"Transform yourself to transform the world." — Grace Lee Boggs
Reading/Writing Into Active Hope
I get out my materials and I practice like a desert and a cactus but at first— for me, it’s counter-intelligent Compassion and Interconnectedness —these things I’d been seeking inside? all along? you’re kidding: wield ruby slippers to face my own despair, to forge futures against all unfair, to help endeavor against extreme whatever by honoring grief and rage and pain for the world— you're really saying, they've been with me in the mess of this? Compassion and Interconnectedness I reach for them like midnight stars, grab for Compassion from afar: spiky, herbaceous, love-thick stem succulent-kind cactus — I grab ahold with a pinned grip then look towards my Interconnectedness: arid, caring, interwoven heart of sand melting into desert — and with them together, I practice like a desert and a cactus with love and appreciation, concerns and inspiration, dreams, and roles, and steps shared towards active hopes — sun assumes a position, I assume a position, I take out the materials Compassion and Interconnectedness and I face the world.
— Adam Powers
This poem is inspired by and references the spiral of Active Hope questions, from Chris Johnstone & Joanna Macy
Here are some writings I've been reading inspiring my thinking lately
Book— Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in Without Going Crazy, by Chris Johnstone & Joanna Macy
“Active Hope is a practice. It is something we do rather than have. It is a process we can apply to any situation, and it involves three key steps. First we take a clear view of reality; second, we identify what we hope for in terms of the direction we’d like things to move in or the values we’d like to see expressed; and third, we take steps to move ourselves or our situation in that direction.” — Joanna Macy, Active Hope
The Adrienne Maree Brown -iverse: Books— Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, & Poems
“E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G—is connected. The soil needs rain, organic matter, air, worms and life in order to do what it needs to do to give and receive life. Each element is an essential component. “Organizing takes humility and selflessness and patience and rhythm while our ultimate goal of liberation will take many expert components. Some of us build and fight for land, healthy bodies, healthy relationships, clean air, water, homes, safety, dignity, and humanizing education. Others of us fight for food and political prisoners and abolition and environmental justice. Our work is intersectional and multifaceted. Nature teaches us that our work has to be nuanced and steadfast. And more than anything, that we need each other—at our highest natural glory—in order to get free.”
― Adrienne Maree Brown, from Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
“fog on a full fat moon
fragments converge into something new
what we release has a gravity
let go of what’s not true”— Adrienne Maree Brown, a verse from her poem 'fog clearing moon'
“Liberated relationships are one of the ways we actually create abundant justice, the understanding that there is enough attention, care, resource, and connection for all of us to access belonging, to be in our dignity, and to be safe in community”
— Adrienne Maree Brown, from Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good