My first year as an Emerson College grad student is coming to an end. I’m so overwhelmed by finals that my Diet Coke consumption is up 150%, so instead of writing a blog post, I interviewed my From the Ground Up cofounder, Mylo about the history of From the Ground Up — how it transitioned from being a failing newspaper to the thriving community it is today — as well as where we’re going. Enjoy part one!

E: So, who are you?

M: My name is Mylo, and I’m a co-founder of From the Ground Up. 

E: Okay, what is From the Ground Up?

M: It’s basically a community of people who — I would say some activists, some don’t think of themselves as activists — who all want to both try to imagine what our future world would look like and also take action steps within our lives to make that happen. So, it’s really anyone who wants to be doing good things for the world and like making the world and themselves better. 

E: Amazing! How do you balance the activism component of From the Ground Up with the community component of From the Ground Up?

M: Oh, I think it’s really hard. I feel like I want all of the meetings whether they are meant to be just for connecting and having fun or meant to be doing organizing or taking action to still feel… not necessarily fun, but nurturing, like you’re being seen as an entire human and not just as another body that can do activism. And it’s important people feel like they’re able to play to their strengths and grow in the ways they want to grow and that they’re not all forced… we’re not gonna say “Well, everyone has to phone bank.” or “Everyone has to flier.” or “Everyone has to post on social media.” You get to do something that makes you feel good that you love doing. I really love having people just talk together and get to know each other and connect. Though, at the same time, it’s the case that through organizing and through pursuing a goal with other people, you connect with people a lot and get to know each other really well. Sometimes I feel like I need to, especially now, shift more towards activism because that’s what people are here for, not just to be people but to do good work. But what is that? Is community building just activism in itself? I think so. 

E: I agree. Why did you start From the Ground Up?

M: I started From the Ground Up because I found the news to be very disheartening and useless. Like there’s a bunch of shit happening in DC. Like, I can’t do anything about it. It’s really disempowering to read these horrible things that are happening that you can’t affect. 

One of the huge catalysts was that for two years I lived in Boston, and I would always pass by these people who seemed like they were homeless who were selling newspapers. And I would always pass this guy who was doing that at the Whole Foods near where I worked. And I would always just walk by him because I was always on my 25-minute lunch break. But eventually, there was a time where I wasn’t that stressed or busy, so I just stopped and said, “Hey, what is this?” And he said, “Oh, this is Spare Change. People can buy the paper for 50 cents and sell it for two dollars. And you get to take the difference, the $1.50. It’s a newspaper about people who are experiencing homelessness in Boston.” It was a lot about housing and housing rights and poems that people wrote. I bought one and thought I can’t believe I just walked by this person for a year and a half and didn’t stop just to say “Hi.” I think a lot of people just walk by because they don’t know what it is, which I think is bizarre. How could you live somewhere for two years and not know that this newspaper exists? You just haven’t heard about it.

So I wanted there to be a newspaper that would lift up the things that you can do within your community to make a difference, and not just go on about all the things in DC or other countries that you can’t really change. I wanted all of the articles to end with a list of those actions.

I was learning a lot of strategies for how to talk to people or how to have hard conversations or ask for things. I had a lot of ideas that weren’t in the mainstream. I wanted to both get my own ideas out there without having to try to get published by a traditional paper and also have a place for other people to have a platform to put forward random ideas that they have without there being a whole process of like “Oh, is your writing really good?” If you have a good idea, we’ll help you edit it and then we’ll publish it. 

So that’s how it started. I felt like so many people want to be more engaged in activism, but they don’t know what to do. I wanted to answer that question. 

E: How did it transition from mostly a newspaper to mostly a community? 

M: Well, for a while it was just me, and then it was just us. Then, I started texting a bunch of people, and some people were actually interested enough to actually come to a meeting, and so we all met at the library. That was really fun! I was really anxious leading up to it, but then it was really great, and we were all getting along so well. That was in February 2020. I think?

E: Yeah.

M: That felt really good. And then we met another time in March at a coffee shop to do work and write articles about COVID. That was the last time I ever went to a coffee shop. And then I didn’t know how to maintain that group of people during the pandemic. I thought we could all meet outside, but I didn’t initiate that, and I was stressed and overwhelmed. The point is that for a long time I was overwhelmed and didn’t know how to maintain a community online during a pandemic. And then you and I were meeting every week and trying to write a bunch of articles. That was super overwhelming and didn’t feel like it was sustainable nor like it was really going to get us anywhere. Then, I took a long break and read Pleasure Activism and a lot of other books, and it was really helpful. 

Then when I came back, in September… I mean at various points you said we had to have meetings, and I wanted to, but I was so stressed. I couldn’t pull it together. But once the school year started, I had to get over that anxiety of hosting meetings online because I had to do it for my job [as a high school math teacher]. I was doing it for my job. I think it was in October finally… You sent me an article that was about community building and content marketing or something. I saw that at the right time where I was also in an emotional place to be ready to host a meeting online and knew how Zoom worked well enough. And finally, I was like “Yeah, let’s just host a meeting.” I texted a bunch of people and was like, “Do you want to come to this meeting?” And I guess some people said yes. I added all of their emails to it, and it was a community. I don’t really remember how I did that. 

E: I have no memory of how.

M: And you were like, “I don’t know if anyone is going to come.” And then, what, like eight people came? I think. It was a good-sized group.

E: Yeah.

M: I think we had ten people at the first meeting. Then, people kept joining…

Stay tuned for part 2!