Revolution Requires Furious Dancing
Art, Poetry & Video to Lift Your Spirits
I write these words on a calm, sun-soaked afternoon contrasted by a news cycle that reminds me things are stormy, deadly…bleak?
Take for example, the Republican-led Reconciliation Bill, which threatens to gut our social safety net while padding the pockets of the ultra wealthy through tax cuts, increasing policing and criminalizing dissent.
Or Israel and the United States in solidarity towards a deadly war with Iran. And it doesn’t help that the news media keeps spinning a lazy “right to defend” narrative while actively being in offensive-mode.
As they say, I’m a millennial tired of living through unprecedented events. It’s a lot.
But I’ve gone deeper instead of detaching. I’ve found glimmers of light. I’ve felt free. Not in a naive sense, but a fierce, embodied one. One that comes from dancing with intention, anger and bravery at the same time.
Would I consider myself a dancer? Not particularly. And yet, I’ve written and spoken about the power of dipping one’s toes into different, new art forms (particularly ones outside of our creative comfort zones) as a way to embrace the kind of child-like playfulness necessary to fight back against human and legislative monsters.
There’s something magical about being a beginner again.
Maybe it expands our capacity for empathy.
I have a gift for you.
I used my latest Interview with a Muse writing prompt to craft the below poem (because words also dance on pages).
THIS IS THE YEAR (everything dances)
This is the year BlackRock goes bankrupt
bunker busters become the stuff of legend and children
beat sweltering heat by flying kites instead of dodging drones
when we fund healthcare, housing and education instead of bombs
and men no longer squeeze into suits to gamble with our existence
This is the year teachers make six-figure salaries
while CEOs revisit their career choices
wiping crush from eyes plagued by the insomnia
of another existential crisis
This is the year femmes strut down main street, scantily-clad
unabashedly maneuvering once mean streets
as men silently toss pink rose petals into the city air like confetti
honoring the cosmos instead of cat calling
This is the year I.C.E. agents surrender their badges to take up hobbies
signing up for baking classes and softball
this is the year kidnappers retire to cheer on their migrant neighbors
till their throats go hoarse and they develop laugh lines from smiling
arriving at school graduations bearing gifts of plates brimming
with chocolate chip cookies made from scratch
This is the year librarians surpass celebrity status, and
Americans binge watch reality shows about nerds who make out amidst bookshelves
and our newest blockbusters follow expert historians
who haunt their hunches through spacetime
This is the year the chronically online trade dimly lit bedrooms
for day trips to Yosemite, hike through forests, feel sore the next day
this is the year resentful, lonely men, women, theys and thems march–no dance
to the beat of their own drums, spinning, arms outstretched in empathy
because they aren’t alone since everything in the universe has a rhythm
everything dances.
So yeah, the revolution really will require furious dancing. It’s not a cute slogan. It’s a real strategy for surviving. We can organize, resist, and also build new worlds, beautiful worlds, in the process.
Here’s to more radical creativity in everything we do.
What’s Inspiring Me Lately. All short-form videos shot by your’s truly:
1.) Anti-ICE Protests Like This One In My Neighborhood.
What’s your favorite protest sign?
2.) Learning, Dancing and Collective Release.
Shout out to KQED’s Queer Cumbia night and the below band, Ritmos Tropicosmos.
3.) The Queer Women of Color Film Festival
QWOCFF is one of the only all-queer, BIPOC film festivals in the world. Support their Producers Circle Campaign and help train emerging filmmakers and keep the festivals free. qwocff.org/donate