PSA: This Substack is written by a human, for you the reading human. All images I source are by real fuckin’ people.
This newsletter emerges from my core belief that creativity is the root of the human soul — and is one of the primary vehicles through which we explore and connect with Spirit.
This week, I’ve been thinking about a line from Rent’s “La Vie Boheme B” —
“The opposite of war isn’t peace — it’s creation.”
In the face of plague and pandemic, of greedy, exploitative autocrats — whether landlords or presidents — our late queer ancestor Jonathan Larson exhorts us to CREATE.
To expand, to take up space, as the people of Iran did yesterday: to, in the face of annihilation, not shrink to accommodate white civility’s respectability politics; to not go gentle into that good night, as said the late Irish poet Dylan Thomas. To get in the streets. To get loud.
And to make art.
I am so fucking sick of (mostly) white people saying it’s not respectable or mindful or considerate or whatever the fuck to MAKE art and TALK about art and SHARE our art when the world is burning.
Now, more than ever, we need to cling to and nurture and connect with that which makes us human.
And creativity, and creation, makes us human.
Humans are, frankly, quite average in many ways. Elephants, chimpanzees, dolphins, and numerous other species also have complex communication, relationships, and more.
But the sheer diversity of our creation?
That is unique.
That is, frankly, special!
From writing and visual art to fiber arts and dance to song and jewelry-making to literally so much more, we have created HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of different forms of self-expression.
To create is connect with the SOUL.
To create in the wake of destruction is, ultimately, an act of resistance. Doubly so if you are a person of marginalized identities.
Art is the singular thing that most readily, easily connects us to other humans we’ve never met.
A recent case in point: you can watch Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance, not understanding a lick of Spanish, and still get exactly what the fuck he’s talking about.
Art is dangerous.
Art — the creativity and self-expression of those at the bottom — is a direct challenge to the oppressor.
This is why LGBTQ+ book bans are rampant.
Why the NEA and NIH have been gutted.
Why the government has pulled funding for any keywords remotely connected to empathy and compassion and the historically oppressed.
Why MAGA literally made a pitiful “alternative” to the Super Bowl halftime!
And why the control and censorship of art has been a predictable tactic of fascists the world over since time immemorial:
Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.
And art-making is perhaps the greatest act of hope in These Times.
Do not go gentle.
Do not let yourself be contained.
The opposite of war isn’t peace — it’s creation.
P.S. For everyone with a burgeoning book idea or book project who wants to invest in the magical AND the practical aspects of getting published, sign up for Book Deal Breakthrough! The Early Bird deal ends this Friday, April 10th.