about creative portals ꩜
creative portal is a living archive of worldbuilding, creative research, and radical co-creation.
this publication is an experiment with devotion—rooted in Black feminist creative thought, collective dreaming, and the belief that creativity is a practice of survival, not spectacle. it exists for those asking different questions, those tracing the spirals of their own becoming, and those tending to creativity as a form of care, kinship, and resistance.
here, you’ll find:
🌀 dispatches from the portal — essays, reflections, and soft frameworks from dr. nick’s studio
🌀 worldbuilding tools + co-creation invitations
🌀 notes on grief, imagination, digital togetherness, and the rituals that sustain us
🌀 a space to witness the anti-disciplinary life in design
whether you’re here to read, rest, co-create, or reflect—you’re welcome in this spiral.
about dr. nick ꩜
dr. nick alder (they/themme/theirs) is a creative co-conspirator, community designer, healing spacemaker + caribbean care worker tending to the intersections of Black queer creativity, collective care, + liberatory worldbuilding.
through radical healing lab and party noire, their work cultivates spaces where reflection, joy, and ritual become daily acts of resistance and possibility.
a community psychologist + lifelong student of Black feminist creative practice, nick brings a grounding presence and deep reverence for slowness, storytelling, and tending to the tender. their methodology spans digital gardens, speculative gatherings, visual research, and co-created tools for soft disruption.
creative portal is their living archive—a digital sanctuary for tracking the spirals of process, devotion, grief, memory, and communal becoming. their approach to worldbuilding is shaped by Black feminist thinkers, dreamers, and cultural workers who remind us that imagination is a practice of survival and freedom.
brooklyn-born. queen-raised. grown in chicago + ancestrally rooted in guyana—coastal, humid, storied — nick moves through the world shaped by migration, memory, and rhythm. a lineage of crossings, of reinvention, of softness as strategy. they are always seeking ways to make meaning in motion, to build beauty in community, and to map what might bloom when we begin with care.
permission to share ꩜
please feel free to share this newsletter—or snippets of my writing—with a friend, your group chat, or whatever kindred river you find yourself in conversation with.
i only ask that you credit me (dr. nick) and link back to this site or newsletter when you do. sharing helps sustain this portal and expands the constellation of collaborators, curiosity-driven creatives, and community sustainers who keep this work alive.
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