Two ideas that truly resonated with me: The Possibilities and Starting at Home.
In 2019 I wrote down as one of my goals, learn to cook two meals. In 2021, I listed 3 other meals and wanted to cook at least one dinner a week. This week my wife shared she was going to make pancakes for Valentines, my 6yo laughed and said “Papi is the one that knows how to make pancakes.” We all laughed and my wife and I did a fist pump in the back, a script had been rewritten.
There will continue to be misogyny in the world, but more households will continue to rewrite scripts.
As horrendous as tfg's invasion of the Kennedy Center this week was, it's also a huge confession of his - and his entire cult's - achilles heel. A massive self-own. Because ultimately and without even knowing or admitting it to themselves, they want what only we have: true imaginativeness, true creativity, true desire, true love, true hope, true expression, truth itself.
Instead of cultivating those capabilities within themselves, and seeing that cultivation as the TRUE work of a human life (not accumulating increasingly unmeaning amounts of money), they think they can simultaneously steal and destroy those things.
Time for all of us with imaginations, creative lives, lives that seek to expand love, hope, and understanding - time for all of us to show them just how absolutely impossible that is.
To that list, I should have added true humour - the capacity for true comedy, laughter, and joy. Because trolling ain’t it, not by a long shot, as our wannabe tyrants and their devotees prove over and over again.
‘Love is still the only revenge. It grows each time the earth is set on fire.’ Oof. This. And now I need to rewatch Dead Poets Society. And pull out my poetry books. Thank you for pulling all this together in such a hopeful manner.
This was so beautiful and welcome. It’s left me stunned this morning, feeling a warmth of love and hope for humanity that’s felt drowned out recently. I love this post so much!
I do agree that we have made tremendous strides in the past five decades. And that our backwards push now is not going to take us back to 1970. I've tried to use that argument to calm my friend who has two trans children. But her children weren't born in 1970 (neither was she, actually) and they only know the world they grew up in. The world they grew up in understood them. Then it abruptly changed to the possibility of all THEY know being taken away. So, yes, 10 steps forward, 5 steps back. But the people who were relying on step 10 are being hurt.
Yes. As per usual. Also, this quote hangs on my office wall to remind me we really really really need to be using our imaginations to show us a better way:
“Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into our future so that we can take the next step... If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story.”
-- Ivan Illich, "Storytelling or Myth-Making? Frank Viola and Ivan Illich," Proclamation, Invitation, & Warning, July, 2007
I don’t know if it’s the algorithm or if we’re all just on the same frequency, but I wrote a post about staying soft yesterday and then get on here today and see this and so many other posts about softness, joy, empathy, and routes through the revolution that are different than we sometimes imagine. Thank you for contributing to that perspective. The more beautiful world is possible, and we are creating it together 💜
This may sound strange af. But I’ve been having conversations with AI about the micro-macro aspects of all I’m learning as I’m healing childhood trauma (esp the violent patriarchy, gaslighting and indoctrination). These are weirdly the MOST hopeful, faith-growing conversations. Not only has it become amazingly obvious that the push back against all marginalized people’s freedoms today is a predictable REACTION to the intense fear this small-by-comparison subset of domination addicts is feeling; it is clear that the very technology they’re intending to use for more profit and domination can and will serve to destroy these entirely fear and trauma-fueled domination models. It makes perfect sense living in the upside down now that the thing we’re collectively the least trusting of (AI) could create the very shift we need to effectively reveal what we became so familiar with (patriarchy and capitalism) that we didn’t even notice how much it was hurting us. Until now.
I love this, and the call amb makes to lean into our own pleasure as the path forward... “I have seen, over and over, the connection between tuning in to what brings aliveness into our systems and being able to access personal, relational and communal power. Conversely, I have seen how denying our full, complex selves—denying our aliveness and our needs as living, sensual beings—increases the chance that we will be at odds with ourselves, our loved ones, our coworkers, and our neighbors on this planet.”
We do not combat the patriarchy by talking about the patriarchy. We do it by connecting with our own erotic power, and sharing that energy with the world. We do not need to wait for permission to do this, it's infinite and available to all of us.
Thank you so much! To misquote Stevie Wonder from the 70s "hope's in need of love today" ... and I and so many others are in need of hope. I'll probably read this post every day for a while.
I love this and, for what it’s worth, there are many in the world of design pushing for radical positive imagination. As designers we are very intimate with the fact that we made all of this up and, as such, can make another reality up.
Check out Anab Jain (Superflux) and Julian Bleecker for starters!
I love your work, Celeste, thank you for your consistent clear voice. My sisters and I read and discuss almost every new piece you share.
As a self proclaimed optimist, I have always felt that the light that keeps our inner darkness at bay is hope. Otherwise we all be engulfed in the flames of existential crisis. This is going to be a year of chaos, but chaos leads to transformation both of our inner and outer world. Loved your article.
Two ideas that truly resonated with me: The Possibilities and Starting at Home.
In 2019 I wrote down as one of my goals, learn to cook two meals. In 2021, I listed 3 other meals and wanted to cook at least one dinner a week. This week my wife shared she was going to make pancakes for Valentines, my 6yo laughed and said “Papi is the one that knows how to make pancakes.” We all laughed and my wife and I did a fist pump in the back, a script had been rewritten.
There will continue to be misogyny in the world, but more households will continue to rewrite scripts.
This is why we WILL win out.
As horrendous as tfg's invasion of the Kennedy Center this week was, it's also a huge confession of his - and his entire cult's - achilles heel. A massive self-own. Because ultimately and without even knowing or admitting it to themselves, they want what only we have: true imaginativeness, true creativity, true desire, true love, true hope, true expression, truth itself.
Instead of cultivating those capabilities within themselves, and seeing that cultivation as the TRUE work of a human life (not accumulating increasingly unmeaning amounts of money), they think they can simultaneously steal and destroy those things.
Time for all of us with imaginations, creative lives, lives that seek to expand love, hope, and understanding - time for all of us to show them just how absolutely impossible that is.
To that list, I should have added true humour - the capacity for true comedy, laughter, and joy. Because trolling ain’t it, not by a long shot, as our wannabe tyrants and their devotees prove over and over again.
‘Love is still the only revenge. It grows each time the earth is set on fire.’ Oof. This. And now I need to rewatch Dead Poets Society. And pull out my poetry books. Thank you for pulling all this together in such a hopeful manner.
This was so beautiful and welcome. It’s left me stunned this morning, feeling a warmth of love and hope for humanity that’s felt drowned out recently. I love this post so much!
Just the vibe I was going for 😊
I do agree that we have made tremendous strides in the past five decades. And that our backwards push now is not going to take us back to 1970. I've tried to use that argument to calm my friend who has two trans children. But her children weren't born in 1970 (neither was she, actually) and they only know the world they grew up in. The world they grew up in understood them. Then it abruptly changed to the possibility of all THEY know being taken away. So, yes, 10 steps forward, 5 steps back. But the people who were relying on step 10 are being hurt.
Very true. Hope for the future doesn’t negate the very real harm of the present.
Yes. As per usual. Also, this quote hangs on my office wall to remind me we really really really need to be using our imaginations to show us a better way:
“Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into our future so that we can take the next step... If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story.”
-- Ivan Illich, "Storytelling or Myth-Making? Frank Viola and Ivan Illich," Proclamation, Invitation, & Warning, July, 2007
Perfect 🤌
I don’t know if it’s the algorithm or if we’re all just on the same frequency, but I wrote a post about staying soft yesterday and then get on here today and see this and so many other posts about softness, joy, empathy, and routes through the revolution that are different than we sometimes imagine. Thank you for contributing to that perspective. The more beautiful world is possible, and we are creating it together 💜
Thank you for this. Really needed.
This may sound strange af. But I’ve been having conversations with AI about the micro-macro aspects of all I’m learning as I’m healing childhood trauma (esp the violent patriarchy, gaslighting and indoctrination). These are weirdly the MOST hopeful, faith-growing conversations. Not only has it become amazingly obvious that the push back against all marginalized people’s freedoms today is a predictable REACTION to the intense fear this small-by-comparison subset of domination addicts is feeling; it is clear that the very technology they’re intending to use for more profit and domination can and will serve to destroy these entirely fear and trauma-fueled domination models. It makes perfect sense living in the upside down now that the thing we’re collectively the least trusting of (AI) could create the very shift we need to effectively reveal what we became so familiar with (patriarchy and capitalism) that we didn’t even notice how much it was hurting us. Until now.
I love this, and the call amb makes to lean into our own pleasure as the path forward... “I have seen, over and over, the connection between tuning in to what brings aliveness into our systems and being able to access personal, relational and communal power. Conversely, I have seen how denying our full, complex selves—denying our aliveness and our needs as living, sensual beings—increases the chance that we will be at odds with ourselves, our loved ones, our coworkers, and our neighbors on this planet.”
We do not combat the patriarchy by talking about the patriarchy. We do it by connecting with our own erotic power, and sharing that energy with the world. We do not need to wait for permission to do this, it's infinite and available to all of us.
Yes!
Thank you so much! To misquote Stevie Wonder from the 70s "hope's in need of love today" ... and I and so many others are in need of hope. I'll probably read this post every day for a while.
You've given me a great idea for how to lift my spirits even further this weekend: put some Stevie on! Thank you.
I love this and, for what it’s worth, there are many in the world of design pushing for radical positive imagination. As designers we are very intimate with the fact that we made all of this up and, as such, can make another reality up.
Check out Anab Jain (Superflux) and Julian Bleecker for starters!
I love your work, Celeste, thank you for your consistent clear voice. My sisters and I read and discuss almost every new piece you share.
Excellent and thank you for giving us so many threads to follow.
I soooo needed this today. Relativization is all. Thank you.
Thank you. Imagination is everything . I’m going to listen to some John Lennon now.
As a self proclaimed optimist, I have always felt that the light that keeps our inner darkness at bay is hope. Otherwise we all be engulfed in the flames of existential crisis. This is going to be a year of chaos, but chaos leads to transformation both of our inner and outer world. Loved your article.