By L.M. Guiled
How are you doing?
Who else is finding that question harder and harder to answer?
There is so much right now in our world that is heart wrenching, blatantly illegal or fueled by hate and cruelty. We are watching it, raising our voices protesting against it, and voting with our dollars. One can do everything they can and still feel a harrowing sense of powerlessness mixed in with the frustration and fatigue.
Some days can feel so heavy it is hard to get out of bed. But, I still have to put my pants on, be effective at work, scrape dinner together. I have to find a way to show up for my six-year-old, and provide him with as much stability as I can, so that he can have the bandwidth to learn how to be a good human who helps in our world.
There is something else we can do to fight back against the injustices of the world. A practice that can help us wrap up our big feelings, as if in spider silk, and transform them into something we can use. Transform them into fuel. We must continue to find and act in joy.
Heather Cox Richardson, an American historian and professor at Boston College says: “Authoritarians cannot rise if there are strong communities and people acting with joy. You need despair and anger in order for an authoritarian to rise . . . Whatever those things [are] that you bring to the community do them and do them with joy. Don’t stop doing the things you love because you’re scared. Because that actually is a form of resistance. Showing up and doing things you love says to an authoritarian: “You have no place to root here.”
Many of us find great joy in creative writing and other artforms. This imaginative, intuitive and intentional work is already a system for transforming our emotions into something tangible. All art, from writing words, to painting, to knitting can become a conversation with the audience as well as with your internal dialogue, as art itself has power. Art solicits emotion merely by existing. It does not stop when the artist puts down their tool, it bounces into people, through the eye, into the heart and back up to the brain, interpreted by the innumerable lenses of its audience. When we connect with something it affects us, disturbs or comforts us, and that can challenge or inspire action. Because humans value art, it stands the test of time.
Earlier this year the Guild went on a field trip to the Peabody Essex Museum. There are so many wonderous and interesting things to see in that museum, from a gigantic leather back turtle to a gorgeously carved moon bed, sculptures of gods, and an entire exhibit on fashion. It was in the fashion exhibit, next to all the beautifully tailored skirt suits and evening dresses that I saw one of the artist Nick Cave’s Soundsuits on display. It looked absurd by contrast, but so striking and different as to be unforgettable. The Soundsuit at P.E.M is made of colorful woven baskets sewn together in an oblong shape, easily eight feet high above the mannequin legs modeling woven boots. Nick Cave made his first sound suit in response to the brutal beating of Rodney King by police in 1992 and the Los Angeles riots which followed. Cave was sitting in a park, thinking about what it meant to be profiled, abused and discarded, and began almost compulsively collecting twigs- a thing most people would discard. With these sticks, Cave created a form of protective armor that would conceal the identity of the wearer- their race, gender and class-while still giving them a vibrant, assertive presence. The process of creating the first suit surprised him and changed him as an artist. He has since made 500 of these beautiful suits from many materials like human hair, sisal plastic buttons, beads, wire, sequins and feathers and they continue to make statements both in existence and performance.
We are a community of writers, and for many of us the written word is our primary source of artistic expression. There are vast oceans of opportunity for activism in our field, as we share whole entire worlds, brave or sinister characters and their bold ideas with our readers.
Literary activism can be achieved in all genres and narrative forms. We can work intentionally to increase understanding, fight injustices, and nurture a more equitable world. Our words and worlds can create bridges between and across identities like culture, class, race, and gender; when we change how and what people think, it eventually changes the world.
There is thankfully, a vast array of current and longstanding literary activism out there already to inspire and support us. This year the Stowe Prize for Literary Activism was awarded to Percival Everett for James: A Novel, which tells the story of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective. George Takei has published a graphic novel: It Rhymes with Takei, which tells his story about coming out at age 68. In the children’s section you can find We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, written in response to the protests around the Dakota Access Pipeline, the story of an Ojibwe girl who fights to protect water supply for her people. There are more activist authors than can possibly be appreciated in this humble blog post, but in naming a very few: Toni Morrison, Harper Lee, Dee Brown, James Baldwin and Malala Yousafzai, we find powerful pillars of important story that help us feel bolstered, supported and inspired.
With these supports we must continue to move forward in a tumultuous world. When words are cancelled or books banned, it is the creative’s job to think outside, around or above the box. It’s our job to get inspired about how to get our message out in spite of any restrictions, to know that we are always free to challenge the ultimate wrong. Taking to the streets with a well worded sign, painting your feelings onto a canvas, or writing truth into a story are all actions that inspire and strengthen community while also speaking important truth to power. And, as Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” So, I encourage you to continue to show up in places where you feel joy, gather where you feel community, and fight for good with your creativity.