I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions or even goals, but I try to be deliberate about intentions. In that way, I am arrested by the last sentence of my 2024 first read, About Looking by John Berger:
“The field that you are standing before appears to have the same proportions of your own life.”
As I observe the field — this world of oppression and resistance, of decay and rebirth, of determinism and chance — I (and probably you) can’t help but map parallels onto my own life. With so much economic, political, and social turbulence, we are constantly reassessing our place in not just our own cultural context but also in a historical context. I’ve spent the last year constantly re-envisioning and re-creating a sense of “self” — after divorce; after the loss of my brother, niece, grandmothers, and several other family members; while trying to grow a writing career; while working low wage jobs to finance that career; while watching a genocide unfold on my iPhone.
But if we are able to look at the field a different way, we will see that we are not merely observers of birds in flight or clouds as they float or bloodlines bombed into oblivion, but we, too, are on the field. We are in the field. We are simultaneously witnessing and experiencing the world while witnessing and experiencing our world; this, an immutable dialectic.
Berger writes, “It is not only the field that frames them, it contains them.”
What I’m trying to say is that while all around us things are literally and figuratively burning to the ground, we must not be given to despair. We are on the field. We are in the field. We are the field.
I make no grand proclamations. This year, I intend to share more writing with you. We are trying to make sense of this thing together. We are trying to make a new thing together. Together, we are trying to make a new sense of ourselves.
In another essay in the collection, Berger writes, “Explanations, analyses, interpretation, are no more than frames or lenses to help the spectator focus his attention more sharply on the work.”
This year (and beyond) my work is to help us focus more sharply on the work.
Do you plan to create more than you consume? Get involved in a progressive or radical organization in your local area? Do you plan to be more present with the people you love?
What is your work this year? Share in the comments.
I shared a post on Threads that I think is appropriate for the times. Happy 2024!
If you want to check out and/or buy John Berger’s essay collection About Looking, here’s the link: https://bookshop.org/lists/about-looking-art-culture-reads. Purchasing through this link will support my writing and independent bookshops, but I ain’t mad atcha if you don’t buy it through me.
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My work this year is to create art from a place of personal liberation as a middle age lady that went way too long playing by the rules (that got me nowhere smh). I firmly believe that if I step into my own revolution, it will inspire others to do the same. When we step into our own power and walk in alignment with our authentic selves, it actually empowers the collective! I look forward to reading your work in 2024! Happy New Year’s ✨
Really enjoyed this, brother. Especially the sentiment that we, all of us, are not helpless spectators; we are participants with the power to effect change on scales of all sizes. Thank you for kicking this year off with hope and action.
The other part that stood out to me was presenting frames or lenses to more sharply understand and focus on the work. That makes me think of something we can discuss more offline, regarding contextualizing work for others vs. just releasing the work and seeing how people interpret it.
Anyway, my main work for this year is to focus most on that which serves me while maintaining a strong sense of shelf and sharing that with the world.
This is clever AF. I love this! Show us more writing in 2024, sir. I'm trying to pull myself out of these damn holes I dug for myself in the field....to create rather than consume. I feel more myself when I do. <333
I love this! Not least because of his use of the concept/ metaphor of the “field,” for obvious reasons. ;) Thank you for sharing, and I’m excited to follow you on here!
My work this year is to create art from a place of personal liberation as a middle age lady that went way too long playing by the rules (that got me nowhere smh). I firmly believe that if I step into my own revolution, it will inspire others to do the same. When we step into our own power and walk in alignment with our authentic selves, it actually empowers the collective! I look forward to reading your work in 2024! Happy New Year’s ✨
Thank you for reading and thank you for sharing your work, Lia! Happy New Year!
I’m re-envisioning and recreating too. I have a book of poetry coming out in March (3rd in a trilogy) about that very thing. 🩵
Congratulations, Marla! Can’t wait to get into it.
The work has not changed. My task is to sharp my focus into a laser point, so I can do the work more wholeheartedly and consistently.
Your work is great work. I’m rooting for you big homie
Really enjoyed this, brother. Especially the sentiment that we, all of us, are not helpless spectators; we are participants with the power to effect change on scales of all sizes. Thank you for kicking this year off with hope and action.
The other part that stood out to me was presenting frames or lenses to more sharply understand and focus on the work. That makes me think of something we can discuss more offline, regarding contextualizing work for others vs. just releasing the work and seeing how people interpret it.
Anyway, my main work for this year is to focus most on that which serves me while maintaining a strong sense of shelf and sharing that with the world.
Thank you again for your words and heart, homie.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply, good brother! Your work for the year is great work. I'm excited to see you continue to be great, continue to be you.
Looking forward to the offline chat.
This is clever AF. I love this! Show us more writing in 2024, sir. I'm trying to pull myself out of these damn holes I dug for myself in the field....to create rather than consume. I feel more myself when I do. <333
Thanks, Kim. This year, may you continue to be more of yourself and feel more like yourself. That is, may your field be whole (not just holes).
My work will be on my personal well being. I have focused much of my life on financial success but I have skipped the mental health work..
That's work we can all use. Glad you're prioritizing well being.
I love this! Not least because of his use of the concept/ metaphor of the “field,” for obvious reasons. ;) Thank you for sharing, and I’m excited to follow you on here!
Thank you so much, Susannah. And I'm happy to that our "fields" could be in conversation. :)