Help Me Launch a Literary Punk House

hi friends, i’m steve roggenbuck!! you may have seen my posts on thought catalog in the past. i’m an internet poet, mainly people like my videos. i can be very goofy sometimes, but i really want to change the world. i’m serious about spreading positive energy and taking action to end oppression. now i’m launching a project called Boost House that i want you all to know about.

Boost House has two components: it will be a publisher, and a co-op house from which that publisher is run. it’s a model taken from punk houses like Positive Force House, or intentional communities like Twin Oaks Community. we live together so we can efficiently work together on things we believe in, and our work pays for the living space. i think projects like this are very, very important: we make money, because we need it to live in our capitalist society, yet we insist on doing so in a way that creates meaningful work, community, and change we believe in.

Boost House’s mission as a publisher: we want to amplify voices who fuse poetry and internet culture with positivity and anti-oppression. we want to connect and expand a community of “alt youth” focused on overt efforts to make the world a better place. we believe poetry is being rejuvenated in exciting ways by internet culture. we also believe in intersectional anti-oppression, environmental justice, and just spreading positive energy person-to-person! we’ll make books, posters, shirts, stickers, and other goods that promote these things. we’ll launch an online free school for our community to cross-pollinate and expand our knowledge of social problems and what we can do about them.

Boost House’s mission as a co-op house: the core Boost House team (4 humans and a dog to start) will live together in Brunswick, Maine. our house will be a drug-free, alcohol-free space, focused on hard work for positive change. we’ll compile a free lending library, hold poetry readings and vegan potlucks for the local public, and host touring artists/activists who are passing through. as we grow, we’ll accept applications for more and more residents with our values and ambition! we’ll also broadcast from the house regularly, so people worldwide can learn and take inspiration from our communal living project.

if you’re someone who enjoys internet humor or “alt” poetry, but also wants to position that work in a community dedicated to real social change and spreading positivity, then please follow boost house and connect with us!! our facebook profile will likely be the center of our online community, but we’re on twitter and tumblr also!

we’re also currently raising funds to make our launch more secure. we’ll use these funds for our first month’s rent and security deposit, printing costs for our first few books and shirts, moving expenses, and as a general cushion while we get started. basically this funding will help us through the launch period to arrive at self-sufficency!

our kickstarter page has a long a list of rewards for backers, you can get either of our first two books, a subscription to all our upcoming books, or other fun rewards like a custom airbrushed t-shirt, or a live show in your area! please consider contributing if our mission appeals to you!! here is the video i made for our kickstarter, which communicates more of my passion about why this needs to happen!

[kickstarter url=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1459492663/boost-house width=584]

To contribute to the Boost House kickstarter, click here.