#26 Theater, grieve and not looking away
How we can see things differently
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It's been a while. I decided I won't do The Substacker weekly anymore. The opening rate has been quite low, so I'm not sure I'm making the impact I wanted to and people deserve. I would also like to spend less time on Notes. This is impossible while making this newsletter because it's where I find the articles featured here. The truth is that I want to be less online in general. From now on you can expect it monthly, or maybe I'll even take a longer break. Not sure yet. If you are a paid subscriber, please feel free to stop the subscription if you wish to do so.
But today I bring you an excellent selection of people looking at others and themselves with more compassion. Dig in! :)
i've killed my creativity
the perils of over-consumption
i’ve killed my creativity.
i’ve spent the past year consuming, consuming, and consuming. but never creating. i continue to tell myself that i’m “looking for inspiration.” but this search for inspiration is never-ending.
i’ve spent hours adding tiktoks to my favorites, “for inspiration.” hours scrolling on my for you page, “for inspiration,” when in reality, it’s just procrastination. avoidance.
The Tragic Story of Margaret Holloway
“The Shakespeare Lady”
When she finished, she looked at me, smiling. I told her how much I loved her beautiful and passionate recitation and thanked her. She left, promising to visit me at the shop. My friend sitting in the passenger seat turned to me and said, “I don’t know how you do it, but every character and eccentric in this city gravitates to you.” I replied, “Yes, so it seems I’m just lucky, I guess.”
on tending to the grief of being alive
this autumn has been incredibly difficult for everyone i know. we are living in terrible times, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to feel a sense of affinity and love for a world that time and time again reveals just how horrific it can be. i’m trying to forgive the small talk on a train or at the supermarket. i know many of us feel invisible and tired and alone. connection and acknowledgment can make us feel seen, and the fraying threads of our lives can be sewn together and made whole.
Our Town revisited
Tom Lake, Grovers' Corners, & what was really going on there
But very quickly it became clear that the play is not about the town itself; it’s about all of life which just happens to unfold there as it does everywhere else. Wherever people live they are born, they seek companionship, they work, they give birth, they die. If they are lucky they grow old before they die. If they are particularly lucky, they grasp a little of what it means to be alive and to be human before they go.
Ode to the Tea Gatherers
Spilling the Unpalatable Truth
In life, much like in our cluttered kitchens, what we truly need is often obscured by the veil of abundance (hoarding) we create, offering a false sense of security. How much of this abundance is harvested out of honest need? How much time, effort, and care have we invested in accumulating and utilizing the items around us? Has the cost gone beyond mere money, extending into the experiences needed to create genuine abundance? These questions prompt us to reflect on our intentions and reasons for creating abundance, as well as identify what things and constructs we must let go of to redefine our accumulation as genuine abundance.
Notes On Community
How Palestine weaves us together.
When I start to reimagine communities I see us trading, sharing meals, cooking together, listening with empathy, decolonizing our minds, hosting free events in our living rooms, making art, marching, distributing aid, advocating, offering a helping hand, boycotting, swapping, engaging in intercultural dialogues, ensuring physical protection and safety, and creating honest, vulnerable spaces where we can both disagree and still belong. Showing up daily for each other in ways that feel nourishing, radical, and meaningful.
Before you go…
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See you next time! :)
I, too, have been trying to be less online. I loved Tiya's Love Letters piece, and it describes perfectly how I feel. Sad and tired and not sure how best to take care of myself and my loved ones to get through this increasingly cruel world.
thankyou so much for the mention!!!!! :') 💗💗💗💗