Originally printed as part of an installation, this is best read next to bookended pictures: one of a nude woman, unfurling from above and one of a 160cmish figure in a hoodie and an oversize tee, leaning against any vertical surface they can find.<\/p>\n
If the second image doesn’t exist for you, be the change you wish to see in the world.<\/p>\n
Change<\/em> isn\u2019t<\/em> quiet<\/em>, she told me. It\u2019s proclaimed on each street corner, it\u2019s in every home where a frowning blonde woman behind the newsdesk calls it moral decay but she uses softer words. We are afraid of words, because words lead to actions, and every action that you take against this dystopic fucking nightmare \u2013\u00a0every fence cut, every door barred, every hand reaching for another\u2019s, out in this storm \u2013 every real thing you do to force them out of our lives and back into their own.<\/em><\/p>\n You don\u2019t find safety there. But if you\u2019re really looking, you didn\u2019t find safety here either. You\u2019ve got to be ready and you\u2019ve got to be sure of the choices you\u2019re going to make now.<\/em><\/p>\n She fixes my collar and the corners of her mouth twitch. It\u2019s all your choice.<\/em><\/p>\n You know they called me complicit once. She held on to my wrist. It\u2019s not like that, exactly. There\u2019s no such thing as neutral any more. There never really has been. I don\u2019t know what you were told. There\u2019s always a cost.<\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019re not making these choices, someone else is doing that for you. If you don\u2019t take your own agency into your own hands, what is it being used for? Who is it being used against?<\/em><\/p>\n That\u2019s not fair, I said.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t fair.<\/em><\/p>\n Change isn\u2019t fair,<\/em> she told me. It\u2019s individual, in the same way that a storm is a single breath a hundred thousand times over. Change leaves people out just the same as a downpour, or a fire. That\u2019s not intentional, but if you pay no mind it happens just the same. It\u2019s a new story, built on the ashes of the old. Forgetting is both a sign and a tool of something bigger, something driven by people much smaller than both of us. I think it\u2019s a responsibility not to forget. I think it\u2019s yours.<\/em><\/p>\n The way you look at anyone, that is powerful. <\/em>She chucks my chin, unsmiling. That\u2019s why they teach you to cast it down. They know they are nothing without you. We are nothing alone.<\/em><\/p>\n Not one.<\/em><\/p>\n Our eyes meet again, not searching. I saw it then.<\/p>\n You are a force of nature.<\/em><\/p>\n You are holy, I replied.<\/p>\n Aren\u2019t we, though?<\/em><\/p>\n I said, You know we\u2019ll never make it. Not like this. Are you comfortable with that? I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n Her mouth twitches again.<\/p>\n And she told me, We don\u2019t have to be. We don\u2019t even have to accept it. Just know that it will happen, and when it does, they will see you. You will have to be ready to look through them like I know you can. Of all the things you\u2019ll forget, let go of everything but this.<\/em><\/p>\n I did let go of everything else, everything but this:<\/p>\n Change isn\u2019t quiet.<\/p>\n It\u2019s proclaimed on each street corner, it\u2019s in every home where a different frowning blonde woman behind the same newsdesk calls it moral decay but she uses softer words. They are afraid of words, because words lead to actions, and every action that you take against this dystopic nightmare \u2013 every fence cut, every door barred, every hand reaching for another\u2019s, out in this storm \u2013 every real thing you do forces them out of our lives and back into their own.<\/p>\n And you have a choice now. You have got to be ready and you\u2019ve got to be sure of the choices you\u2019re going to make now.<\/p>\n But know this. If you\u2019re really looking, there\u2019s no safety to be found here.<\/p>\n But there is safety to be made. There is change, the storm a single breath a hundred thousand times over, the downpour, the fire. It\u2019s a a new story, built on the ashes of the old, it\u2019s a force of nature, it\u2019s you. You are divine, rage and rebirth, and it\u2019s true<\/em> that you\u2019re nothing on your own. If you must know anything, know then that you are not on your own, not in any sense. There are many more, so many more like you, but not you.<\/p>\n There are words, the words that lead to actions that bring hands, bodies, thoughts, words, and that\u2019s how it goes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a call that you\u2019ll hear, but not like that. It\u2019s a lightning strike, and pay it mind because we will burn and regrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Originally printed as part of an installation, this is best read next to bookended pictures: one of a nude woman, unfurling from above and one of a 160cmish figure in a hoodie and an oversize tee, leaning against any vertical surface they can find. If the second image doesn’t exist for you, be the change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-self"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nayook.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nayook.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nayook.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nayook.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nayook.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/nayook.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324,"href":"https:\/\/nayook.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nayook.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nayook.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nayook.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAren\u2019t you?<\/em>
\nDamn. Not like that.
\nLike what?<\/em>
\nI don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n