PIECES

I’m sitting at my desk on post-election day, reviewing eight pages of aborted paragraphs I’ve scribbled in my notebook, wrestling with the desire to communicate and connect with you, to say something important or useful or — if all else fails — something clever or entertaining. The eight pages have come up short on all fronts. I got bupkis.

All I can do is tell you what I’m going to do: Make things I care about and call out bullshit when I see it. I will do these things because I think they’re important and vital to our culture and society (and also because they’re the only things I have any aptitude for). So I will play to my strengths, even if it’s in the form of a dumb joke. So be it. These are the tools I have, so I’ll use them. I encourage you to create art and fight against the things that make you mad, too, in your own way, using the tools you have.

Go forth and make something. A scathing op-ed, a stupid meme, a fierce metal riff, a sketch (comedy or pencil), a protest sign, a hilarious book about drinking coffee available on Amazon next month, a photo of your world, an earnest Facebook post, whatever. Inform your audience, or rile them up, or give them joy. Play to your strengths. All I ask is that — on some level — you believe in your thing, it communicates something you give a shit about, and it’s the truth. Cut off little pieces of yourself and set them loose in the world. Don’t be afraid. You won’t run out.