Leaving Signs
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Hello friends On one of my walks, I encountered chalk art on the sidewalk. It’s not uncommon, in neighborhoods where children live, to find scraggly ghosts of hopscotch grids, or flowers, or rainbows at one’s feet. This time, it was a pink and yellow heart. I smiled, paused, and snapped this photo: That heart stayed with me, though, because this heart was not just evidence that someone had given a child some chalk to while away a bit of time. No. This chubby chalked heart was a connection to every human throughout millennia, who had made a mark upon the world. The running animals in the Chauvet cave. The chalk horses of England. The rock paintings of the southern hemisphere… Humans created what they saw and left those marks for others to see. We still leave marks for one another. And in precarious, sometimes terrifying times like these? Those marks are ever more important. I think of the chalk marks hobos and rail hoppers left for one another. This was a coded system, letting others know where there was an angry dog, or a kind person, or work, or a safe place to camp. The child who drew that chalk heart likely doesn’t know about any of this, but they made a mark all the same. And I found that mark, and it reminded me that there is love in the world, and hope. Every snatch of song, or sticker on a stop sign, or social media post, or text message is a mark. Some are longer lasting than others, but all of these are ways we attempt to connect to each other. Every mark is a way for us to say, “I am here. And I’m checking to see if you are still alive.” That’s what this weekly newsletter is for me, as well. And every photo I post on social media. Every book I send out into the world. This is how we remind ourselves that, no matter what happens, we are human. And we want to connect. Thanks for being here — Thorn
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T. Thorn Coyle
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Hello friends, I wrote about collective power for my Patreon supporters this week. I wrote about the importance of having each other’s backs, and protecting our neighbors. This was inspired by recent events in the US, of course, but the thing that coalesced my thoughts was a bit of sidewalk stencil graffiti. This is another reminder that the marks we make on this world are important. They invite thought, and conversation. Sometimes they keep a person going, when we don’t even realize it....