'Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away'
Reading corner
Hope in the dark
by Rebecca Solnit
It’s important to say what hope is not: it is not the belief that everything was, is, or will be fine. The evidence is all around us of tremendous suffering and tremendous destruction. The hope I’m interested in is about broad perspectives with specific possibilities, ones that invite or demand that we act. It’s also not a sunny everything-is-getting-better narrative, though it may be a counter to the everything-is-getting-worse narrative. You could call it an account of complexities and uncertainties, with openings.
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Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. When you recognize uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes — you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists. Optimists think it will all be fine without our involvement; pessimists take the opposite position; both excuse themselves from acting. It’s the belief that what we do matters even though how and when it may matter, who and what it may impact, are not things we can know beforehand. We may not, in fact, know them afterward either, but they matter all the same, and history is full of people whose influence was most powerful after they were gone.
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Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away. And though hope can be an act of defiance, defiance isn’t enough reason to hope. But there are good reasons. Read a longer version here
Healing notes
I have been down in the dumps for a while now. Unable to focus on "regular" work. Distracted by the ongoing dehumanisation of people and the unsurprising communalisation and racism. I find myself turning to things that give me comfort and then wondering about all those who don't have this luxury right now.
This is truly a difficult time to be alive. I think the world over we are being asked to respond to this crisis in a humane, caring and supportive manner. Our governments seem to be baffled by this expectation - but people thankfully are rallying around each other.
Just over the past week, I have seen so many fundraisers for people who can't "work from home".. for those who won't be able to "stock up".. for the elderly, the disabled, the poor. It is a relief to see this. But I've also noticed how people are lashing out at each other. In this time of grief, pain and uncertainty, I think taking time out to care for each other, hold space for the fun things (like selfies, cats, movies) seems to be seen as frivolous. I don't know when we began to accept or believe that healing, caring and responding to crisis had to be a serious task. The many ways in which people are learning to enjoy themselves, learning to be there for themselves all seem valid to me. They give me hope too.
Hope that we can and will be there for each other.
Hope that this period might be scary, but we can laugh and be together.
Hope that we need to change our views and perceptions of many things but slowly, bit by bit, we can.
I hope that everyone reading this finds hope in their day today. Not just because hope is warm and fuzzy, but because hope gives us the strength to continue caring for each other and this planet.
Creative experiments
4 eggs 1 and 1/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup (230g) unsalted butter 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar 3/4 cup Nutella
Beat the eggs and keep the aside. I made mine nice and frothy.
Next mix all the dry ingredients - the flour, the baking powder, the cinnamon and salt. Keep this aside.
Beat the butter and sugar together till it is light and frothy.
Finally mix the flour with the butter and sugar mix.
Line a pan/bowl with lots of butter and pour in 1/3rd of the batter. Then using your fingers, add in swirls of nutella. Another round of batter and another swirl of nutella. Then pour the batter.
This pound cake takes anything between 45 minutes to an hour. After about 25 minutes cover the top so it doesn't brown too much.
It might be the best cake I have made in all my life. Full, original recipe here.
Dear you,
I have been staying indoors for a while now and there is an ache because
of how this pandemic is being responded to by our governments. But people, they give me hope.
Stay indoors, stay safe, all of you <3
Love, kindness and warmth,
Nidsitis
'I’ve been circling for thousands of years and I still don’t know: Am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song?' - Rainer Maria Rilke