Category: News / Information

Iowans Be Aware, and Beware-

Co-founder of Wichita private school contending for Iowa GOP’s gubernatorial nomination

Iowa Democratic Party raises red flag about dozens of Zach Lahn’s flights to Kansas

By:Tim Carpenter-May 29, 2026

TOPEKA — Private school founder, farmer and businessman Zach Lahn is running an insurgent Republican campaign for governor in Iowa.

The former Kansan has labeled this outsider bid as an “Iowa First” campaign. He’s opposed abortion and high taxes, but defended gun rights, school vouchers and religious freedom. He told Iowa voters he admired President Donald Trump’s tenacious fight against the political establishment.

“I told my wife many times, if I ever ran for anything, the only thing I’d ever want to run for was governor,” Lahn said.

Lahn grew up near Sioux City, Iowa, graduated from University of Colorado in Boulder, worked for Montana and Colorado congressmen, served as Montana director of Americans for Prosperity and as an AFP fundraiser, and bought a Belle Plaine, Iowa, farm previously owned by relatives. He launched an unorthodox school in Wichita and voted in Kansas elections in the 2018, 2020 and 2022 cycles.

Lahn’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment about why he chose to run for governor in Iowa rather than Kansas or questions raised by the Iowa Democratic Party about his close ties to Kansas and decision in 2024 to transfer his voter registration to Iowa.

Lahn has stood out among Iowa’s GOP gubernatorial candidates by denouncing lobbyists, corporations and organizations with outsized influence on politics. He’s not been shy about criticizing Democrats and Republicans responsible for blocking public policy reform.

“I’m fighting the ‘Uni-party.’ Both sides have been bought off in many ways,” he said.

Lahn is on the Tuesday primary ballot with U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, state Rep. Eddie Andrews, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and former Iowa Department of Administrative Services director Adam Steen. The Democratic nominee will be Iowa state Auditor Rob Sand, who is running unopposed.

For the first time since 2006, an incumbent Iowa governor won’t be on the ballot. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, with one of the lowest approval ratings in the country, didn’t seek reelection.

Populist approach

Michael Smith, a political science professor at Emporia State University, said old-school political theory dictated gubernatorial candidates had to be rooted in a state’s political infrastructure and local community life to be relevant. That changed as Trump assumed control of GOP politics and showed how firebrand conservatives, including those without prior experience in public office, might find a lane to run, he said.

“It’s all different now,” said Smith, who indicated Lahn could be a beneficiary of that shift. “He’s trying to be his own kind of populist.”

Lahn created momentum for his candidacy by loaning the campaign $2 million and using that cash to fill the airwaves with television advertising.

After working for Americans for Prosperity, an advocacy group associated with founders of Koch Industries, Lahn moved to Wichita to launch the unconventional private school named Wonder. The pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school opened in 2018 on the campus of Wichita State University. It was financed by Chase Koch, the son of billionaire Charles Koch, and Chase Koch’s wife at the time, Annie Koch.

Annie Koch and Lahn subsequently divorced their spouses and were married. They have seven children in a blended family and the kids have been featured in campaign materials.

Kansas voter registration records show Zach Lahn voted in Kansas with a provisional ballot in November 2018, in-person at a Sedgwick County polling place in November 2020 and with an advance ballot in the August 2022 primary. Zach Lahn registered to vote in Iowa on Oct. 17, 2024. Transferring his registration at that time allowed him to meet the state’s two-year residency requirement for a run for governor in 2026.

Jennifer Konfrst, a professor of journalism and strategic political communication at Drake University in Des Moines, said there was potential for Lahn’s “Iowa First” campaign slogan to come across as disingenuous among voters aware of his lengthy presence in Kansas. Iowa voters appreciate the life history of candidates, she said, but some dig deeper into whether a candidate’s staff came from Iowa or Washington, D.C.

“Being from here matters,” said Konfrst, a Democratic member of the Iowa House not seeking reelection. “It’s not unimportant that somebody who wants to be governor of Iowa isn’t from here.”

Kansas connections

In July 2024, according to Sedgwick County’s register of deeds, Annie Lahn purchased a home in Kechi near Wichita and declared on mortgage documents it was her primary residence. One year after acquiring the property, Zach and Annie Lahn sold the home to an LLC for $1.

Business records filed with the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office identified the LLC’s “authorized person” as Wichita resident Mikaela Ledbetter, who made a modest donation in December 2025 to Zach Lahn’s campaign for governor.

Less than two weeks after the transaction in July 2025, Annie Lahn registered to vote in Belle Plaine, Iowa. Zach Lahn and his previous wife, Lauren, had purchased that Belle Plaine homestead in 2014.

The Des Moines Register reported in April that Zach Lahn flew from Iowa to Wichita in his personal airplane 37 times since Oct. 1, 2025. Zach Lahn told the Register the flights allowed him to be with children that he and his wife had from previous marriages.

“I’m trying my best to be present for things,” Zach Lahn told the Register. “I have no worries that we’ll be able to fulfill every duty we need to do on the campaign or as governor.”

Zach Lahn told the newspaper he moved from Kansas to Iowa in 2023 and was an official Iowa voter in the 2024 general election and a 2025 local election.

Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Terra Hernandez seized upon the Register’s reporting to declare Zach Lahn a “Kansas carpetbagger.”

“Lahn has been trying to fool Iowa voters since the start of his campaign, thinks he can pay his way to the governor’s mansion with his millions in out-of-state money and spends more time in Wichita than Belle Plaine,” Hernandez said.

On campaign trail

During the gubernatorial campaign, Zach Lahn has emphasized he was a sixth-generation Iowan with family roots as far back as the Civil War.

His campaign has concentrated on restoration of academic achievement in the state’s education system and removal of classroom educators who insisted on advancing personal ideology.

“We don’t have a spending problem. We have a quality problem,” Zack Lahn said during a GOP forum broadcast by KCCI in Des Moines.

He said he would work to preserve Iowa family farms after 10,000 vanished during the past 20 years. He said one-fourth of Iowa land was now owned by out-of-state investors. He proposed raising property taxes on Iowa land held by nonresidents so property taxes for Iowa residents could be lowered.

He’s questioned economic development strategies in Iowa that did little to stem the brain drain of youth to other states.

Zack Lahn, endorsed by MAHA Action associated with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., made a campaign issue of rising cancer rates in Iowa. He promised to veto any bill granting agricultural chemical companies immunity from lawsuits tied to alleged failure to accurately warn consumers of health risks.

“I believe big ag and big pharma have treated our farmers and families as numbers, not neighbors,” Zack Lahn said.

Clay Jones, Open Windows

Speaking of the Trump 250 dollar bill…

Don Jr. is also making big bucks off the presidency

Ann Telnaes

Propublica has a story about another Trump family grift

Vanilla 250

A washed-up musician singing for a washed-up president.

Clay Jones

When artists were invited to participate in what’s being called the Great American State Fair, they were promised that it was not political or partisan. And proving that point, Donald Trump will be kicking it off.

The Great American State Fair is described as a birthday bash to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, and it will include a series of concerts on the National Mall from June 24 to July 10.

After several artists dropped out, including Morris Day and the Time, Young MC, the Commodores, Martina McBride and Bret Michaels, Trump took to Truth Social and said, “I understand Artists are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance … so I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, the man who loves our Country more than anyone else, and the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate ‘Artists,’ and give a major speech, rallying the Country forward like I have done ever since being President!”

The “yips” is what Trump has when he TACOs out or something. (snip-MORE)

Treasonous Scales

I don’t trust my scale either

Clay Jones

Donald Trump had another mystery visit to a doctor’s office this week.

Three years ago, only 28% of Americans surveyed by a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll said Trump was NOT healthy enough to serve as president. Today, that same poll found that 55% of Americans don’t believe Donald Trump is healthy enough to serve as president. There needs to be a poll asking if he’s mentally healthy enough to be president.

Trump has always rambled incoherently, but it seems to be distressing people more now in combination with his cankles, hand bruises, swollen eyes, and excessive blinking. Shhhh…he’s sleepy.

Trump had a physical in April of last year, and then he had a semi-annual physical in October, and now he has gone back for his third physical in 13 months. Additionally, he’s been to a Dentist twice over the past five months, which surprises everyone. He still has his teeth? (snip-MORE)

White House Cage Fight

The Trump regime loves them some cages

Clay Jones

All my life, I have heard people say they respect the office of the president, even if they do not like the current occupant. Even though I did not like or respect George W. Bush, I still respected the presidency. But it’s getting harder and harder to respect the office when the current occupant is holding cage fights on the south lawn.

Are we in gladiator times? Are we conducting fights on the self lawn to distract us from our troubles, like inflation, illegal tariffs, ICE goons shooting Americans in the streets, and Donald Trump’s chosen war? In addition to a gaudy oversize ballroom, should we also build a replica of the Roman Colosseum on the White House grounds? Is today’s Caesar, Donald Trump, going to give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to determine the fate of the loser of each bout? Will wenches be feeding Trump grapes during the fights? (snip-MORE)

There’s A Moon Out Tonight-

Supermoon Versus Micromoon
Image Credit: Soumyadeep Mukherjee

Explanation: What is so micro about tonight’s blue micromoon? Just after sunset, a full moon will appear slightly smaller and dimmer than usual. The reason is that the Moon’s fully illuminated phase occurs within a short time of apogee – when the Moon is farthest from the Earth in its elliptical orbit. In fact, tonight’s micromoon will be the farthest, smallest, and dimmest Moon this year. But tonight’s micromoon is notable for yet another reason: it is also a blue moon, meaning that it is the second full moon in the same month (moon-th). Pictured here, a supermoon — when the full moon appears near its largest — is compared to a micromoon as photographed from Kolkata, India in May and December of 2021. Although the next micromoon occurs next month, and the next blue moon at the end of 2028, the next blue micromoon will not occur until 2053.

(And in case you got an unwanted earworm from the title, maybe try this lively one, instead! – Ali)

Erin Brockovich & Data Centers

I’ve been trying to get this posted the past couple of days. It’s still pertinent.

Erin Brockovich Asks Americans for Help as She Launches Data Center Map

updated May 29, 2026 at 12:27 PM EDT

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is appealing to the public for help after launching a website to report data center concerns as the rapid expansion of AI-driven facilities across the United States increasingly clashes with local communities.

The appeal threatens to thrust an iconic anti-corporate activist into the heart of the battle to expand AI infrastructure at a time of growing public skepticism about the technology’s impact on jobs, safety and the environment.

The website, brockovichdatacenter.com, lists several “key concerns” surrounding such data centers, including high energy consumption that drives environmental impacts and costs, substantial water use for cooling that can strain local supplies, increased e‑waste from frequent hardware upgrades, exposure to location risks such as natural disasters or geopolitical instability, growing scalability pressures that can outpace local infrastructure, and constant noise from cooling systems and generators that can disrupt nearby communities.

“These challenges highlight the need for sustainable, secure, and efficient AI data center practices,” the website says. “Self-reporting is the best way we can get this information out to the public!”

A map on brockovichdatacenter.com shows major AI data centers in the U.S. that are either operational or under construction, overlaid with locations w…Read More
 | brockovichdatacenter.com

There are now more than 4,200 data centers—built to train, deploy and deliver AI—across the U.S., according to Data Center Map.

According to the website’s statistics, more than 2,716 reports have been submitted, with the most in Texas (612), as of Monday. The state is home to more than 460 data centers, according to Data Center Map.

The greatest concern among communities was water, followed by electricity, health and wildlife.

“The race to build AI infrastructures is unfolding town by town across America. In some places, data centers are welcomed. In others, they are delayed, contested or abandoned altogether. This map captures the real-world footprint of that race—revealing patterns of growth, conflict and uncertainty,” Brockovich said.

Who Is Erin Brockovich?

(snip-we know who she is. Or, please click through to read on the Newsweek page)

The States Becoming America’s AI Engine Room

As data centers become more visible across America’s landscape, some states are seeing more than others.

  • Virginia
    Long a hub for government contractors and cloud infrastructure, Virginia—particularly Northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley”—offers proximity to federal agencies and one of the world’s densest fiber networks. Established infrastructure reduces build times and attracts hyperscalers looking to scale quickly.
  • Texas
    Texas combines vast, inexpensive land with a deregulated energy market that gives companies flexibility in securing large power loads. Cities like Dallas and Austin also bring a growing tech workforce and business-friendly policies that appeal to major AI investors.
  • Ohio
    Ohio has positioned itself as a Midwestern data hub, with strong incentives and central geographic access to U.S. population centers. Its legacy industrial sites are often repurposed for data centers, offering space and existing infrastructure at competitive costs.
  • Arizona
    Arizona’s dry climate is favorable for certain cooling technologies, while its abundant land and aggressive economic development incentives have drawn major tech firms. Phoenix, in particular, has become a key destination for new AI and cloud infrastructure builds.
  • Georgia
    Georgia, anchored by Atlanta, offers strong connectivity as a Southeast internet exchange hub. State and local tax breaks, combined with access to both talent and transport infrastructure, have made it increasingly attractive for large-scale data operations.
  • Utah
    Utah benefits from lower real estate costs, a stable regulatory environment, and access to renewable energy sources. Its growing tech sector, known as “Silicon Slopes,” provides an emerging talent pool to support AI-focused expansion.

Why companies are choosing these states:

  • Cheap land: Large-scale AI data centers require vast footprints; these states offer space at significantly lower costs than coastal markets.
  • Power access: Reliable, high-capacity energy grids, often with options for renewable sourcing, are critical for AI workloads.
  • Tax breaks: State and local governments are competing aggressively with incentives to attract long-term infrastructure investment.
  • Fewer regulations: Streamlined permitting and business-friendly policies enable shorter development timelines and reduced compliance burdens.

Vids, We Have Vids

These are political. Good Candidates. Take a look/listen!

Union Activism

Yet Another Thing To Keep Track Of:

Majority of Americans Support Ban on Surveillance Pricing and Electronic Shelf Labels

Surprisingly, 3% saying it would make them more likely to shop at a store.

By Matt Novak

A whopping 68% of Americans say they worry about surveillance pricing increasing the cost of goods, while just 5% believe it will lead to lower prices, according to a new survey from GBAO Strategies distributed by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Twenty percent say it will likely just keep prices the same.

The new survey is part of the UFCW’s “Affordable Groceries and Good Jobs Campaign,” an effort to encourage states to pass laws banning surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels (ESLs), the increasingly common price tags that some activists worry allow companies to rapidly change prices in stores several times per day.

The concern includes obvious dynamic pricing models, like increasing the cost of cold beverages when it gets hot outside, but also involves more sophisticated and as-yet theoretical examples like increasing the cost of food staples when a customer’s data is analyzed in store and it’s determined they’re willing to pay more.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans in the survey say digital price tags would make them less likely to shop in a store, with 35% saying it would make no difference, and 3% saying it would make them more likely to shop there. Sixty-seven percent are in favor of banning ESLs outright, according to the new survey.

Walmart, which has patented AI-powered price changes, has been rolling out electronic shelf labels across its stores, and it aims to feature them in every U.S. location by the end of 2026. But the company has insisted it’s not going to use ESLs for jacking up prices and insists that a human manager must be in the loop when prices change.

Unsurprisingly, 66% of those surveyed say they’re worried about the cost of groceries. And it’s no wonder, given the trajectory of inflation in recent months. The University of Michigan’s May sentiment index hit a record low last month at 44.8, down five points from April, according to Bloomberg.

In April, inflation rose 3.8% on an annualized basis, while wages rose just 3.6%, the first time wages have failed to keep up with inflation since 2023, according to CBS News. And that’s causing major concerns about supermarkets’ plans to squeeze customers for more money with new tech.

The new survey takers at GBAO Strategies noted that some grocery stores are replacing paper price tags with digital price tags and asked Americans whether that technology was likely to increase or decrease prices for consumers. Just 3% thought it would decrease prices, while 65% thought stores would use digital price tags to increase prices. 24 percent of participants believe it will keep prices about the same, with the remainder (8%) saying they don’t know.

UFCW International Vice President Ademola Oyefeso told Gizmodo that he believes electronic shelf labels are a tool for price gouging and that tech companies are marketing them for that purpose.

“The ESL industry sells the prospect of higher prices and job losses as positives,” said Oyefeso. “Across the country, families are having to make tough choices in the grocery aisle every day as a result of sky-high prices, and polling clearly shows that they want these predatory technologies banned.”

Proponents of digital shelf labels take issue with the idea of using the term surveillance pricing at all. They prefer terms like “personalized pricing” and believe that stores have an incentive to make pricing competitive. But unions like UFCW don’t believe that’s true and are urging legislation to be passed around the country to fight it.

“Federal and state lawmakers know these practices are wrong, and the UFCW urges them to get ahead of them before they appear in every store,” Oyefeso told Gizmodo. “Any lawmaker that is serious about cutting costs for hardworking families must support a ban on electronic shelf labels and surveillance pricing in grocery stores.”

At least a dozen states are currently considering legislation that would regulate surveillance pricing, with Maryland recently passing the first law banning the practice at grocery stores. But activists have spoken out about that law and worry that it has way too many loopholes.

Open Windows,Clay Jones

White House Dementia

Did you hear about the nut job at the White House who believed he was Jesus Christ?

Clay Jones

Last Saturday, Nasire Best, a 21-year-old man from Maryland, approached a White House checkpoint near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW shortly after 6 p.m. ET, pulled a gun from a bag, and opened fire on Secret Service officers. Officers returned fire, striking Best, who was taken to a hospital and later died.

According to a July 2025 D.C. Superior Court filing, Best was previously “known to the United States Secret Service” around the White House complex. According to the court filing, Best walked into a restricted area at a White House pedestrian access control post, ignored commands to stop, and “claimed he was Jesus Christ and that he wanted to get arrested.” He was arrested on an unlawful entry charge in that incident.

The filing said Best interacted with the Secret Service, walking around the White House complex and asking how to gain access at various entry posts. It also said he had been involuntarily committed in June 2025 after obstructing vehicle entry to the White House complex. (snip-MORE)

Trump and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Trump brags about all the pools he’s built

Ann Telnaes

During this morning’s Cabinet meeting, Trump drones on and on about how he’s done such a spectacular job fixing the Reflecting Pool.

Data Centers

Doesn’t everyone love a data center?

Clay Jones

There are over 5,381 data centers in the United States, which is more than the rest of the planet. And the state with the most data centers is Virginia. Oddly enough, my voice dictation wrote “data sinners” instead of “data centers.” That’s not far off.

Data centers pollute and are bad for the environment. They drain water resources. They raise energy costs for the average consumer. They bring noise pollution. They occupy vast amounts of land. A single hyperscale data center can consume as much electricity as 100,000 homes. And city governments love them because they bring in revenue. What they don’t bring are a large number of jobs.

In Virginia, the General Assembly is threatened with a government shutdown over tax breaks for data centers. The state offers over $2 billion in tax breaks to these technological warehouses, and some senators believe that they don’t need them. They don’t. Even though most positive spin and gaslighting for data centers comes from right-wing think tanks like the Goldwater Institute (which is like arguing why you want a nuclear power plant in your backyard), the argument in the Virginia General Assembly isn’t partisan. Democrats are in control, and they’re arguing about this with themselves. (snip-MORE)

Eat Mor Cornyn

From one indicted, impeached, adultering, corrupt individual to another

Clay Jones

I have been drawing cartoons about Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton since at least 2020, as you can see here, when he filed a lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania’s electoral vote for Joe Biden. Did I mention that he’s the Attorney General for Texas, not Pennsylvania?

I did a cartoon about him in 2022 when he hid behind his wife from process servers. The reason he’s being served so much is that he is a criminal. Of course, this was before he was caught cheating on his wife.

One of my favorite cartoons about Paxton was drawn during his impeachment trial in 2023. Yes, he was impeached because of his corruption, but the Texas Senate saved his tiny corrupt balls. The party that impeached him was his own, Republicans. (snip-MORE)

That Public Notice About NDA’s for Government Workers:

We have 29 more days to make our views known in regard to the executive wishing all federal workers to sign a very broad NDA. This will crush transparency and notice of abuse, and there will likely be no more whistleblowing.

Anyway, here it is, along with the link so we can make our comments (of course it is not hyperlinked on the page, we need to copy it and paste it into our browser. WP has made it a live link in this post, but it doesn’t work.) It’s our duty and a right we still have; if we do not use it, we will most certainly use it. I found out about this yesterday on MPS’s post; it just took me a bit to get to this.

You can find this here. (This hyperlink is good; I made it myself and it works.) It is a .pdf. The NDA notice begins in the lower right-hand column.

From within the public notice, here is the info for submitting our comments:

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for sending comments.
The general policy for comments and
other submissions from members of the
public is to make these submissions
available for public viewing at https://
http://www.regulations.gov without change,
and including any personal identifiers
or contact information. Before finalizing
the NDA, OPM will consider all
comments received on or before the
closing date for comments. OPM may
make changes to the NDA after
considering the comments received.

And a little more:

Request for Comment
OPM welcomes public comments on
all aspects of the draft NDA, including
whether the Privacy Act statement’s
description of the authority, principal
purposes, routine uses, and effects
provide sufficient notice to employees.
The draft NDA is available in the docket
for this notice on regulations.gov. See
https://www.regulations.gov/document/
OPM-2026-0100-0003. OPM specifically
requests comment on the following
issues.

  1. What scope of information should
    be covered by the NDA? Should it cover
    only unclassified information? How do
    you understand the terms confidential
    and confidentiality in the context of this
    NDA? What customization of the NDA,
    if any, may be necessary for agencies to
    ensure it covers the appropriate
    information?
  2. Does the NDA clearly communicate
    the types of information that would be
    subject to non-disclosure requirements?
    If not, how could OPM better describe
    what information can or cannot be
    disclosed to ensure employees have
    appropriate notice of their
    responsibilities?
  3. Are there other statutes to which
    OPM should cite in Appendix A of the
    NDA when describing the nondisclosure
    requirements applicable to individuals
    working for or on behalf of the Federal
    government?
  4. Do you have suggestions regarding
    the layout or formatting of the NDA?
  5. Does the Privacy Act statement in
    the NDA provide sufficient notice to
    employees of the authorities, principal purposes, routine uses, and effects of
  6. the form?
  7. Does the OPM/GOVT–1 system of
    records notice provide sufficient notice
    that the government-wide system of
    records would maintain records related
    to the signing of, or failure to sign, the
    NDA?
  8. What are the appropriate actions, if
    any, for agencies to consider taking if
    existing employees choose not to sign
    the NDA?
  9. What are the appropriate actions, if
    any, for agencies to consider taking if
    new employees choose not to sign the
    NDA?
  10. Does the NDA clearly communicate
    the potential consequences of refusal to
    sign the form for both existing and new
    employees, along with whether signing
    the form is voluntary or mandatory?
  11. What else should OPM consider
    with regard to the NDA??
    OPM will consider comments
    received before finalizing the NDA.

There are several other things there, if you have some time and want to see what the exec is doing besides trying to hide all they do and finally/fully cut off our representation, even as we are taxed for government work. I don’t believe we can let this slide, but maybe that’s only me. Anyway, if you also don’t like this, please go, read the bit, and write what your conscience tells you. I’m certain you will not be alone in doing so. The thing is, our government, for which we all pay, is not a business. The only parts that should not be public are those that actually shield the actual security of the country, things such as when we go after Osama Bin Laden, and locations of items that other countries might like to drone. There should be no covering of regular day-to-day government business-that is our business and we have the right to know.

Accessibility For All:

‘Everyone is equal in this space’: the cosmic world of neurodivergent-friendly club night Robyn’s Rocket

Hugh Morris

Trumpeter Robyn Steward thought clubs weren’t for her until she encountered Fabric’s accessible upgrade – the new home for her radically inclusive, space-themed night

Working the crowd … Robyn playing at one of her Robyn’s Rocket nights at Fabric. Photograph: Siân O’Connor

Until May last year, trumpeter Robyn Steward had never been in a nightclub space, save for playing trumpet with Lancaster duo the Lovely Eggs at London’s Heaven, and a few nights in a university hall that doubled as a lunch room. Steward is autistic and has multiple disabilities including cerebral palsy. “Sometimes strobes can trigger migraines for me, or feel overwhelming,” she says. “I feel like my body’s a bit lost.”

When she wanted to see a gig at Fabric nightclub in London, she asked a friend to go with her as a carer. “I was amazed at how accessible it was,” she says. Subtle touches integrate multiple access needs into the space. “The mezzanine level meant that I didn’t have the strobes in my face. There was a rail that I could hold on to, and there was seating opposite the balcony so I could sit and watch the gig.” She also noticed Fabric’s recently upgraded sensory dancefloor, which deliberately transforms sound into tactile vibrations to better cater for the hearing impaired. “I could see that the lights were strobing and everything, but I felt safe,” Steward says.

Inspired, she contacted Fabric to see if they might host her long-running, space-themed experimental music night Robyn’s Rocket, which since 2017 has been booking noise bands, DJs and improv groups in London venues from Deptford to Dalston. While it champions disabled and autistic performers and audiences, Robyn’s Rocket is principally about integration. “People with and without learning disabilities – and autistic and non-autistic people – should spend time together, where there isn’t any kind of power dynamic,” she says. Her aim is to create a space “where people are all just having a really nice time together”.

We meet in a music studio in Deptford, south London, the day before the Rocket’s first night at Fabric. Steward, 39, is relentlessly upbeat; straight after the interview, she heads to the shops where a friend helps her figure out an unspecific drinks rider request. It’s in keeping with the Rocket spirit of clarifying what might usually be assumed or implied. Online, she supplies detailed visual storyboards of how an evening will progress. All artists fill out detailed tech and access riders. Every box and cable is given a name, shape or colour. All Rocket gigs are livestreamed and timings are strictly adhered to so those streaming the gig don’t get lost. “The schedule, once it’s agreed, it’s pretty non-negotiable,” Steward says.

On arrival, everyone is presented with a silver rocket-shaped badge, angled up, across or down as a visual barometer of how much communication they’re comfortable with. Fabric is adorned with more than 100 posters: signposts always feature words and shapes and are populated with cartoon characters, human and alien. Silver foil covers the stage, and live projections from visual artist Rucksack Cinema are suitably astral. “You’re into new planets, are you?” crows the frontman of “cosmic dross” band Henge.

For Steward, the space theme is also about imagining an equitable new world. “You might meet somebody here with a learning disability, or an autistic person. You might not. But everyone is equal in this space.” The Robyn’s Rocket nights echo the aesthetic and political spirit of Afro-futurist jazz visionary Sun Ra and his Arkestra. “The idea that you can create a different dimension, almost a different planetary experience, at these events is very consistent,” says Mark Williams, co-founder of the Deptford-based arts charity Heart N Soul (where Steward is an associate artist). “It’s using imagination and creativity to free people, and to exist on a different kind of plane.”

Steward was born in Suffolk, and took to music when a tutor brought instruments to her primary school: “I really wanted to go on the trumpet, but they ran out of time, so I spent a whole week blowing raspberries.” The tutor returned for an assembly the next week, and Steward immediately requested the trumpet. “I played a clear note straight away.”

As an infant, Steward used Makaton (a language that uses a combination of signs, symbols and speech) to communicate until she attended Musical Keys, a group for children with special needs, aged three: “It was song based, and so I learned to speak that way – there was a lot of repetition.” Once she learned to speak, she wouldn’t stop; her parents got her a Dictaphone for long car journeys: “They’d say, ‘You can talk to this Dictaphone as much as you want, but leave us alone in the front.’ I would make my own radio shows that would come out sounding like Alan Partridge’s Knowing Me, Knowing You.”

Unlike her East Anglian counterpart, Steward is an excellent, direct communicator. The first half of her career was spent delivering autism training, speaking at conferences, and in research. She’s also written books such as The Autism-Friendly Guide to Self Employment. But, by age 30, Steward became “very conscious that I needed to think about what I want to spend the rest of my life doing”. She had recently learned to improvise on trumpet through the big band at a local adult education centre, and seeing a gig by trumpeter Andy Diagram (who plays the trumpet with guitar pedals) proved crucial to developing her own art. With the help of Heart N Soul, she built Robyn’s Rocket up from a small residency in Deptford to a regular slot at Cafe Oto in east London, later inviting musicians including Alabaster DePlume, Coby Sey and Mica Levi to perform.

The vocalist Seaming To played a Rocket night in 2024. “More and more friends of mine are realising that they have neurodivergent aspects,” Seaming To says. “And quite a lot of them find it really awkward coming out to noisy places. At Robyn’s night, you can admit to feeling awkward, and it’s all acceptable.”

On the night, Steward dons her trademark purple fedora and doubles up as space trumpeter and energetic MC. “I’ve done this gig partly because I just wanted to put Henge on,” she says, beaming from the stage. For all the very human practicalities of Robyn’s Rocket, Steward still has celestial ambitions. “And why wouldn’t you want to put them on in a homemade spaceship?”