It's been a week.
And to be honest, I've been feeling overwhelmed by it all. As artist, we are an empathetic bunch and with everything going on in the world, if you're like me, it can be paralyzing. Sometimes we think—what do I have to contribute? Especially when the situation we're in feels abysmal...
Well, know that you're not alone. We are in unprecedented times and it is beyond overwhelming but remember, creation is a form of resistance. As we have seen, the first things that are attacked are the artists and education, the very values we as bookmakers know to be the true liberation of the heart, mind and soul.
So today, I want to share some quotes and poems that I've found that remind me to keep hope in my heart and that creation is a form of resistance. Our voices cannot and will not be silenced.
“When I would feel overwhelmed by what was going on in the world, I would just say to myself: ‘Hope is a discipline.’ It’s less about ‘how you feel,’ and more about the practice of making a decision every day, that you’re still gonna put one foot in front of the other… It’s work to be hopeful. It’s not a fuzzy feeling. You have to actually put in energy, time, and you have to be clear-eyed, and you have to hold fast to having a vision. It’s a hard thing to maintain. But it matters to have it, to believe that it’s possible to change the world.”
– Mariame Kaba
“Hope is essential to any political struggle for radical change when the overall social climate promotes disillusionment and despair.”
– bell hooks
“I can’t be a pessimist because I’m alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter, so I’m forced to be an optimist. I’m forced to believe that we can survive whatever we must survive.”
– James Baldwin
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
– Howard Zinn
Here are some poems that I revisited that uplifted my spirit.
By Maya Angelou
By Maya Angelou
Stay safe, stay defiant in your joy and take care of one another. And don't forget to create. Create, create, create. We are the ones who will rebuild the world with love, hope and healing. So remember the world needs your stories.
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