I would add financial documents: checkbook, mortgage/lease, credit card, business loan, stock portfolio, IRA/401k, etc. My mother was born in 1936 and she reminds me about how she couldn’t open her own checking account or get a credit card in the 1960s unless my father co-signed. The power of financial freedom, something banks today still give freely to some and not others.
Excellent suggestion!! Thanks, Lia. Women didn't get the right to their own credit cards until 1974...blows my mind! I was a freshman in high school that year, and I remember the second wave of feminism was in full swing...MS Magazine and all. Being silent about oppression never works like getting out and raising your voice!
Good list. As you know, I'm deeply involved in resistance/solidarity right now, and have ideas from the struggle. Some may include or overlap what you already mentioned. Some are for/by those directly attacked by authoritarianism, some for those in solidarity, some for both.
Video documentation (add to camera & photos), graffiti, murals, barbed wire, makeshift solar energy sources (greatly needed when power is cut), water desalination methods (when water infrastructure destroyed), hunger fasts (by those in solidarity, not those suffering from forced starvation), spoken word, rap, poetry (add to art), labor union activity, mutual aid campaigns (in addition to charitable/political giving), etc. You might also peruse some sites like https://sashakurmaz.com/Tools-of-Resistance (which includes an image of a Molotov cocktail but I don't know whether you want to keep this strictly nonviolent). Hope there's something in here that helps.
Great suggestions, thank you. I would like to keep this nonviolent for my personal wellbeing. Peaceful resistance through raised voices and intentional and mindful actions appeals to me the most for now. If this turns dystopian, I may change my mind on that.
Great idea. Some of the significant things will be more difficult to image. I'm thinking about something like obscene income inequality. Or the fact the food pantries are experiencing the end of government grants that went to local growers that provided food to the pantries, as well as reduced financial contributions from others.
Yes, the cancellation of some social programs and reduction of grants to farmers, FEMA, USAID, etc is tough to produce visual cues. It'll take some creative thinking.
Great idea! Poetry by kids. There’s no more funding for programs that gives kids the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings through the literary arts. Without this, it’s harder for them to process their experiences and makes them more likely to act out, become numb, or otherwise suffer. With so much violence around, including in schools, it’s monstrous that the expressive arts have been taken away. I can send you a photo or written example of kids writing poems. Thank you, Cindy, you’re on the ball, as always!
My kids went to art specialty public schools in Milwaukee back in the 1990's-2004. They are now around 40 years old, and I don't believe those schools are still in existence due to lack of funding in the early 2000's, despite winning scholarly awards.
Exactly. And now the situation is even worse. I teach poetry programs in schools, jails, community centers, etc. through an arts nonprofit that exists on grants. For the first time, there is no funding coming in at all, due to foundations being starved of federal monies and philanthropists holding onto their money because of the stock market rollercoaster. Our programs are mostly for low income kids kicked to the margins; the denial of resources for them and all kids is devastating.
I think your list is pretty good! I'll try to think about it. And I recognize that hat!
You did a wonderful job knitting that hat, I love it!
I would add financial documents: checkbook, mortgage/lease, credit card, business loan, stock portfolio, IRA/401k, etc. My mother was born in 1936 and she reminds me about how she couldn’t open her own checking account or get a credit card in the 1960s unless my father co-signed. The power of financial freedom, something banks today still give freely to some and not others.
I love this project, btw!
Excellent suggestion!! Thanks, Lia. Women didn't get the right to their own credit cards until 1974...blows my mind! I was a freshman in high school that year, and I remember the second wave of feminism was in full swing...MS Magazine and all. Being silent about oppression never works like getting out and raising your voice!
Good list. As you know, I'm deeply involved in resistance/solidarity right now, and have ideas from the struggle. Some may include or overlap what you already mentioned. Some are for/by those directly attacked by authoritarianism, some for those in solidarity, some for both.
Video documentation (add to camera & photos), graffiti, murals, barbed wire, makeshift solar energy sources (greatly needed when power is cut), water desalination methods (when water infrastructure destroyed), hunger fasts (by those in solidarity, not those suffering from forced starvation), spoken word, rap, poetry (add to art), labor union activity, mutual aid campaigns (in addition to charitable/political giving), etc. You might also peruse some sites like https://sashakurmaz.com/Tools-of-Resistance (which includes an image of a Molotov cocktail but I don't know whether you want to keep this strictly nonviolent). Hope there's something in here that helps.
Great suggestions, thank you. I would like to keep this nonviolent for my personal wellbeing. Peaceful resistance through raised voices and intentional and mindful actions appeals to me the most for now. If this turns dystopian, I may change my mind on that.
Understood, that’s why I mentioned it. 🙂
This is your public forum and we’re friends so I’ll share further thoughts privately.
I look forward to seeing your next work of art - as always!
I understand where you're coming from.
Great idea. Some of the significant things will be more difficult to image. I'm thinking about something like obscene income inequality. Or the fact the food pantries are experiencing the end of government grants that went to local growers that provided food to the pantries, as well as reduced financial contributions from others.
Yes, the cancellation of some social programs and reduction of grants to farmers, FEMA, USAID, etc is tough to produce visual cues. It'll take some creative thinking.
Great idea! Poetry by kids. There’s no more funding for programs that gives kids the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings through the literary arts. Without this, it’s harder for them to process their experiences and makes them more likely to act out, become numb, or otherwise suffer. With so much violence around, including in schools, it’s monstrous that the expressive arts have been taken away. I can send you a photo or written example of kids writing poems. Thank you, Cindy, you’re on the ball, as always!
My kids went to art specialty public schools in Milwaukee back in the 1990's-2004. They are now around 40 years old, and I don't believe those schools are still in existence due to lack of funding in the early 2000's, despite winning scholarly awards.
Exactly. And now the situation is even worse. I teach poetry programs in schools, jails, community centers, etc. through an arts nonprofit that exists on grants. For the first time, there is no funding coming in at all, due to foundations being starved of federal monies and philanthropists holding onto their money because of the stock market rollercoaster. Our programs are mostly for low income kids kicked to the margins; the denial of resources for them and all kids is devastating.
Thank you for doing that work!
Thanks! 💖