I would like to just add one thing. A lot of people say, "I'm just one person. No one will listen to me." That is not necessarily true. Here are a couple of examples:
Remember the shampoo commercials with a woman on an airplane in the bathroom, and she is washing her hair and making orgasmic sounds? I found those commercials in really bad taste, so I wrote to the company and made my case. I told them I felt those commercials were really offensive. "What do I tell children if they ask why that woman is making those sounds? Do I tell them she is having an orgasm? What are orgasms? Well, depending on the child, do you really want to explain what an orgasm is?"
The company sent me a letter back saying they had not considered my perspective concerning children, and they ended up pulling the ads.
Another time, when I was living in Missouri, I had a blog and wrote about "Ageism In the Work Place". I provided specifics, charts, and graphs. I got a call from Claire McCaskill's office (at the time she was a Senator) asking for more information and my opinion!
We moved to Texas after that and I couldn't find who was my representative in our district. I had a question for them. When I finally found out who represented us in our district, I made an appointment with them. I asked him how people are supposed to know where to find you? I told him I thought they should send a post card or letter to new people in the area so they would know who their representative was and where he could be found. Shortly after that, they did just that.
These are just a few examples. You are not powerless, good is not powerless. We all have more of a voice than we think. Imagine the impact of people when we start to make our case en masse about what is right and what is wrong. Write, call, meet people when you need to ask a question or make a point. Your voice is more important than you may think.
Thank you for your encouraging words. Individuals have more power than they think. For years, starting when our kids were young, to remind them and anyone who sees it,
I have posted on our refrigerator “Those who speak control the debate.” Likeminded working together with the mindset you describe will prevail against the cruelty we are witnessing.
That is what I am hoping. I am posting rather feverishly this summer to get my whole vision out fast enough that readers don't forget the chain of thought from one post to the next. I am collecting all of these into the newsletter Creative Freedom Act so they can all be seen in sequence. Hopefully the whole set will be posted by the end of august or first of sept. Then I can get back to my other stuff. I personally am not especially political though I do try to more or less keep up. So if I feel the need to be involved, it has to be in support of the Arts Community and done as an art project in order to hold my attention.
I personally always feel like staying in the hermitage of my own studio and quietly go about my own business. I am already more than I can keep up with. Most creatives I assume feel the same way.
But in my case, I currently feel compelled to speak up and offer an alternative to quietly watch everything go to shit and see all of the suffering and cruelty being caused without reason.
So this is me doing my part - to stir up some 'good trouble' as John Lewis would say from the quiet of my studio.
Hopefully I can inspire others of my cohort to do the same.
I would like to just add one thing. A lot of people say, "I'm just one person. No one will listen to me." That is not necessarily true. Here are a couple of examples:
Remember the shampoo commercials with a woman on an airplane in the bathroom, and she is washing her hair and making orgasmic sounds? I found those commercials in really bad taste, so I wrote to the company and made my case. I told them I felt those commercials were really offensive. "What do I tell children if they ask why that woman is making those sounds? Do I tell them she is having an orgasm? What are orgasms? Well, depending on the child, do you really want to explain what an orgasm is?"
The company sent me a letter back saying they had not considered my perspective concerning children, and they ended up pulling the ads.
Another time, when I was living in Missouri, I had a blog and wrote about "Ageism In the Work Place". I provided specifics, charts, and graphs. I got a call from Claire McCaskill's office (at the time she was a Senator) asking for more information and my opinion!
We moved to Texas after that and I couldn't find who was my representative in our district. I had a question for them. When I finally found out who represented us in our district, I made an appointment with them. I asked him how people are supposed to know where to find you? I told him I thought they should send a post card or letter to new people in the area so they would know who their representative was and where he could be found. Shortly after that, they did just that.
These are just a few examples. You are not powerless, good is not powerless. We all have more of a voice than we think. Imagine the impact of people when we start to make our case en masse about what is right and what is wrong. Write, call, meet people when you need to ask a question or make a point. Your voice is more important than you may think.
Thank you for your encouraging words. Individuals have more power than they think. For years, starting when our kids were young, to remind them and anyone who sees it,
I have posted on our refrigerator “Those who speak control the debate.” Likeminded working together with the mindset you describe will prevail against the cruelty we are witnessing.
That is what I am hoping. I am posting rather feverishly this summer to get my whole vision out fast enough that readers don't forget the chain of thought from one post to the next. I am collecting all of these into the newsletter Creative Freedom Act so they can all be seen in sequence. Hopefully the whole set will be posted by the end of august or first of sept. Then I can get back to my other stuff. I personally am not especially political though I do try to more or less keep up. So if I feel the need to be involved, it has to be in support of the Arts Community and done as an art project in order to hold my attention.
GMTA? :-)
Thank you Cecil. Fine post. A lot to think about. Does anyone else out there feel, as I do, like crawling into my personal cave and riding it out?
I personally always feel like staying in the hermitage of my own studio and quietly go about my own business. I am already more than I can keep up with. Most creatives I assume feel the same way.
But in my case, I currently feel compelled to speak up and offer an alternative to quietly watch everything go to shit and see all of the suffering and cruelty being caused without reason.
So this is me doing my part - to stir up some 'good trouble' as John Lewis would say from the quiet of my studio.
Hopefully I can inspire others of my cohort to do the same.