming: Phone cameras revealed events moment by moment, exposing abuses instantly.Memes and satire: A powerful weapon to dismantle authority’s aura, turning complex political discourse into viral, shareable content.Decentralized networks: No leader, no party, just small, fast-moving groups connected online, able to appear and disappear with agility.This generation doesn’t believe in grand speeches or delayed promises. They demand change here and now. Moving seamlessly between the physical and digital realms, they turn the street into a stage of revolt, and Instagram Live into an alternative media outlet.What’s happening in Morocco strongly recalls the Arab Spring of 2011, when young people flooded the streets with the same passion and spontaneity, armed only with belief in their power to spark change. But Gen Z added their own twist, digital tools, meme culture, and the pace of a hyper-connected world.Morocco’s Gen Z uprising is not just another protest, but a living experiment in how a digital generation can redefine politics itself. The spark may fade, but the mark it leaves on young people’s collective consciousness cannot be erased.Photo credits: Mosa’ab Elshamy, Zacaria Garcia, Abdel Majid Bizouat, Marouane Beslem"
}
,
{
"title" : "A Shutdown Exposes How Fragile U.S. Governance Really Is",
"author" : "EIP Editors",
"category" : "",
"url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/a-shutdown-exposes-how-fragile-us-governance-really-is",
"date" : "2025-10-01 22:13:00 -0400",
"img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/EIP_Cover_Gov_ShutDown.jpg",
"excerpt" : "Each time the federal government shutters its doors, we hear the same reassurances: essential services will continue, Social Security checks will still arrive, planes won’t fall from the sky. This isn’t the first Governmental shutdown, they’ve happened 22 times since 1976, and their toll is real.",
"content" : "Each time the federal government shutters its doors, we hear the same reassurances: essential services will continue, Social Security checks will still arrive, planes won’t fall from the sky. This isn’t the first Governmental shutdown, they’ve happened 22 times since 1976, and their toll is real.Shutdowns don’t mean the government stops functioning. They mean millions of federal workers are asked to keep the system running without pay. Air traffic controllers, border patrol agents, food inspectors — people whose jobs underpin both public safety and economic life — are told their labor matters, but their livelihoods don’t. People have to pay the price of bad bureaucracy in the world’s most powerful country, if governance is stalled, workers must pay with their salaries and their groceries.In 1995 and 1996, clashes between President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich triggered two shutdowns totaling 27 days. In 2013, a 16-day standoff over the Affordable Care Act furloughed 850,000 workers. And in 2018–2019, the longest shutdown in U.S. history stretched 35 days, as President Trump refused to reopen the government without funding for a border wall. That impasse left 800,000 federal employees without paychecks and cost the U.S. economy an estimated $11 billion — $3 billion of it permanently lost.More troubling is what happens when crises strike during shutdowns. The United States is living in an age of accelerating climate disasters: historic floods in Vermont, wildfire smoke choking New York, hurricanes pounding Florida. These emergencies do not pause while Congress fights over budgets. Yet a shutdown means furloughed NOAA meteorologists, suspended EPA enforcement, and delayed FEMA programs. In the most climate-vulnerable decade of our lifetimes, we are choosing paralysis over preparedness.This vulnerability didn’t emerge overnight. For decades, the American state has been hollowed out under the logic of austerity and privatization, while military spending has remained sacrosanct. That imbalance is why budgets collapse under the weight of endless resources for war abroad, too few for resilience at home.Shutdowns send a dangerous message. They normalize instability. They tell workers they are disposable. They make clear that in our system, climate resilience and public health aren’t pillars of our democracy but rather insignificant in the face of power and greed. And each time the government closes, it becomes easier to imagine a future where this isn’t the exception but the rule.The United States cannot afford to keep running on shutdown politics. The climate crisis, economic inequality, and the challenges of sustaining democracy itself demand continuity, not collapse. We need a politics that treats stability and resilience not as partisan victories, but as basic commitments to one another. Otherwise, the real shutdown isn’t just of the government — it’s of democracy itself."
}
]
}
