<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div>Dear Empyre,<br><br></div>We at the University of the Phoenix, the world's first for-prophet institution of higher learning dedicated to teaching the living and the dead to rise up together, are pleased to be able to share some of our exciting programming with you all.<br><br></div>In light of the forgoing conversations, we wanted to introduce the honourary president of our University, the Immortal Stranger. While on a research trip to Puerto Rico last year to study the hauntologies of debt and colonialism, we met this beautifully vengeful flowering tree and entered into an alliance.<br><br></div>Below, you can read some information about the Immortal Stranger, its histories, qualities and capacities. If you are interested in one of the programs we have launched in collaboration with it, targeting a "green" San Francisco-based hedge/vulture fund responsible for both extorting money from Puerto Rico and the gentrification of the Bay Area, you can listen to an interview/podcast here: <a href="https://kpfa.org/episode/against-the-grain-february-1-2017/" target="_blank">https://kpfa.org/episode/<wbr>against-the-grain-february-1-<wbr>2017/</a><br><br></div><div>We would be most excited to further discuss how so-called weeds can teach us to take collective forms transformative revenge on the system(s) of global capitalism. (eg. in collaboration with Flamenco dance <a href="http://universityofthephoenix.com/sevilla">http://universityofthephoenix.com/sevilla</a>)<br></div></div><div><br></div><div>Warmest regards,<br></div><div>Cassie and Max <br><br>---<br></div><div>The University of the Phoenix<br><a href="http://universityofthephoenix.com" target="_blank">http://universityofthephoenix.<wbr>com</a><br>---<br><br><i>The Immortal Stranger is a beautiful and subversive flowering tree
commonly found in the tropics, with bright red flowers and seed pods
that hold water. First found by Europeans in Ghana in the late 18th
century, it currently thrives in Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba,
Fiji, India, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka,
Zanzibar, Hawaii, Philippines. It grows quickly, and once it takes root
it is almost impossible to suppress. For its widespread migration and
reproduction, the notorious botanical terrorist has been added to the
list of the 100 "World's Worst" invaders. Ironically, it has even been
reported as an “invasive colonizer” of cash-crop agribusinesses and
forest plantations. </i><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>When visiting Puerto Rico, it
was often introduced to us as a weed that people hate for its
resilience, with wood that cannot be used to build or even to burn. The
plant’s subtle powers of revenge, through healing, are not yet well
understood outside of the countries of its origin; the bark, flowers and
leaves are used in traditional medicine in its native home range to
heal burns and cure malaria. Its nectar is also popular with the Black
Jacobin.<br><br>“If a plant’s going to be a villain, then it might as
well look pretty.” The African Tulip Tree is a beautiful ornamental
tree, but is super-invasive-- meaning it takes over whatever it can and
crowds out native species. It has flamboyant red or orange flowers,
exploding out of big seed pods with thousands of little heart shaped
seeds. <br><br>To germinate the seeds, you soak them in water and place them in soil. <span class="gmail-m_3089974521079877289gmail-m_251101688405693108gmail-aBn"><span class="gmail-m_3089974521079877289gmail-m_251101688405693108gmail-aQJ">In 2 weeks</span></span>
they will sprout. Sprouts that survive the first 2 weeks are very very
hard to kill. Many farmers lose the battle for land to these plants--
once cut down, they grow back almost immediately.<br><br>We found this
plant in Puerto Rico. a young farmer named Sarah pointed it out next to a
coca cola can, coming up in a crack in the sidewalk. She described this
plant as the most common invasive she encountered in Puerto Rico. Many
describe it as a weed. Most people admit that it had some sort of powers
or medicinal uses that they do not understand. It often crowds out farm
fields, and thrives in forests, where young Puerto Ricans are trying to
reteach themselves how to cultivate land for the first time in
generations.<br><br></i></div><div><i>The plant originated in Saharan Africa
and now it has spread to places all around the equator. Recently, it is
also cultivated and shipped to places like Spain or California as an
ornamental plant. When it is sold at Lowe’s Hardware Emporium, it comes
with a warning: due to its widespread migration and reproduction, the
notorious botanical terrorist has been added to the list of the 100
"World's Worst" invaders. Only plant this tree if you want it to
colonize everything around it.<br><br></i></div><i>The name of the Tulipan
Africano varies by place. In some places it is called Tulipana
Africana, and in other places it is called “The Immortal Stranger”. It
is quite difficult to remember all the many names, and I have been
trying. In Puerto Rico it is called Meaito. It is also called African
tulip tree, fountain tree, Nandi flame, Nile flame, squirt tree, tulip
tree, Uganda flame. Sometimes it is called fakkelboom, Afrika-vlamboom,
Neerukayi mara, rugtoora, kifabakazi, muzurio, panchut-panchut, kudaella
gaha, kudulu, amapola, espatodea, mampolo, kibobakasi, kifabakazi, or
patadia. It is multinational, multiplicitous, omnipresent, untraceable,
and dangerous.<br><br>The land in Puerto Rico is extraordinarily
fertile. Freshwater streams run underneath the soil. Young farmers there
told us that despite growing up hearing that the land was infertile,
dropping a seed on the soil was enough to guarantee a healthy plant.
>From what we saw, that seemed true. We visited a full forest that was
planted only 11 years earlier.<br><br>The fertility of the land is
controversial. Politicians, city planners, bankers from the US who
planned to make the entire tropical island into pure city are of the
mind to say that the island is barren. For decades, Puerto Ricans lived
as if that was the truth. Despite living on a tropical island, everyone
is at work 9-5. There are no fruit stands on the street, residents look
and act like they live in Manhattan, not a tropical island. It is an
island of superefficient office workers who struggle to afford a life in
high rises or little cement houses. Most grocery stores are familiar
American chains like Wal-Mart. They are open all night to serve the 24-7
work schedule, and they sell imported fruit and vegetables, because the
land is “barren”.<br><br>The land is not barren. Starting in the early
1910’s the US began to introduce economically important, disease
resistant, genetically modified mono-crops like Sugarcane to the island.
Wiping out forests that held entire eco-systems of food including
mango, coffee, papaya, coconut, and so much more, the necessity to use
the land to produce money dominated the soil. So when the value of sugar
declined and the US stopped seeing Puerto Rican soil as ‘rich’, it was
declared barren and the attention was turned to making Puerto Rico rich
again-- by turning it into a pharmaceutical factory for the US.<br><br>While
the African Tulip did not originate in Puerto Rico, its immunity as a
deathless pest has been strengthened by the centuries of experience it
has accumulated surviving the US government’s attempts to stamp out
nature on the island. The African Tulip tree has developed teeth,
perhaps in defense of the land itself, and like a shark, it has been
defined as a terrorist, a warlord, a parasite. It has also been called
an “invasive colonizer” of cash-crop agribusinesses and forest
plantations.<br><br>The wood of the African Tulip tree is difficult to
burn, and so it can’t be used the way other unwanted trees can be. The
tree can be used in fire resistant landscaping, but that is rarely seen
as an asset, because most farmers and gardeners put their energy into
controlling its potential sprawl. It’s a hard wood, bendable, but sort
of slippery even though it is dry, oily yet brittle; seemingly
impossible to use. Or impossible to use in the ways that we want to use
it. And impossible to kill.<br><br>The immortal stranger, as it is
called in France, likely refers to the impossibility of eradicating this
flowering tree. In its new life as an ornamental for the suburbs, blogs
describe its dangers, “Dropped flowers pose a slippery hazard on
sidewalks, and its roots sometimes damage sidewalks and driveways. Its
surface-growing roots can also make the nearby lawn a bear to mow.” The
work of this plant is to disturb white normative life. To kill the
roots of an African tulip tree, a multiplicity of strategies might work
effectively in saving your landscape from this plant, but cutting it
down is not an effective strategy in itself.<br><br>After cutting the
tree down as low to the ground as possible, brush off the sawdust and
living particles on it. Wearing head to toe protective clothing, spray
the freshly cut stump with a the strongest concentration of product
containing glyphosate, otherwise known as Roundup, (an art project of
Monsanto to test out new ways of giving people cancer). Every day at
sunrise and sunset, cut any possible new sprouts of African tulip tree
to the ground with a pair of pruning shears. Perform this task as much
as possible so the sprouts are unable to photosynthesize sunlight into
energy. Without energy, the roots will starve to death. This process
might take two or three centuries of diligence to kill the tree's root
system in its entirety. Finally put another layer of herbicide on top of
new sprouts, to way down the roots and help kill any remaining living
material.<br><br>Puerto Rico has experienced a substantial turnover of
flora species over its 30 million year evolution. The island was 100%
forested before its discovery in 1493 by Europeans and the native tree
flora consisted of about 547 species. By the 1940s only 6% of forest
cover remained, and only 1% of the forest remained. Much of the
agricultural land in Puerto RIco was abandoned during the second half of
the 20th century when cash crops like sugarcane declined in value. Some
scientists claim that the period of land abandonment afterwards, from
1950 to 1990 are proportionally the largest event of forest recovery
anywhere in the world.<br><br>There are abandoned fields all over Puerto
Rico, and because they are psychically barren, no one claimed them or
policed their borders. Savages, immigrants, even aliens invaded these
forlorn spaces, destroying the vacuousness that was meant to be taking
over. Alien tree species like the African Tulip, long time invasives,
entered the degraded fields while no one was looking. They don’t claim
to be from PR but they are not afraid to take responsibility for it.
They started by growing in the most depleted soil, fixing the nitrogen
levels, and flourishing with very few nutrients-- because they’ve
learned to live within any conditions, no matter what. They created
shade that allowed other invasives to flourish, and under that canopy a
microclimate developed that allowed natives to flourish back in their
home. The canopy is where a new home develops, almost unrecognizable to
its former residents, but it is healthy and safe. This kind of justice
is rarely total, but it is satisfying. The african tulip makes a canopy
that protects the forest, so the wildness can come back and feel safe to
go wild, let loose, be itself. Eventually, the forest finds a groove,
even feels stability, and it does so amongst a diversity of native and
non-native species. Of the trees that now populate Puerto Rico, 5 of the
main 13 species are alien species, that are integrated into the well
being of the new biosphere. It’s never what it once was, but it is
becoming something altogether new. The african tulip, god bless it,
holds the canopy up for about 40 years. At that point, the forest gets
so big that it blocks the light from the invasive, so it dies.<br><br>The
plant’s subtle powers of revenge through healing are not yet understood
outside of the countries of its origin; it plays a long game that seems
out of reach for species very concerned with their own survival. For
those being weeded out, removed from their habitat: you may be suspended
in a long now that is defined by fear and patriarchy and fear of the
patriarchy, management, control boards. It is not your fault that you
are suspended in an ever-present now. But you may need some assistance,
perhaps from an alien, a stranger, something new to protect you while
you find a new way to root. Because things are bad. Some “elements” of
our society need to be put down, buried, composted. They will come back,
because everyone always does. As babies they will have another chance,
and hopefully they won’t fuck up: if bankers and real estate developers
are born into a world protected by the canopies of unrelenting long term
care that are made by the Immortal Stranger. And even if they are still
fucked up, the bark may also be boiled in water used for bathing newly
born babies to heal body rashes.</i></div><div><br></div></div>