Art as Antidote to an Increasingly Shittified World

Whatever your jam, just make art!

Maybe it's imposter syndrome. Maybe it's a missing mojo. Maybe it's overwhelm from an increasingly noisy world and not wanting to contribute to anyone else's overwhelm or noise limits. For whatever reason, even though I have some very deep feelings about why we all need to be creating art just now, it has taken me weeks to assemble my thoughts into this newsletter. But, as the world becomes increasingly shittified by AI and oligarchs, I hope I can send you a gentle reminder to cast aside any concerns you might have about perfection and just make art. Whatever genre is calling to you - dive in and get creative. It's what the world needs from us just now, and it is a wonderful antidote for our worries.

Busy hands are happy hands.

Every time I hear some scary shit about AI (and 99.9% of what I hear is truly terrifying and total shit) I fervently (righteously?) grab my crochet hook and some yarn and get to work creating something tangible, something tactile, something beautiful (imho), something not remotely artificial, something real, something to be gifted. Whenever I feel my heartbeat start to accelerate, I pull my eyes away from my screen, stop wringing my hands, and, instead, make my hands busy with making art. Whenever I feel my head about to explode at the potential and very possible horrors of unleashed artificial intelligence, I turn to creating art to calm my breath and ground myself. Busy hands are happy hands. Busy hands creating art are also creating happiness. We all need a whole lot more happiness and a whole lot less horror in our lives just now. Making art helps.

The art of conversation.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Zohran Mamdani won his election thanks mainly to the art of conversation. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers who were inspired by his charisma and his vision of a city that worked for the many rather than the monied knocked on doors and engaged in conversation with neighbours and strangers and individuals from every walk of life where they connected on their shared desire for a safer, cleaner, more equitable place to call home. As y'all know, Zohran won handily. A little chit chat goes a long way.

We are all in the thick of Election angst, and the bots and trolls and AI goblins are out to fuck with our heads, spread misinformation, and piss us off. It's easy to get sucked into the shouting matches on social media, but face-to-face conversation makes for a completely different playing field. I've door-knocked for candidates in past elections and found that folk really want to be heard. In my experience, we all just want to have a good conversation where we listen to each other with open minds and open hearts. Big tech has stolen this from us in so many ways, but the art of conversation is not dead yet. We may feel a bit rusty, maybe awkward, engaging in face-to-face conversation, but it can be so rewarding in so many ways. Nothing beats a good chinwag for building human connection.

The art of correspondence.

My friend who teaches English at a local high school is teaching her students the art of correspondence this year. I donated my stepmother's vast collection of decorative stationery and cards to inspire the young 'uns to pick up a pen and discover the lost art of manually putting words on paper to send off to loved ones, vague acquaintances, and strangers, alike.

Here is a snippet of our conversation when said friend sent me a photo of some of the letters her grade 12 kids wrote to the grade 9 kids:

Me: You're killing me! This is too damned precious!

Her: Isn't it? An antidote to all that’s more damned than precious.

Indeed it is!

Do you send letters through the post these days? True confession - over the years of adopting email, then text, then Facebook & Instagram messenge as means for communication, I find myself writing fewer and fewer snail mail letters. These days, of course, I mainly send emails to politicians, but, inspired by my teacher friend, I am trying to put actual pen to actual paper and send properly scrawled letters to far-flung friends more often. I am surprised (and somewhat disheartened) at how challenging I'm finding this, considering that for decades I wrote letters so frequently, it was second nature to me. However, I know the joy I feel when I receive a personal letter or card in the mail, and I plan to persevere with my snail mail endeavours in order to share that joy with others. Will you join me?

The art of protest art.

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”  — Bertolt Brecht

I think one of my favourite parts of the growing movement against governmental failures and widespread shittification is the incredible protest art. No matter what the cause, you can count on protestors to show up with some really fabulous signage. Some of it is funny. Some is furious. Some is absolutely gorgeous. All of it is an eye-catching and effective way of sharing our messages, making our voices heard.

I am particularly enamoured with community art-builds. My cousin David spends his days engaging his community in creating BIG protest art - from screen printing banners to colourful sidewalk messaging - that expresses their collective grief/rage/hopes/demands. These art-builds are inclusive multi-generational affairs where everyone is welcome to participate however they can. Community art-builds are the antithesis of what a dehumanized AI-centric world might look like (if we allow it to happen).

The art of protest music.

I grew up listening to Peter Seeger. He was my childhood hero and I adored him. Not just his rich tenor voice and soothing banjo playing, but the poignant and powerful words he sang, painting a path towards a better world. His relentless activism, up until the day he died. In fact, most of my favourite musicians throughout my life have been those who use their voice for social justice.

Earlier this month the Power to the People concert was held not far from DC partially as a fundraiser for pro-democracy and get-out-the-vote organizations, and partially as a festival to remind everyone that we, the people, do indeed have the power to put an end to authoritarianism and oligarchy. The festival's organizers and performers gathered to convey the same messages Pete Seeger shared for so many years and from so many stages.

"The festival was a reincarnation of the spirit of Guthrie, Seeger, and the musicians who advocated for working-class dignity and civil rights in the mid-twentieth century. Morello stepped forward to explain what they were about to sing—and why: Guthrie’s "This Land Is Your Land," but with the verses often omitted from popular renditions, in which the narrator encounters a "Private Property" sign and Americans standing hungry outside a relief office. The lines restored the song's original edge—an unofficial patriotic anthem that also challenges the country to make good on its promise that America belongs to everyone."

Honestly, I have never heard a rendition of This Land is Your Land without tearing up. Music hits us where it counts. Music can be and often is a powerful agent for change.

These days I'm really enjoying Carsie Blanton's hard-hitting songs sung with a voice that's sweet as pie and chock-full of courage.

The art of imagination.

I watched the BC Leaders' debate the other night and saw something that I see happening in politics all over the map. Those with the imagination to offer something different from this almighty mess we're in are getting the votes. Watching the debate, I saw the leaders of the BC NDP and the BC Conservatives, 2 middle-aged white dudes oozing white, monied privilege, spouting the same old tired nonsense of how the only way to govern is to rape and pillage the planet. Gross. Not just holding her own in this testosterone-heavy atmosphere, but completely outshining her opponents, was Emily Lowan, the 26 year old firecracker leader of the BC Greens. While the dudes seemed to be engaged in the usual dick-size contest of standard politics, Emily painted her party's vision for a fair, sustainable, inspiring future that our province can definitely have with just a little imagination and enough courage to make the ultra rich pay their share.

We are seeing it everywhere. In India. In Albania. In America. In British Columbia. All over the map, more and more of us are just done with this patriarchal, extractive, violent world that is being more enshittified each day by the oligarchs and techbros and the politicians that enable them. The good news is that this old worldview is crumbling before our very eyes. The important news is that it's up to us to really start imagining what we want to replace it with. The techbros are trying their best to kill our imagination, but we won't let them. Imagination is an art. Art requires imagination. Let us imagine what a world built on kindness, care, justice, reciprocity and love will look like and let's start painting, crocheting, singing, writing, dancing it into existence.

Shabbat shalom,

Jessica (she/her)