A crash course in changing the world.
Emergency Call to Action to All Artists and Poets
During a crisis, as was stated by Harvard's Nieman Guide for Crisis Journalism, it is important for people to have things to do and to make decisions--to help them manage their fear. I would call on artists and poets to organize a kind of online art/poetry therapy session for which people could contribute artistic representations of their fears and how they would conquer them--or, perhaps, befriend them, as fear is "the solution, not the problem." This would appeal to the need for "psychological first aid," which was also mentioned by the Neiman Guide as a way of channeling people's energy away from denial. This could be an ad-hoc website or ning/social network where people could post their work and have others vote on their favorite ones, the ones that best represent their own relationship to fear and therefore help them cope with it.
This would bring attention to the potentially healing capabilities of art while elevating artists and poets to the level of problem-solvers and cultural agents for positive change.
This would bring attention to the potentially healing capabilities of art while elevating artists and poets to the level of problem-solvers and cultural agents for positive change.
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Comment by A.V.Koshy on May 7, 2010 at 10:47pm -
elevating? i didnt think we're in need of elevating - an artist and a poet
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Comment by A.V.Koshy on May 7, 2010 at 10:48pm
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just joking richard :)
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Comment by Sarah Shaw Tatoun on May 7, 2010 at 11:16pm -
What about getting non-poets and non-artists involved in some kind of creative expression to deal with fear? Poets could lead neighborhood poetry slams, artists hold 'draw-ins', actors lead improv workshops.
I also noticed after 9/11 that dire events lead everyone into a deeper appreciation for the arts in general. I've always loved Auden, for instance, but a reading of his 'September 1, 1939' in September 2001 just took a hard grip on my soul and even now I can still feel it there. This kind of art, created in the midst of previous wars and disasters, can be of immeasurable help and should be read, shown or played whenever possible.
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Comment by Patricio Buenrostro-Gilhuys on May 7, 2010 at 11:31pm -
Very interesting!!!
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Comment by Turil Cronburg on May 9, 2010 at 7:49pm -
Wonderful idea! The freedom to express ourselves in healthy ways is crucial to eliminating toxins (physical and psychological) so that we can be our best selves. Thanks for sharing this idea.
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