Unhelpful opinions

Did you see the viral video of the artist painting a city electrical box get fussed at by a passerby who called his work a “waste of tax payer dollars”?

Aside from being beyond rude, this is just plain inaccurate.

Art:

lifts spirits

makes us happy

releases actual dopamine + endorphins

improves thinking and empathy

lowers stress

is life

It’s funny how so often things that are essential to life and well-being get little-to-no credit or acknowledgement as such. Things like:

art

beauty

community

empathy + a listening ear

self-care

friends

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. [Pablo Picasso]

Worth every fucking penny.

My horoscope said to channel my anger into art

But isn’t that what we do? It’s the lemons into lemonade, some kind of alchemy where instead of raging and making more rage, we direct that energy into something-else. Something holy. We summon our better side, the one that loves and keeps loving and we call out the dangers of not protecting the vulnerable among us, the dangers of using fear to divide. These hands that make the world are our hands. Our mark in the soil. What are we making? What are we leaving behind?

A poem

The world is still spinning

did you know?

It feels like there's no chance this is true.

That all the despair and disaster have swallowed us whole.

But the sun still rises and sets.

The birds still nest and sing.

And we listen and sing along.

We dance in the rain that makes the flowers grow -

an act of resistance,

a bright eye staring boldly into chaos

that somehow burns even brighter.