Musicians, artists: make as much music as you need to stay sane.
But in the rest of the time, organize. You are used to the hustle, to making do with too little resources and time.
Study the situation, then teach the others. Look after your families and critically, organize in your neighbourhood. This is a fractal problem. It needs fractal solutions. Teach them about distancing (practical) and exponential growth (understanding).
Organise group chats and pages for your immediate surroundings, your block or street, and move beyond. Take stock of people’s capacities and ways they can help, and create a list you can link to in your groups. Move way quicker than you think you need to – it’s the only way to stand a chance.
Remember how last week we were still playing gigs, still teaching? The fact that I was still teaching last Thursday feels like it’s a memory from another life time. That’s the power of exponential developments, and here’s what it means: that today’s events, seen from next Thursday, will feel like from yet another lifetime apart, even more so than the week now past.
Here are some resources if you need inspiration. These are reference points. You don’t have time to read them, just browse, use the principles, and where useful, connect with those who have the knowledge.
Collect, synthesize, break it down for those who are within your reach. Teach, and act. Build solidarity from the ground up.
- Google adrienne maree brown and her writing on “Emergent Strategy”. Her book of the same name, if you want to study that in your free time, is described here. An in-depth summary can be found here.
- Google Priya Parker and her writings and talks on hosting gatherings. Apply the principles to your online meetings: her book is “How We Gather“.
- Google Daniel Schmachtenberger and watch this 25 minute riff on “Emergence” for inspiration: a beautiful, positive antidote to the current emerging mess.
- Google Donella Meadows‘ idea of “Thinking in Systems”. Here’s the book as a free PDF.
List your ideas and resources below, and share these materials.
Now is the time to create Art.