Welcome to Our Collective Becoming
—a slow unfolding, a communal re-storying, a path toward another possible world.
Hi, I’m Dr. Roberto Che Espinoza.
I come from the slow heat of the American South, where porches stretch time and stories linger like smoke. Though the South is bustling now, I carry its pace in my bones—its drawl, its depth, its hunger for presence. These days, my family and I live in exile in the North—Western New York—where I am slowly learning the names of the trees in my neighbor’s yard. The land here speaks in frequencies I’m still learning to hear. It hums with memory, with becoming, with the vibrational energy of all who’ve passed through.
I spend my time tending to a small inter spiritual community, sitting in long, heart-deep conversations on the catio, translating theology into lived practice, and listening for what’s next. I write because language gives shape to what’s stirring in the soul. I write to bear witness. I write because becoming is always in motion.
Our Collective Becoming was born out of a longing—for community, for connection, for a space where slow thought could thrive in a fast world. I’ve been writing online for years—first through blogs during grad school, then on Twitter, and through monthly newsletters on MailChimp. But Substack gave me something more: a communal hearth, a chance to think aloud in public, and a container spacious enough to hold both my scholarship and my spirit.
This space holds the threads of my second book, Body Becoming: A Path to Our Liberation, as well as the fragments and field notes of everyday life in the North. I trace theology, ethics, embodiment, and story through this lens: what if we’re all being invited to become restoried?
I believe change happens poco a poco—little by little. That if we can remember what it means to be human together—aching, luminous, entangled—we might just survive ourselves. We might even begin to dream again.
So here we are, gathered in this digital clearing.
This isn’t just a newsletter. It’s a commitment to co-creating a world rooted in relational belonging. A dispersed community with deep ties—gathering around tables, on porches, in shared silence, and in spirited dialogue.
Our Collective Becoming is for those who want to move slowly, think deeply, imagine widely, and live ethically. If that’s you, stay. Read. Rest. Respond. There’s room for you here.
With fierce tenderness and deep welcome,
Dr. Roberto
Why Subscribe to Our Collective Becoming?
Because you’re tired of sound bites that flatten the world.
Because you crave depth, connection, slowness—
not as escape, but as resistance.
This space is for the wanderers, the wounded, the wise,
for those living at the edges of dominant narratives,
and for those who long to midwife a world rooted in care, justice, and joy.
Here’s what you’ll find:
🌿 Reflections on the Practice of Becoming
Where theology meets embodiment, and theory walks barefoot into lived experience.
📚 Cultural Analysis with a Spirit of Hope
Not critique for critique’s sake, but a reorientation toward the possible, the repairable, the beautifully unfinished.
🔥 Letters from Exile
Dispatches from life in Western New York—where I pastor, write, cook slowly, and try to hear what the land is whispering.
🎙️ Conversations that Matter
Interviews, podcast episodes, salon gatherings, and learning journeys with those reimagining the world from below and between.
🕯️ Ritual + Embodiment Practices
To turn on your wonder switch. To help you rest into your humanity. To remind you that you belong.
This isn’t content. This is care.
Subscribing means entering into a living, breathing commons where becoming is never solitary. It’s shared. It’s sacred. It’s slow. Subscribing is easy!
$5/month
$50/yearly
$210 Founding Members
How You Can Join the Circle
There are many ways to gather around this table. Each one is welcome. Each one matters.
🍂 Free Subscription
If you’re just arriving, welcome. The free tier gives you access to many of the core reflections, updates, and invitations I send out. It’s a good place to begin, to linger, to listen. There is no pressure—only presence.
☕ Paid Subscription – “A Cup of Coffee Each Month”
If this work nourishes you, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Think of it as buying me a cup of coffee each month so I can keep writing, researching, and imagining in public. Paid subscribers receive:
Full access to all essays, reflections, and posts
The ability to leave comments and join conversations
Invitations to Substack Chats, salons, and learning spaces
A front-row seat in helping shape the future of this communal work
You help keep the fire burning.
🌺 Founding Member – “Tenders of the Threshold”
Founding Members are those who believe deeply in this work and want to walk more intentionally alongside it. With a gift of $210/year, you not only sustain Our Collective Becoming—you invest in its flourishing.
As a Founding Member, you’ll receive:
Everything above, plus
Personal notes and behind-the-scenes dispatches
Early access to offerings and learning journeys
Occasional invitations to intimate Zoom firesides or one-on-one check-ins
My deep, ongoing gratitude for helping midwife this work into the world
Founding Members are the quiet architects of the commons. You help build what you can’t yet see.
Each tier is not about status—it’s about participation. About choosing the level of engagement that feels possible and meaningful to you. About honoring that becoming is always collective work.
So come as you are. Rest awhile. Join us as you’re able.
We’re making something beautiful together.
With fierce tenderness,
Dr. Roberto
🕯️ A Threshold Ritual for Joining the Circle
Before you decide how you want to walk with us,
pause.
Place your feet flat on the ground.
Feel the weight of your body—its story, its knowing.
Close your eyes if you’d like.
Take a slow, intentional breath.
Inhale the possibility of another world.
Exhale whatever is keeping you from believing it’s possible.
Now, place your hand on your chest—or wherever you feel your life pulsing.
Whisper to yourself:
“I belong to a becoming that is not mine alone.”
“I am part of a story still unfolding.”
When you’re ready, open your eyes.
If you feel stirred to give, to join, to participate more deeply—click “Subscribe.”
If you feel stirred simply to receive, to rest here—stay. You are welcome.
This is Our Collective Becoming.
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
