When Beauty Rises
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Hello friends, When was the last time you paused because something was so beautiful, you needed a moment? When was the last time you were emotionally moved by nature, a painting, a song, a film, a dance? And how often do you make space to welcome beauty in your life? “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” wrote Margaret Wolfe Hungerford. She was speaking of subjectivity. That each of us finds different things—objects, people, places—beautiful. But there’s more to it than simple taste or attraction. The key is in her word, “beholder.” That’s us. In order to see, hear, taste, smell, or touch beauty, we must be open to behold it. Beauty requires our presence in order to emerge. When beauty rises in front of us, and we are there to witness it, we witness and share in life itself. A life spent half present is not a life fully lived. The less present we are, the more tenuous our connection to the stuff of life becomes. Beauty brings us back toward presence, whether in joy or pain. I hope you make time this week to drink that in. And breathe. Best wishes — Thorn
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, I was recently interviewed by Jamie Ferguson of Blackbird Press about my new essay collection: Let Your Life Be Lighting - Creativity in Times of Strife. She posed several questions, asking whether I ever feel discouraged, what to say to people who feel like giving up, and how I create during difficult times. In my answer to that last question, I called up inspiration from human history, and I think this might help you, too: “Think of the poems written, songs sung, clothing...
Hello friends, Happy May! May Day was on Friday. I love this holiday, because it rejoices in two things close to my heart: May Day celebrates the burgeoning growth of spring and sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere. People dance around poles with bright ribbons, and leap fires, and share food, laughter, and song. May Day also honors the Haymarket activists and martyrs who fought for worker’s rights, fair pay, and that little thing we call the weekend. May Day honors the human labor that grows...
Hello friends, “One of the keys of fascism is control of the nation’s narrative…” Social philosopher Kimberlé Crenshaw said that in this recent Guardian article. I’ve long admired Crenshaw’s work, and when I read those words this morning, I thought, “this is why I write.” I write to switch the narrative to something that feels healthier, kinder, and more beautiful. Every creative impulse can be anti-fascist. Every creative act can help heal us, body, heart, mind, and soul. Each creative work...