In search of Activist Stories…
I’m Juliana, Activist Explorer, on a quest to Collect, Create, Cultivate, and Connect stories about activists and social movements. We need narratives that inspire us, spark our imaginations, and motivate us to organize to create a society of justice and compassion, where all beings have equal right to exist in shared peace and plenty.
Authentic portrayals of activists fighting for justice and the planet are essential, showcasing our daily struggles to change the system. Activist life is filled with drama, romance, adventure, comedy, and mystery. We need stories—movies, novels, TV shows—that counter the erasure and stereotyping in the dominant narrative about activists. These stories help us envision the lives of those making change, not as isolated heroes, but as communities working together.
Activist Explorer is a quest to collect, create, cultivate, and connect our activist stories. The goal is to foster deeper understanding and fairer representation of our wildly diverse global community of boat-rockers, city-hall-fighters, neck-sticker-outers, dreamers, experimenters, and gadflies…aka activists.
Juliana Barnet is a lifelong activist, popular educator, and anthropologist. Many years immersed in the ups and downs of popular (and unpopular) movements inspired her to delve into the nature of activist culture. An avid fiction reader, frustrated by so few activist characters in novels and movies, Juliana writes, and encourages others to write, stories centering the adventures of activists.
She also writes essays on activist culture, novels featuring activists, and reviews of activist portrayals in fiction. She works with writers and activists young and old on integrating creative writing into movement building.
Juliana is connected to many fine communities of activist trouble-makers.
Groundskeeper and ex-union activist Marlie Mendíval and her nine-year-old granddaughter, Samantha, turn mildly haunted, ramshackle Rainwood House into a collective residence, hoping renters will overlook its quirks: crumbling rooms, whispers of past racial justice struggles, and musical plumbing.
Radical garden enthusiast Demetrius moves in, offering friendly conversation and comforting meals that help Marlie cope with eviction threats, her newfound notoriety as a campus workers’ movement leader, and Samantha’s school troubles.
Then Marlie discovers that her amiable new housemate is on the run, accused of cop-shooting. Should she turn him in? Or risk hiding him to help him find the truth?
As their lives intertwine, the collective residents find themselves increasingly depending on each other for encouragement, solutions, and perhaps even their lives.
Latest Essays:
Highlights:
…fiction, including my Rainwood House Series, with activist characters and settings
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Juliana Barnet, Creative Commons License 2025
RAINWOOD HOUSE SINGS, a social justice mystery, paints an authentic picture (with a hint of magic) of eveyday activists fighting for justice in their lives and communities, tackling mysteries large and small with creativity, humor, and collective action.
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Sample filled-out FFA Test:
JB tests the movie Billie Elliot
Sample filled-out SOOP Questionnaire:
A few stories and burning questions from JB
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