Welcome to The Hard Prune!
The Hard Prune offers tools, practices, concepts, ideas, and resources for people finding their way through these dystopian times.
The Hard Prune supports the fighters, the activists, the resisters, the people who are speaking up and acting out.
The Hard Prune also supports the bruised, the tired, the baffled, the people who want to close their eyes and stick their heads in the sand because it’s all just too damn much.
Whoever you are, however you are, you are welcome here.
Who writes The Hard Prune?
I’m Dr. Laura Premack, an American who lives in a small city in the northwest of England. The Hard Prune is my response to the dystopia we find ourselves living in. (Dystopia: a world of suffering, injustice, autocracy and fear; the opposite of utopia.) I want to help others find ease and purpose in spite of everything.
I share from a toolkit built from training as a meditation teacher and gardener; my work as a coach; my creative practices as a writer and weaver; my perspective as a global historian; and my personal experience with resistance, uncertainty and transformation.
As an American, I feel a huge call to action as the US wrestles with fascism. I also feel keenly the uncertainties of life in the UK, my adopted home. In times like these, we all do what we can. Sharing these tools and creating this transatlantic community of solidarity is something I can do.
How often is The Hard Prune published?
I’m currently sending out newsletters most Fridays. I’m sending essays like this one for now, but I plan to add features like interviews, discussion threads, book reviews, Q&As, a book club, and workshops. All material is freely available, but if you are able to pledge your support, you’ll help me make the time to create it.
How can I be part of The Hard Prune community?
Subscribe and encourage others to do the same! Participate in the discussion threads, Q&As and the book club when I roll those out. Send me feedback, ideas and requests at any time — all subscribers can email me at hardprune@substack.com. If the community gets big enough, we could do in-person events too. Hard Prune retreats? Who knows where this might go!
