Dear Reader,

We invite you to click over to Substack to view my new (10 minute) video essay. Here is an excerpt:

The arts invite us to think in metaphor, to play with ideas, to seek connection, and so it is that a love ethic is expressed through metaphor. Barry Lopez writes that “Abandoning metaphor entirely only paves the way to the rigidity of fundamentalism..” Which is a meaningful adjunct to hooks’ assertion: “An overall cultural embrace of a love ethic would mean that we would all oppose much of the public policy conservatives condone and support.” Those who control an oppressive regime will ban the arts in order to ban access to metaphor and to others. This is because, as Kaur writes, “stories that expand the collective we have the power to return us to one another.” And therefore to return power to us. She argues, “The most powerful force shaping who we see as us and them is the dominant stories in our social landscape.” To remain in power, they will want to control the story.

In the essay he posted last week, Matt wrote, “A practice steeped in a love ethic requires brave commitments: to beauty; to listening; to co-creation.” Oppressive systems do none of that. As Kaur reminds us, “the cost of participating in oppression is the shrunken capacity to love.” And as if in conversation with her, Barry Lopez writes: “It is more important now to be in love than to be in power.”

If you'd rather (or also like to) read, the whole essay is posted there, too.

Because Substack is designed to hold an accessible archive of our public work, we will be slowly migrating these longer form pieces there, and reducing the amount of long email newsletters we send to you. We hope this transition will make it easier for you to determine what you'd like to receive from us. So please subscribe over on Substack - all posts are free access. As we experiment, create content, and make decisions about organization, we hope you'll follow along - and share what is meaningful to you with others. Your willingness to share really helps us expand our mission to create a vibrant, inspired, and courageous community advocating for a flourishing relationship between childhood and adulthood.

sending love from Matt and me

A few good things:

Here is the full essay from Katherine Rundell that I reference extensively in my piece this week. A masterful work.

"Making life possible in uncertainty is to make room for more life, your own and many others. It is, as ever, to practice solidarity and reciprocity, to show up and to be present." A short essay - on making life possible.

I'm eager to read this new book from Eve L. Ewing and appreciated this excerpt - as well as this conversation with her.

This conversation between Anand Giridharadas and Anat Shenker-Osorio on The Ink is so good.

I also highly recommend you read/listen to Timothy Snyder whenever you can.

One more before we go:

“I craved books that said to a child: the world will demand your bravery and your endurance. Practise it here, where the imagination is the first way you experience transformation.”

— Katherine Rundell

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