the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.
three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.
two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.
their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.
one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.
i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.
i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.
and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?
you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.
a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.
someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.
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Spicy Mormon Take: Use your agency. Use it thoroughly. Make choices. Make mistakes. Do something different. Do what you want and become your whole perfect person. You're not going to become a whole perfected human being if you're constantly worried that you haven't given up your agency to God. He gave that to you. If He wanted you to be a carbon copy person who does no wrong, you wouldn't have it, now, would you? That was Satan's plan, to have no agency. God wants you to make decisions, to take action, to learn and grow from the results of your actions. "Your agency is the only thing you can give God." False. You can give Him a show. He is going to love you no matter how you use your agency, so you might as well revel in this beautiful thing we've been given. You get to decide what you do! Isn't that so cool??? Go be you! Make your choices! They're yours! Use your agency!
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Example Submitted Post
No more kids with cancer: Clean up the Santa Susana Field Lab
Video: A Change.org-made feature video explaining the situation and the story of the organization's founder, whose daughter got cancer.
From the organizers:
"Sign to demand that California's EPA and the Dept. of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) enforce the AOC cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Lab and prevent any more children from getting cancer...
My daughter’s childhood was stolen from her, and it haunts me to know her cancer might have been avoidable.
She, like [dozens of other] children, grew up within 20 miles the Santa Susana Field Lab, land which was developed in the 1940s to conduct rocket engine tests and secret nuclear research. In 1959 an uncontained partial meltdown of a sodium reactor caused such a devastating radiation leak that many consider it to be the worst nuclear disaster in U.S. history – and it was completely covered up for years.
Our community has up to 60% higher cancer rates, 20% higher invasive breast cancer rates, and we have the reports to prove it. It is the Department of Toxic Substance Control’s job to clean up this mess. They know our children are sick and dying, but they aren’t taking any meaningful action against those who own the land – Boeing, NASA and the Department of Energy.
The Woolsey Fire, which began on Santa Susana Field Lab, may have exposed millions of people in Southern California to the chemical and radioactive waste from the site, via ash and smoke. It proved once again that we will not be safe until the site is 100% cleaned up."
--
Info
Action Type: Petition
Source organization: Parents Against Santa Susanna Field Laboratory
Where: Southern California, specifically western Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Chatsworth, and anything between those areas.
In person or virtual: Virtual. You can sign from anywhere, especially in the United States.
Time/date range: Petition started in 2017, ongoing, because Boeing is refusing to comply with the required cleanup plan they signed.
Here's the link again!
Anything else: This nuclear meltdown is the reason my grandfather died young of cancer. It's the reason 6+ members of my family are at lifelong elevated cancer risk, me included.
Everyone who has lived in this region, which includes a large area of Los Angeles, needs elevated levels of cancer screenings, especially for children, yet basically no one knows that.
(More on this here, if you're from any of the cities I listed PLEASE look into this and talk to your doctor about increased cancer screenings asap!)
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I just want to make clear something
Vampire Books I'm Interested In
literally anything platonic, ZERO ROMANCE. The zero is very important. Not low. Not a little. Not background. Zero. None. Nada. 전혀 없어야데.
if it must be romantic, at least it shouldn't take itself seriously or be Dramatic and Thematic or have the romance NOT be between the vampire and human. The vampire should be their weird friend who sometimes bites whipped cream cans or honey bottles as a nervous tic
Blood, Gore, Violence, Viscera, Alllll the Guts and mess
if there must be an age gap, consider how funny it would be if the human was older than the vampire
"i am not a vampire. Vampires cannot be Christian. The fact that I hate sunlight, hate garlic, and that my hand is burning as I clutch the cross around my neck that is ONLY BY FASHION CHOICE covered by a turtleneck is NOT AN INDICATION OF ANYTHING!"
if there must be a sexy blood drinking scene, consider how funny sexy it would be if the vampire sips his blood from a wineglass like some tired, adhd, chaotic lawful detective trying to crack a hard case because obviously there is nothing sexier than that
"no. I'm not 'magic.' I'm actually a biological construction created for the purpose of carrying different bloodtypes in me to administer it in emergency cases during this space and matter war. The fact that I am a failed product does NOT negate the fact that I'm not magic. I am *science*" which is to say sci fi vampires
Honestly, just go back into the original lore of vampires and make them bloodthirsty but so calculating. After seeing what Frieren did with demons, we really are missing out on monsters who use the power of words to lure in prey
Vampire Books I'm NOT Interested In
"Bloodsucking is so sexy and intense and dangerous. You want to let me suck your blood so bad. Literally. Please. I will die without blood." Go get a blood transfusion and stop gaslighting women with your easily preventable life or death situations. No, I don't care if vampires are illegal citizens. Just rip out the government leaders' throats and establish a tyrrany where an adventure begins where peoole realize that revenge and violence only creates cyclical cruelty and -
"I will reform this vampire through the power of love and blood."
If it has a shirtless man cover and/or a couple cover, I am automatically suspicious of it
Yes that DOES mean Magiford falls under this. My point stands
However, I will read any and all of these if I'm feeling evil enough and need a victim to target
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