This summer has been tough. Hell, this year has been tough. Okay, this lifetime. But it seems there have been more and more reports, each week, of atrocities around the world. And each time they hit me hard.
Somehow the attack in Nice, France on Bastille Day 2016 hit me the hardest. Maybe because it was a family event, a happy and fun event I can imagine my family going to anywhere in the world. Maybe it was the extreme violence of it. Maybe it was just because it came on the heels of so much else. But it’s really hard for me to take.
So I decided to draw a picture. Maybe art therapy would help? It helped a little.
I was trying to express my crushing sadness without letting it crush me, while also reminding myself of hope and work to be done and beauty and love that still exist and that we must cultivate.
I also took up an invitation to participate in a collaborative poem through #clmooc, on this post by Terry Elliott.
He had taken a poem by someone else and focused on a few words.
Now, this original creation (the words in colours) came from work many of us did in #clmooc. See Deanna Mascle’s post about it.
Then Terry invited others to play with his creation on a Hackpad, so I did. And the result kind of resonated with my feelings today and the image above, without me trying to have it do so. I kept focusing on the words “struggle” and “love,” and realized they can go together and help me think through my pain and outrage. Struggle and love.
So I, too, took words from the picture and then added them to Terry’s chosen words. I then left some of it for others to play with, later. The first screenshot below is Terry’s poem; the second is my additions (at the top).
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- Terry’s poem, with words from Deanna’s picture
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- My additions at top, with words from Deanna’s picture (top part could stand on its own as a poem, or not)
I have to say, doing all this today has helped me feel a bit better. Especially the part where I am in a collaboration with others to make things, things that make you think, that invite others to join in. That’s really what I need right now. Maybe many of us do.
Post script later that day…
Daniel Bassill added to my drawing in a fantastic way that extends its meaning and impact. Please see here!
Having someone else resonate and connect and extend what I did is amazing. Thank you, Daniel!
