Your power is real
Helping Friendly Newsletter, 03.18.22
Every Friday, I share 5 things to consider and a treasure chest of links. If you like them, please subscribe (it’s free).
GM! ☕️
Here are this week’s 5 things to consider:
1. Your power is relative, but it is real
Folasade Adesanya of The Black Syllabus and Asha Grant of The Free Black Women’s Library of L.A. have compiled a thought-provoking Audre Lorde Questionnaire to Oneself. This prompt grasped me: “Your power is relative, but it is real. How can you use your power this week and beyond?”
Your power is relative, but it is real. And if you do not learn to use it, it will be used, against you, and me, and our children. Change did not begin with you, and it will not end with you, but what you do with your life is an absolutely vital piece of that chain. The testimony of your daily living is the missing remnant in the fabric of our future.
—Audre Lorde, Commencement Address, Oberlin College, 1989
2. This is precisely the time when artists go to work
Creators, during times of strife and crisis, we need you. We need antiwar songs, bunker art, reminders to breathe, sci-fi solutions, rebellious illustrations, street art, poetry in a burning world, writing about love when the world falls apart, and your creations. Please. Show us what’s real, remind us what we’re for, and point us to better paths.
This is precisely the time when artists go to work…I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence.
—Toni Morrison, “No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear”
3. For the love of questions
You know how much I love a good question. So, I was delighted to learn about Clive Thompson’s question bot.1 Enter a block of text, and it will pull out the questions. Genius.
4. How to listen well
Active listening supports healthy relationships and thriving communities. It isn’t easy, and we’re all works in progress. But we can learn to listen better—and, by extension, grow in understanding. Here are six habits to practice:
5. Recurring patterns in nature
Fractal patterns repeat themselves at scales that range from subatomic to cosmic. What does it mean? 🤯
Thank you for reading
This newsletter is a labor of love. 💌 If you want to show your support, you can share this post, venmo me a coffee, engage my services, or buy a book from my links. (I earn a small commission from Bookshop and Amazon.)
Treasure chest
I bet you find a gem ➔ “may the same empathy be extended to war victims everywhere” | being an ally to transgender and nonbinary youth | how workplaces can work for women | what is an interruption, anyway? | sabbaticals are the real psychedelics | the questions good coaches ask | visualizing Jack Kerouac’s On the Road | how a book is made | q-art | how many people are in space right now? | gentle reminder👇🏼
Have a great weekend. I’ll see you again soon.
Jenny
Via Austin Kleon.