Experience Points
How has the role of everyday citizens evolved in designing better futures?
The Route 24 Roadmap
If you’re new here, welcome! If you’ve been here since day one, thanks for showing up week after week! My name is Sam Reetz and I’m on a mission to help restore public trust. I have an interdisciplinary academic background that gives me the unique ability to explain technical solutions in a way that’s story-driven and easy-to-understand. This is a space where I look closer at moments of national and global significance to show you how cycles of misinformation and disinformation disorient communities.
Probable Cause is an XR civic education gaming experience that puts you in the driver’s seat to explore issues of public safety from community-centered perspectives. Route 24 is its companion newsletter that invites you to explore our creative process on the project as we build, deconstructing the real-world impact of policies and practices in transportation infrastructure, immigration reform, environmental justice, racial equity, and more to jumpstart public awareness and, in turn, mobilize narrative change.
Every week, two columns park in your inbox:
Driver’s Ed is a space to shift your gears on key policy debates and test drive people-powered solutions.
Scenic Route is a space to merge the lanes of immersive technologies, experiential storytelling, and community civics and help you find a better view.
Your follows, shares, and subscriptions help to keep this work going and reach the people the mainstream media often misses. For riders in a position to financially contribute, your dollars support the project team with the critical resources needed to iterate, travel, and scale.
Thank you for joining me on this road! Start your engines…
From No Kings DTLA rally at Gloria Molina Grand Park (3.28.26)
In this Issue: (Saturday, July 18th, 2026 — № 91)
The mix of Canadian wildfire haze and rain in New York City today reminds me of a phenomenon that happens in Los Angeles this time of year, known as “No-Sky July”. It happens when a dense marine layer forms over cool areas of the Pacific Ocean across coastal California, characterized by overcast skies, fog, and light drizzle. By mid-day, the skies become clear, and the sunny SoCal weather returns in full force.
250 years after America’s founding, I’ve been reflecting on how legacy narratives shape popular perception and am reminded of a previous post where I paralleled this mutable moment in American history to driving at night through thick fog.
At the Museum of the City of New York’s recent event, Revolutions Remembered, Stories Forgotten, both the selections from PBS’ The American Revolution docuseries and the proceeding panel discussion emphasized a key takeaway: America has been polarized since its origin.
How, then, has the role of everyday citizens evolved in designing better futures?
Most recently, as a Summer Artist Resident in Design Research, Writing, & Criticism (D-Crit) at the School of Visual Arts (SVA), I’ve been exploring this question, and specifically, the spaces and places where participatory design1 and participatory democracy2 may intersect.
Our latest community event with Gumbo invited a group of indie software developers to participate in playing and giving real-time feedback on our functional prototype for Probable Cause. The qualitative and quantitative results from this session proved the viability of our unique solution: that by using a collaborative design approach that prioritizes players’ practical needs, participants can play an active role in shaping better policy decisions.
This July, our goal is to welcome 27 new Founding Members into Route 24’s growing community and we need every “road warrior” in this readership to help us reach this milestone!
Across philanthropic circles, the standard starting contribution for Patrons of the Arts is between $1,000 - $1,400 annually.
Route 24’s Founding Member Drive is about much more than your contribution dollars. It’s about values alignment. It paves the way for more community-centered and community-led public safety solutions.
For $280/year, Route 24’s Founding Membership:
Democratizes access to traditional Patrons of the Arts circles.
Reaffirms the hard work and talents that power Probable Cause.
Unites people across industry sectors who share an appreciation for community-driven solutions.
Explores how collective storytelling builds a better future for all.
Thank you, as always, for coming along for the ride!
Stay the course,
Sam
Sam Reetz, is a filmmaker, performer, and founder at Millennial Ethics, creating narrative solutions to complex issues.
Follow her work on Bluesky, Substack and Instagram.
Support Route 24’s Founding Members Drive
Your membership confirms pre-sales interest in buying and playing Probable Cause and unlocks exclusive access to early releases, industry insights, & community events!
Game Sense
A recent study analyzed 200,000 participants across 22 countries to find the key drivers of human longevity. Among the ranked practices, a sense of playfulness (17%) and activities that strengthen your social relationship (11%) were among the highest percent increases in flourishing scores when utilized, at a minimum, once per month.
Dialog Wheel
Writing compelling dialogue for narrative games is a challenge, even more so when it’s a high-stakes environment.
Yarn Spinner is a tool that helps writers and game developers map out a game’s narrative structure using drag-and-drop interactive nodes to sort story sections and test branching pathways.
Have you used Yarn Spinner in your game dev adventures? Share your experience.
Rest Stop
Venture Forward - Learn how this interactive app is helping local street vendors avoid costly fines.
Down the Barrel of the Lens - Explore Kameron Neal’s use of the NYPD’s declassified surveillance footage from 1960 - 1980, currently on view at MoMA PS1.
Public Address - Immerse yourself in the stories of unhoused communities in Alex Strada’s street signs, currently on view at Columbus Park.
Note Highway
What might Ida B. Wells and Nelson Mandela have written about our present moment?
Amid the latest racial violence perpetuated by ICE in vehicle stops, it’s important to remember Ida and Nelson’s most persuasive lesson: the weaponization of fear only works if we buy into that narrative.
Learn from Tony and Sherrill about what calls them as artists to the work of Probable Cause and why there’s no better time to bring this project into full view.
Next Stop: A closer look at Sherrill’s graphic recording process.
Route 24 is a Substack community powered by Millennial Ethics Productions inviting you to explore our creative process as we build Probable Cause, an XR civic education gaming experience, in real-time.
Participatory design is a collaborative design approach where products are built to meet the end-users’ practical needs.
Participatory democracy is an active, citizen-driven approach to policymaking.