Expanding Horizons Challenge

A challenge to expand your horizons and connect more with your community. Complete the whole list over the course of a year or choose your own adventure. Use the tag #horizonschallenge to share progress

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

The Challenge

Over the course of 2023, complete each item from all three parts — or, ya know, do it your own way. To access the lists, click on the titles below. The idea is to expand your knowledge base and build your community, and since everything seems to be going up in flames, here is a way to start being part of the solution.

There are 28 items in each section. Why did I make it that way? Why not round up to 30? Because 28 is an underappreciated number. You can fight me on this but you will not win. (it may or may not actually be because the seemingly random items on the lists follow a secret pattern down to the order in which they're listed, which, if you can figure out you will get 10,000 Cool Person points).

Also, it's all mix-and-match-able, so you can either do it in order, or jump around (even between the different parts). While it is angled towards Americans, you can modify it to your own purposes by replacing America or United States with whatever your country is.

Part 1: Read

Read things you might not usually read. Or if you don't like reading, watch videos or listen to podcasts. Each item on the list (with the exception of No.2 is a category which you can take in a number of different directions.

Part 2: Share

Art! Share the art! It can be your art or (making sure it's credited) other's art that you like as long as they're not telling you to avoid reposting. And the art can be visual, music, photography, short-film, performance, poetry, whatever

Part 3: Do

Get in on the action. Basically 28 prompts that you can mold to your specific situation to help you explore new things and better your community. Some are about experiencing new things, or learning and teaching, or tangible ways to improve yourself.

Feel free to submit posts with what you get up to, and use the tag #horizonschallenge to share and see all the cool stuff people find. Also crossposting to other social media with credit is absolutely fair game.

As for the cool-person points, it has been brought to my attention that I should maybe offer hints. You can find them below the cut.

The first 14 items in each section are based one list. The second 14 are based on another.

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For the first 14, some search terms: Lawrence Britt, 2003

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For the second 14, some search terms: Umberto Eco, 1995, the New York Review

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 15: Share a piece of art about an alternate history.

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Share challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 14: Share a piece of art relating to democracy

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Share challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 13: Share a piece of art about altruism

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Share challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 12: Share a piece of art relating to mental health

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Share challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 11: Share a piece of art related to a topic you changed your mind about in some way recently

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Share challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

i don't know why the link for the share section isn't working. i'm aware and am trying to fix it, but solutions are still pending

[star-anise]

Fun upside of rats and spambots fleeing Twitter for Tumblr are all the new fucking, uh…

They’re not TERFs this time, they’re “not feminists” because “feminism is cancer”, they’re, uh…

“Violent Misandrists”?

Like, huge use of Judith killing Holofernes vibes. 15yos posting “Kill all men (except my male mutuals lol!)” and insinuating that banning pornography will end child abuse forever.

(deep breath)

Look.

If you are a teenager from the USA, and your parents are Republicans, please consider that EVERYTHING you were ever taught about media, politics, gender, sex, feminism, and the advisability of mass murder as a political tool

has been carefully tailored to make you feel enraged with the state of the world, which is full of Good People and Bad People (groups it is very easy to sort everyone you meet into) and the way to Fix Society is to criminalize, incarcerate, or brutally murder as many Bad People as possible. You have probably seen several different sorting systems proposed, and may not have seen much political discourse beyond debates about “Which PART of society are Bad People who should be punished?”

And yes, I realize you’ve also been taught that people like me insisting on bullshit like “nuance” and “tolerance” and “educating yourself” are literal Satan and probably in favour of ritualized child abuse and puppy-kicking.

We’re not. I’m not. I’m like a lot of people you wouldn’t think are Good People, who nevertheless work to make the world better in what we understand to be the best methods available.

I don’t know why I’m saying this. I’ll probably end up a target of vitriol and regret ever speaking up. Just.

You are not smart for coming to the conclusion that the world is full of Bad People who just need to be killed. You did not figure out (or find the true prophet of) The Secret Truth of the Entire Universe. You haven’t figured out how to fix the world. You just followed the fucking breadcrumb trail laid down by people who want to recruit you to commit atrocities in their name.

The world is so much more complicated than you’ve been led to believe. Fixing its problems is so much more tedious and difficult. Cruelty is so much less useful. And you’ve got so much more learning to do.

[star-anise]

LMFAO at the reblog chain from this like “Good point about the propaganda but you’re wrong about violence! I NEED to be able to bash people’s faces in with bricks!” and people reblogging that like #based #thank u for saying this.

Oh children. I’m not actually a pacifist. I don’t actually completely oppose the use of force. Even, sometimes, violent or lethal force.

What I do oppose is being completely fucking useless, which is what you call people who believe violence is the supreme form of activism.

(That or you call them police provocateurs and say, “Thanks for the suggestion, officer. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out” and ban them from your Discord. Part of why I honestly doubt that pro-Nazi-punching Tumblr contains many people who have actually punched anyone IRL is that none of them realize that the first rule of committing illegal acts is not leaving behind evidence that you did or plan to do it.)

If you want to change the world, figure out what you want to change and what actual methods would achieve that! Look at people who have done the kind of thing you want to do, and learn how they did it! Also learn about the price they paid for it.

Or made other people pay, as the case may be.

Think about your end goal. If you smash all the faces with all of the bricks, what will it have accomplished? When the police haul you away in handcuffs, how will the world be different?

Or if you succeed in destroying things enough that there aren’t police anymore… congrats, now you are the police. You’re the force in society permitted to use violence to control the behaviour of other people. What do you do now?

While you’re figuring that out? Look at the work’s that currently being done, and dabble a little bit in non-violent methods. Try volunteering with a soup kitchen or attending a town hall. Just once or twice. Just for the hell of it. Just to say you tried. See if it actually feels that useless.

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

First reblog for this project, I guess. But this is exactly what horizonschallenge is about: learn, build community, take actions that will make a difference.

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 11: Share a piece of art relating to a topic you changed your mind about in some way recently.

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Share challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 10: Share a piece of art about workers

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Read challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 11: Share a piece of art relating to a topic you changed your mind about in some way recently

--

You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Read challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 9: share a piece of art about small business

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Read challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 8: Share a piece of art about small religion

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Read challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 7: Share a piece of art about building a community

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Read challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 6: Share a piece of art featuring a place learned of only recently

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Read challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 5: Share a piece of art about womanhood and/or queerness

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Read challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days

[expandinghorizonschallenge]

Share 4: Share a piece of art about the effects of war on common people/civilians

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You can find the challenge description and what's going on at this link

If you wanna do stuff out of order the rest of the Read challenges are at this link

The whole challenge has 84 items, so if you want to do the entire thing in a year, that averages out to about 1 item every 4-5 days. Posts will come out about every two days