#newsamehope / 4.18.20

What is new in the last 24 hours?

• Folks are using stimulus checks to support mutual aid: https://jessss.com/blog/mutual-aid-chicago. Fun fact: even if your check’s memo line is marred by Trump’s signature, you can still use the money to help people!

• On-site learning in Illinois schools has officially been canceled for the rest of the school year.

• It only costs $68k to contaminate the air of an entire neighborhood during a respiratory crisis. (See: coal plant demolition in Little Village and environmental racism)

What is the same?

• Fiona Apple is a gift to us mere mortals. Her new album is painfully gorgeous, and “Paper Bag” remains one of the greatest songs to sing in the shower when you can be certain that no living soul can hear you.

What is the hope?

• A group of Piven teachers read Bluebeard aloud over Zoom, and we played with the form. We tried soundscapes. We centered ourselves and our breaths on the telling of a thread. We reflected on where we fell down, and we’re eager to keep playing. What can we do in our little boxes? In the strange mini prosceniums we occupy for so much of our time these days? 

• When I took out the garbage, I stepped into a patch of sunshine that pre-heated the space for me. The light smelled like spring when the warmed air entered my lungs. 

Photo: Cavan, Ireland. February 2019.