Wednesday, June 14, 2023

The Praxis of Hope

Posters for a fossil-free future pasted up along the Greenway bike path:

"Es facil, fools--no mas fossil fuels!"
(It's easy, fools--no more fossil fuels!)

The poster above, far right, is by local artist Ricardo Levins Morales, who creates lots of wonderful social-justice graphic art, available as posters, cards, calendars---you see it around town.

His daughter Olivia Levins Holden was part of the crew that painted the mural on the front of the thrift store--she's a regular customer too.
 Oh--I posted a photo of her at George Floyds Sq. painting a mural too---here: "There are a million ways to make a better world."

She told me recently that her father talks about "the praxis of hope"--a phrase I love a lot.
It's my old question: HOW do you sustain faith, hope, love?
His answer would include some version of what I've found:
                             Do your work.

(His, I think, would add... "Be of use: pass it along.")

It might be tiny, but it's not nothing.
When I made my Reading Rainbow book display for LGBTQ
+ Pride month on Monday, I showed Ass't Man and suggested he might create rainbow displays in the end caps in the front of the store.

When I came in yesterday, Tuesday, he gestured me to the front---he had started! He asked for my help--certain colors are not well represented in donations--lots of red and blue, less green and purple. Takes some scrounging in the store to find them. A green lamp, a pair of purple shoes...

The shelves, below, aren't done yet--stuff is getting moved out and added, but you can see the rainbow starting to form.
It's a little thing, but it's not nothing---anyone with eyes to see will see it.