Fables and cartoons and serial killers…what does any of this have to do with the zine I made recently exploring the theme of my relationship to the Constitution of the United States of America?
As an adjacent Hannibal lover (thanks to you and T) the people suit metaphor is creepy yet apt.
I think about this endless loop every day in law school. The feeling of wanting to “roll up your sleeves” one day and not caring the next, so real! I have hope that this loop will become longer and less needed after the orange man head out. Hopeful that freedom fighters in and out of politics can normalize things again or undue a lot of this harm. Maybe I’ll join in the battle if my career leads me that way or I have the energy when it’s time.
Regardless, I am hopeful that the random day off in July will feel like a real cause for celebration again, the way it felt when we were kids.
"Creepy yet apt"--just the effect I was going for!
Thanks for engaging with the piece, Vivienne. I didn't say it here, but there are actually two groups I do the work for. One, my ancestors, broadly speaking to include folks I may not be blood related to, like the enslaved people who worked on George Washington's properties. And the second group is you, and the other young people in your generation.
I won't be able to solve everything for y'all, but hopefully I'll be able to share whatever wisdom I've gained from my 60+ years that will allow you to pick up the baton and run.
When I finished reading this post, I started wondering what you would say. When your Mom told me that you had written your comments, I was so happy to read them! It is so important to be able to express our awareness of "historically what really happened and currently
what's going on"!!! Your Mom's post is such a necessary catalyst to hopefully help us utilize the value of true and relevant knowledge about
this country's hypocracy!
Your authentic comments were very connected to your Mother 's "Reconstitution zine & post"! I continue to be so proud of you and your mom as you "Speak the Truth" to subscribers!!!
Dear Yvette, Thank you for your opportunity to join your Thought Train, even for this brief ride. I loved receiving your zine - unfolding it, looking at how all the pieces fit together, considering it -- and then carefully reading this post. I will be pondering all of it in the days to come. (I am heading to DC this week to visit a friend, and this will be front of mine as my plane dips over all those symbolic monuments.)
I deeply appreciate your honesty, and I do indeed understand how such complex feelings arise. It's important to explore rather than dismiss them; and to allow all the contradictions to co-exist, rather than to rationalize them away. In the past 10 years, my eyes have been more opened than ever to all the contradictions inherent in our government. It's not pretty; even disturbing. And the horrible things that are happening now make it all worse -- perhaps also more clear. I deeply appreciate your insights and the opportunity to ride along. Your work deserves wide readership, and I'd be interested to hear your thinking about that.
Thank you, Hal. I'm so pleased you received your copy of the zine and that you are finding it valuable to engage with it on its own and as a companion with this post. I tried to be as honest as I could about my complex feelings, including my own internal contradictions. That's not easy--I have a strong bent to want to wait to say something publicly until I'm "sure" about whatever it is. But there are times when I just have to live with my own discomfort.
Re: wider readership: yes, it is always nice to be able to have larger convos about this kind of thing with more people. And Substack seems to be, more or less, an environment that is free from some of the toxicity on other platforms. So far my "content strategy" (such that it is) is just to write and experiment. Thanks to you and another friend who engages and shares, along with some cross-promotion at the non-profit I'm involved with folks I don't know are finding me slowly. I'm cool with (and greatly appreciate!) that.
I too am finding that in these times, and at my age, I am learning to be more comfortable with discomfort and contradictions --- the both-and's rather than either-or's. I have found Substack to be a good platform to put my thoughts out to the world -- and like you, I've encountered relatively little toxicity and a lot of encouragement to be authentic, as well as some interesting role models for that. I'm sure there are some toxic corners of the ecosystem, but we don't have to go there. I think your strategy of letting things unfold organically makes a lot of sense. I'm finding that I'm getting more outspoken as time goes on. And it feels very right. Cheering you on!!
I loved following your Thought Train!
As an adjacent Hannibal lover (thanks to you and T) the people suit metaphor is creepy yet apt.
I think about this endless loop every day in law school. The feeling of wanting to “roll up your sleeves” one day and not caring the next, so real! I have hope that this loop will become longer and less needed after the orange man head out. Hopeful that freedom fighters in and out of politics can normalize things again or undue a lot of this harm. Maybe I’ll join in the battle if my career leads me that way or I have the energy when it’s time.
Regardless, I am hopeful that the random day off in July will feel like a real cause for celebration again, the way it felt when we were kids.
"Creepy yet apt"--just the effect I was going for!
Thanks for engaging with the piece, Vivienne. I didn't say it here, but there are actually two groups I do the work for. One, my ancestors, broadly speaking to include folks I may not be blood related to, like the enslaved people who worked on George Washington's properties. And the second group is you, and the other young people in your generation.
I won't be able to solve everything for y'all, but hopefully I'll be able to share whatever wisdom I've gained from my 60+ years that will allow you to pick up the baton and run.
When I finished reading this post, I started wondering what you would say. When your Mom told me that you had written your comments, I was so happy to read them! It is so important to be able to express our awareness of "historically what really happened and currently
what's going on"!!! Your Mom's post is such a necessary catalyst to hopefully help us utilize the value of true and relevant knowledge about
this country's hypocracy!
Your authentic comments were very connected to your Mother 's "Reconstitution zine & post"! I continue to be so proud of you and your mom as you "Speak the Truth" to subscribers!!!
Dear Yvette, Thank you for your opportunity to join your Thought Train, even for this brief ride. I loved receiving your zine - unfolding it, looking at how all the pieces fit together, considering it -- and then carefully reading this post. I will be pondering all of it in the days to come. (I am heading to DC this week to visit a friend, and this will be front of mine as my plane dips over all those symbolic monuments.)
I deeply appreciate your honesty, and I do indeed understand how such complex feelings arise. It's important to explore rather than dismiss them; and to allow all the contradictions to co-exist, rather than to rationalize them away. In the past 10 years, my eyes have been more opened than ever to all the contradictions inherent in our government. It's not pretty; even disturbing. And the horrible things that are happening now make it all worse -- perhaps also more clear. I deeply appreciate your insights and the opportunity to ride along. Your work deserves wide readership, and I'd be interested to hear your thinking about that.
Thank you, Hal. I'm so pleased you received your copy of the zine and that you are finding it valuable to engage with it on its own and as a companion with this post. I tried to be as honest as I could about my complex feelings, including my own internal contradictions. That's not easy--I have a strong bent to want to wait to say something publicly until I'm "sure" about whatever it is. But there are times when I just have to live with my own discomfort.
Re: wider readership: yes, it is always nice to be able to have larger convos about this kind of thing with more people. And Substack seems to be, more or less, an environment that is free from some of the toxicity on other platforms. So far my "content strategy" (such that it is) is just to write and experiment. Thanks to you and another friend who engages and shares, along with some cross-promotion at the non-profit I'm involved with folks I don't know are finding me slowly. I'm cool with (and greatly appreciate!) that.
I too am finding that in these times, and at my age, I am learning to be more comfortable with discomfort and contradictions --- the both-and's rather than either-or's. I have found Substack to be a good platform to put my thoughts out to the world -- and like you, I've encountered relatively little toxicity and a lot of encouragement to be authentic, as well as some interesting role models for that. I'm sure there are some toxic corners of the ecosystem, but we don't have to go there. I think your strategy of letting things unfold organically makes a lot of sense. I'm finding that I'm getting more outspoken as time goes on. And it feels very right. Cheering you on!!