Let’s try something different. This week, I dedicated my podcast, This Is Your Afterlife, to the type of discussion I usually have here in Definitive Answers. Rather than conjure another topic, I present it here for you, in audio form.
I wanted inspiration in the midst of so much darkness, so I turned to a familiar source of comfort for me, Audre Lorde’s “Uses of the Erotic.” In the episode, I read from the essay, play clips of her giving the original talk (at least I think it’s the original), and tie Lorde’s concept of The Erotic to the concrete practice of unsentimental, active, disciplined hope that Mariame Kaba talks about.
I guess I’m thinking a lot about hope these days. Feel free to let me know what you’re thinking about, or what you think about what I’m thinking about.
If you’re dead set on reading, you can view the show’s transcript here (and all the show’s transcripts).
Content warning: gun violence, Uvalde, Buffalo, despair, Audre Lorde, Mariame Kaba, hope.
Texts:
Audre Lorde: "Uses of the Erotic" (printed in Sister Outsider)
Beyond Prisons podcast: Hope Is a Discipline feat. Mariame Kaba (excerpt printed in We Do This 'Til We Free Us)
MOOD BOARD
Chicago Abortion Fund’s Fund-A-Thon is over, and we raised just under $1000 (I think, I can no longer see the link). We didn’t hit our $1600 goal, but HOLY SHIT A THOUSAND BUCKS IS SO GOOD AND YOU MADE THAT HAPPEN!! I’m so happy and proud of the folks who read this newsletter and contribute in ways like this that make it feel like a real community. Thank you.
MAY I PLAY YOU A SOUND?
I mentioned attending the Chihei Hatakeyama show a couple weeks ago and didn’t provide musical accompaniment! I’ve been dipping my toes into his album Afterimage, which was inspired by a photo found in a Turkish antique store that serves as the cover. I don’t hear the story, but I get plenty of the beautiful, billowing stillness I come to Hatakeyama’s music for. The last, titular track is 20 minutes of quiet grandeur.
At the show, Chihei recommended three CDs to me at his merch table, and I bought two, based on covers alone. Of course, the one I left behind was Afterimage, which I like the most after having heard all three. In my defense, here are the other two covers:
Pretty cool covers, right?!!
In margarine,
DM
Audre Lorde's Erotic hope