Creativity is anti-fascist

So hold on to the sparks however you can

Welcome to Healing is My Special Interest, the newsletter at the intersection of late-diagnosed neurodivergence and healing from high control religions. Today is a short and sweet essay on my thoughts about creativity as I get ready for my art show on Sunday. If you are in the Portland OR area, come check it out!

Today I have a bit of heartburn, and I woke up sore. My muscles are holding in the tension of the news that drips drips drips like a leaky faucet in the back of my brain. I am putting on a one-afternoon-only immersive art experience this Sunday and it is taking over my life a bit. Sometimes I wonder why I am doing this — putting myself out there, once again, in a new and even weirder way. I have always been a creative person, and now I created an event where I have to show up. Where I want to gather folks. Where I want to let my freak flag fly in order to find some other people like me. How can they stop us if we all start to process the pain and wonder of being a human? They can’t, that’s the thing. If we protect our inner worlds as fiercely as we protect our children, then the people in charge who rule by force and by fear have nothing. They have lost, long before they even realize it.

On Mondays I pull tarot cards with my 9yo, because Mondays are hard. This week we both got cards about success and creativity. He asked me what made art successful. I turned the question back to him. Well, he said, I guess it’s if other people like your art. Then he stopped for a moment, wheels turning inside his beautiful brain. No, he said. Actually, success is when YOU like your own art.

That’s it! I nearly shouted, tucking away this wisdom for myself. True success is showing up, creating imperfectly, and allowing yourself the pleasure of admiring it.

precious moments but make it Handmaid’s Tale