I’ve been returning to a few books the past several days that I’ve historically looked toward for answers, or clarity, when times are tough. This weekend I re-read The Future of Nature. My friend Barry Lopez edited the collection of essays, and in his introduction he speaks about the responsibility of the writer in times of turmoil.
He closes the essay saying..
“The writers in The Future of Nature differ in their approaches, hail from many parts of the country, and are in no full philosophical agreement. Though, the represent a visible, coherent trajectory through a confusing wood. They illuminate and provoke.
I’ve been carrying those words for days. Illuminate and Provoke. And, as I sat in the audience last night at the annual Governor’s Awards for the Arts as artists, writers, teachers, arts advocates, community members, legislators and press all celebrated the necessity of local arts and involvement, and the importance of the Alaskan and National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, the words continued to ring in my ears. Illuminate and Provoke. The room was filled with smart, industrious, and creative people - I felt hopeful.
Hope has been in short supply lately. The past two weeks has been a surreal and frustrating affair. In our country, character is seemingly no longer important. Celebrity is the new currency. Hysteria has trumped truth. Empathy has been replaced with narcissism. Facts have been replaced by paranoid conspiracy theories, masquerading as truth.
The executive power in this country believes that all is broken, that we are ignorant peasants, and that their backward answers are the only true way through the wood.
I’m not so naive to believe that any one piece of art will change the world. But, I do believe that it’s totality is intrinsically necessary. I believe in revolution. Our community of arts and writers is strong, and collectively, we have the power and obligation to give our history a context and stubbornly traffic in beauty.
Personally, I will need community, and the work of others to get through the next four years. I’ll need books, and pictures, and films, and intelligent people making intelligent arguments and making intelligent art. I’ll need an antidote to the ignorance that will profess to speak for me as an American.
We will need illumination and provocation.
