The morning after | LISB
We will save us.
I wrote a version of this letter to my members in the days following the election last fall, but in the 24 hours since the inauguration, it feels even more pertinent. - HH
Hey y’all.
As I write this, it’s the day after the inauguration.
I do not pretend to know the political leanings of those who read my work. But I have heard from many of you, and folks are nervous. My own work in the world is not partisan, but is highly political, politics being the way - apart from litigation or war - in which people decide how to live among each other.
And right now, many of us who seek to be allies to marginalized communities are actively worried and scared for the people we love.
In one real sense, the work has not changed. A Democratic administration for the next four years would not have brought us Utopia. Hungry people still need to be fed, lonely people still need connection, vulnerable people still need to be protected.
But this new political reality will not make any of that easier, and will actively make it harder.
It was the fall of 2016, after Donald Trump was elected the first time, but before he was inaugurated. An acquaintance and I were talking, and he said, "Man, a Trump administration is going to be a gold mine for you, huh?"
I said I was confused.
"Well, you are the hope guy, right? You now have endless amounts of things to write about, providing a response to all the chaos he is going to bring. This is your time to shine."
He was dead serious. Some people see chaos as a market opportunity. I am not one of them - which is probably why I am not wealthy.
So I sit here in the aftermath of the inauguration, thinking about what is my work to do.
In the summer of 2020, when we were all in lockdown and things were in chaos, singer songwriter Ani DiFranco released an album. In an interview, she was asked why she chose to do it then, when she couldn’t go out and promote it.
Her response was, "This is what I know how to do."
Well, this is what I know how to do. I tell stories and put words on paper and I listen to the stories other people tell and share them and trust that our stories have the ability to help us feel less alone, and to help us recognize that our shared values and hopes give us space to work together for that better world we each dream is possible.
Which is why the night before the inauguration, I was in a small church in Central Mississippi talking about hope and our shared work of saving each other. I heard stories of fear that night, but I also heard stories of hope and resistance and resilience.
This is what I know how to do. And maybe it's biased, but I believe this is the way we will survive this - by building stable communities based on trust and shared values. The politicians will not save us. The government will not save us. The Supreme Court will not save us.
We will save us.
Five Beautiful Things
I’m a sucker for “chain reaction art” (think Rube Goldberg or, in the UK, Heath Robinson). Like this clever machine to wash and put away dishes.
Actually, I just like things that move - mobiles, wind chimes, and other kinetic art. This behind the scenes video of Metropolis II hits all my happy spots.
The Mississippi State Penitentiary is in the MS Delta, on a former plantation site called Parchman. When music researcher Alan Lomax visited Parchamn in the 1940’s, he said that what he heard from the musicians there made “Walt Whitman look like a child and poet Carl Sandburg look like an amateur.“ Parchman prisoners do farm labor 6 days a week, but get a small respite on Sunday mornings to attend worship services. So the album Parchman Prison Prayer - of Parchman prisoners singing “Sunday Morning Music” - is a treat. This is music that speaks to the capacity of the human spirit to soar, despite what limitations are put on their bodies. The whole album is on YouTube, Spotify, and elsewhere.
If you have trouble working in a quiet room (or if you need to mask annoying noise so you can concentrate) the website and app A Soft Murmur is a simple, free way to get background noise - free tracks include a coffee shop, a thunderstorm, windchimes, birdsong, and more.
As I said in the intro - I believe our ability to build community is going to be the key to surviving this current reality. Check out this article: How to build a village. I especially love the quote from Kurt Vonnegut.
Members Only
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The naming of things: Names are sacred, and change the nature of the relationship.
A reminder
This year I am making some pretty big changes in how I interact with social media. One outcome of that is more frequent, shorter, blog posts on a website I control. I’m currently blogging at hughlh.com and you can sign up here to get an email on Saturday morning with links to that week’s posts.
Thank You
Ideas for links this week came from reader of the newsletter Stan, as well as Jason Kottke, and Jocelyn K. Glei.
In these tumultuous times, I take nothing for granted - including your readership. For almost a decade now I’ve been allowed in your inbox each week - I don’t take that for granted.
Thank you.
Hugh
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