Writing Chronicles- Week Seventeen
An artist's work
Photo Description: A screenshot of a posting from the Instagram Account of @yung_pueblo. In blue all-caps lettering, it says, “When the world is too scary, too loud, too much: Stop consuming. Start creating.”
Week Seventeen
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, and no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” -Toni Morrison
The morning after election day, my inbox was inundated with emails from organizations and people I admire, telling me that we have been here before, that we are built for times like this, and that we need to fight like our ancestors. And I get it. But all I wanted to do was cry so I was thankful to get the Share Reimagined (formerly Anti-Racism Daily) post that reminded readers that mourning is a tool of resistance and encouraged us to use it.
It was the reminder that I needed to embrace all my feelings, celebrate some wins in representation (two Black women will be members of the Senate at the same time, the first Korean American in the Senate, and the first transgender member of the House of Representatives) and then accept what my role is moving forward.
I have created a lot since Wednesday. Much will end up on the editing floor as I don’t think cussing is allowed in educational texts but it was using my artistic tools to get to action.
Since my days of teaching high school English, I have always enjoyed creating new tools- a reflection exercise, an interactive activity, framework, assessment, rubric, etc. that directly meets my audience. I enjoy looking at what others have created, tearing it apart, and putting it back together in a new way. My remix.
In my last book, I created a continuum but no other tools. In this new book, every chapter has a pull-out tool that readers will be able to use and apply in their practice. It’s a nice meshing of things I enjoy.
I created three tools this week. The one I enjoyed creating the most is titled, “How is Your Personal, Political?” A fun combination of quiz questions and reflection exercises. I’m looking forward to sharing it with some folks for feedback.
Week seventeen was ROUGH but I’m here. Still writing. Still creating. Still fighting.