(no subject)
Earlier I was thinking about tonight's events much more articulately than I am now, but as I am kept awake by my housemate's friends I'll take the opportunity to work them out.
First and foremost, I am immensely proud of my friends in Invictus. They pulled together a beautiful, substantial event under typically difficult Sarah Lawrence circumstances. I am awed by Pedro, whose speach tonight and role in organizing this event made me think holding an elected position is a real possibility for him.
Virtually everyone had their own experience of grief. Mine was perhaps a little personal, a little selfish, placing myself in the position of Dante and imagining what it would take to put me up there lecturing a crowd about my brother's death, either by internal or external forces. I can barely imagine that seething, bottomless loss of one person, and tonight I could not even approach an understanding of the grief of the family and friends of 1,500 people. I was expecting movtivation for action, but now I think it might have been.
As usual, I had one of my usually somewhat untimely surges of optimism. Dante concluded by saying that the fight for peace needs to be approached as a job. He renewed my certainty in what I want to do with my life. It was inspiring to be back around people who are actually making things happen. Knowing that there are people like them in the world gives me hope, but seeing my potential to be a part of it was a good kick in the ass. For everything terrible thing in the world there is a step to take towards making it better, it's only a matter of capitalizing on the resources one has. I see some of these friends of mine being a lot of help to each other and making great achievements.
Speaking of exploiting resources, I'm pretty satisfied with the way the "gallery" turned out. There's no way in hell I could have made five paintings fill up that huge, ugly room. Jeff and Annalee saved the day by making the flats from downstage into really effective focal pieces. Thanks Amanda, Mer and Rosie for being wonderful as I got into project mode. It's sad, but I'm rarely happier than when I've got a big project to tackle and paint under my nails. Today was a really good day.
First and foremost, I am immensely proud of my friends in Invictus. They pulled together a beautiful, substantial event under typically difficult Sarah Lawrence circumstances. I am awed by Pedro, whose speach tonight and role in organizing this event made me think holding an elected position is a real possibility for him.
Virtually everyone had their own experience of grief. Mine was perhaps a little personal, a little selfish, placing myself in the position of Dante and imagining what it would take to put me up there lecturing a crowd about my brother's death, either by internal or external forces. I can barely imagine that seething, bottomless loss of one person, and tonight I could not even approach an understanding of the grief of the family and friends of 1,500 people. I was expecting movtivation for action, but now I think it might have been.
As usual, I had one of my usually somewhat untimely surges of optimism. Dante concluded by saying that the fight for peace needs to be approached as a job. He renewed my certainty in what I want to do with my life. It was inspiring to be back around people who are actually making things happen. Knowing that there are people like them in the world gives me hope, but seeing my potential to be a part of it was a good kick in the ass. For everything terrible thing in the world there is a step to take towards making it better, it's only a matter of capitalizing on the resources one has. I see some of these friends of mine being a lot of help to each other and making great achievements.
Speaking of exploiting resources, I'm pretty satisfied with the way the "gallery" turned out. There's no way in hell I could have made five paintings fill up that huge, ugly room. Jeff and Annalee saved the day by making the flats from downstage into really effective focal pieces. Thanks Amanda, Mer and Rosie for being wonderful as I got into project mode. It's sad, but I'm rarely happier than when I've got a big project to tackle and paint under my nails. Today was a really good day.