Hello Friends, This cold November morning, I’m staring through the bare winter branches outside my window. The branches are festooned with rows of raindrops, hanging on like bright pale jewels. But what catches my attention is a hummingbird on a wire. It is so tiny, it is barely a dark spot on the slender line. Occasionally, it flies up, then quickly returns to its perch. As I paused in my watching to type these words, the hummingbird departed, a squirrel climbed a fence across the street, and in the distance, a crow flew by. Life is everywhere. Leaves decay, making new soil. Worms and insects burrow beneath the leaves, some of them becoming food for robins and crows. Evergreens remain stalwart, insistent on providing shelter for the birds and animals who do not migrate. Even during times of destruction, life abides. Creativity abides. On the topic of creating when times feel cold and hard, remember that Vegas conference I just attended? I wrote about listening to a keynote given by actor, writer, and director Kevin Smith. ...Kevin Smith then proceeded to give the most foul-mouthed commencement speech ever. It was great. In between laughs, Kevin Smith’s pale, grizzled, middle-aged face told the story of his life. Hard work. Pain. Laughter. Trauma. Self-loathing. Movies. Love. A near death from a massive heart attack. A stint in a mental health facility. And kindness. An ocean of kindness. And it was the kindness that he offered us, rolled out on a mighty wave. “Your voice is your currency,” he said. And, in an echo of the great Martha Graham, he expanded on that to say that our unique perspective is all we have, so that is what we must offer. And then he went on: There are two pathways in life, creativity and destruction. “Destruction is easier,” he said. And isn’t that the truth? But still, we must create. In a world filled with destruction, creativity is vital. Without creativity, things wither and die. So today I ask us all: What are you creating? I made the essay public on my Patreon today, if you’d like to read the rest: The Night I Didn't Meet Kevin Smith. Kevin Smith—like me and so many others I know—has managed to keep going for decades, even when the odds were stacked against him. Like the tiny hummingbird and the foraging crows, Kevin Smith keeps responding to life itself. How about you? Best wishes — Thorn
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Hello friends, On one of my recent walks, I saw a sign stapled to the utility pole which read: “This is not a time for disbelief. This is a time for new beliefs, a time to remake the impossible.” Yes, indeed. It is also a time to take stock of what we do believe. What are our ethics? What are our core values? How do we wish to live? When we focus only on what we do not want, we tilt the world in that direction. Our thoughts and emotions become consumed, our bodies and actions dragged into the...
Hello friends, When I was a teen, one of my favorite films was Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi. With a score by Philip Glass, it portrayed a world that moved too quickly, a human made world that had become too mechanized, too out of control. The title was said to mean “life out of balance” from a compound Hopi word that roughly translates—or so my research shows—corrupted or chaotic life or existence. That film made a powerful impression on my young self. I sat in the dark theater as the...
Hello friends, As I write this, cold, hard rains have returned after a brief false spring. The tulip magnolia buds that were just beginning to bloom lay in husks on damp sidewalks. Pink camellias lay in slick heaps, a danger to those without sturdy shoes. There’s a lot of danger in the world right now, for far too many of us. One thing that is getting me through is gratitude. In the wash of bad news, I see people showing up for one another. I see communities rallying to protect themselves and...