Project 25:365 (Feb. 1-Feb. 15)
Updates on the Project
When I signed up to take part in Sara Witty’s Project 25:365, I assumed I would be writing a little prose everyday, with a poem or two thrown in when I felt like stressing myself out. As it turns out, it’s been a framework to try other things, things I’m less comfortable with, like visual art.
In the first half of February, I, like a lot of people, have had a deep sense of alarm. One day in January, I drew a little man to be alarmed for me, hoping I could transfer my existential anxiety onto him, just so I could move about my day.
For about a week and a half in February, I turned it into a daily practice. From February 4 (a NY Times headline from that day: Trump Wields U.S. Power With Unclear Economic Consequences) to February 13 (a news analysis from that day: Favoring Foes Over Friends, Trump Threatens to Upend International Order), I got up early, got out my notebook and pencils, and drew a little man to absorb whatever soul-crushing thing Cathy Wurzer of Minnesota Public Radio was about to tell me on my commute. It kind of worked. My little alarmed men held enough of my stress to at least help me get out the door.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Another source of comfort and sanity the last few weeks has been the start of my MFA in creative writing program. I’m just taking one class for now, but it has been a welcome respite among the bleakness of the snow, cold, and national derangement.
I read our first book (Ellen Wayland-Smith’s The Science of Last Things) with a perpetual smile, even though its subject matter is heavy, hard to conceptualize, and very human. It deals with the interconnectedness of history and memory, among many other things. I think about personal, family, and community history a lot, and some of Wayland-Smith’s poetic observations seemed to connect directly to other things I’ve been writing about. So I wrote some more:
Water, Sandstone, and the Deeply Dead
Next Time
I see no indication that the chaos and cruelty in my country are going away soon. But curling up and waiting for a better day is impractical. To be productive and push back where I can, I have to keep my soul intact. So, I’m continuing to try to live my belief that the best way to respond to people who want to destroy things is to create things.
Or to experience things that others have created.
