The Power of Words: Part One

We just wrapped up the 2021 Power of Words conference put on by the Transformative Language Arts Network. Full transparency, I serve on the board for this organization, c0-chaired the conference (kind of), and plan to teach within the network. My ties to the organization are strong and attending the Power of Words conference this weekend, solidified why I’m part of the organization in the first place. A big piece of that “why” comes down to the content of the conference and its presenters. They talk about really hard things in really beautiful ways. They ask questions we don’t normally ask ourselves (well most of us anyway… but I have the terrible misfortune of always thinking about everything).

So with that in mind, I’d like to take this time to reflect on what came up out of the conference this year.

Backstory

I attended my first Power of Words (POW for short) conference back in 2019 (the last time it met in person) and I was ironically in a similar place that I am now, but also not. That particular POW was instrumental in getting me to see that our callings and purposes in the world can be integrated into our “real” world. I was struggling to figure out how to be multiple people at once and I was fresh off my terrible experience of losing a job. I was still new to coaching trauma recovery clients but still yearned for creativity in my life. I loved that conference so much because it opened up my eyes to the different avenues available for creative people. I met individuals who later became close friends (Hi, Lesley! Hi, Brenda!). I learned of different organizations that cared more about the state of humanity than they did profits. All of this was immensely important to me at the time (and still is!).

Today

I feel as if I’m grappling (more than ever) with the external aspects of my purpose, calling, career — but I’ve also done a lot of internal work since the last POW. I’ve gotten clarity on my values and beliefs. So going into the conference this year, it has felt like a deeper questioning of the things I already know to be true. I was particularly interested in gaining as much wisdom and inspiration from the keynote presenters as possible. We had an INCREDIBLE line-up this year with U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. We had poets, Javier Zamora, Lyla June and Caits Meissner also as keynoters. Even though I knew of their talent and immense value, it wasn’t until their sessions that I felt the weight of the work they’ve been doing. Each of them has beautifully harrowing stories in their own ways and their art shows the strength and capacity to come out the other side of it. To hear them revisit their difficult times and obstacles was to get a glimpse into their recovery process. As someone concerned with recovery and creativity, this was fascinating. I was glued to the screen, soaking up every word I could. The end result? Lots of seeds to water and nurture for this publication and beyond.

Musings

I wanted to touch on a few “top-level” topics that got my brain juices going this weekend. These topics may be situational (as in good fodder for the conference but not beyond), some might be touchstones for this publication, and others might lead me down a new path I haven’t yet considered. That’s the beauty of learning, writing, and creating a publication like this — I’m allowed to see where “things go.”

Idea #1 — Intentional Creativity

One of the topics brought up by Joy Harjo has me thinking about how we use creativity intentionally. For example, Joy asked the question,

“How can we create for ourselves, but also for others in the past and the future? I think about my own poems and how fifty years from now, I believe they will still exist, but I will not. Sure, perhaps my name will, but not many people will associate me (the person) with the me that wrote the poem.”

Hmm. That is a fascinating concept that I think gets lost in translation because we get so focused on one or the other. It’s hard to hold in our minds the very essence of creating for all of those things at once. I have a hard enough time creating out of the simple joy and pleasure of doing it for myself… it seems like it would be a tall order to achieve all of the above creatively and yet… people do it. They do it every day and they have been doing it for millennia. I don’t have the answer to her question (and that’s okay) but it is something I want to let simmer for now.

Idea # 2 — The Paradoxical Fragility of Youth

This is going to be a complicated concept to explain as I’m still trying to grasp it myself. There’s a part of me that is very opinionated about the subject but I also know that side of me needs to be more open-hearted and considerate of other views. So here it is. At one point in Joy Harjo’s sessions, someone asked how she would respond to a student in her college class that didn’t want to read particular parts of Harjo’s work because it was “triggering” and “upsetting.”

Joy’s response was: Then don’t make them read it. It’s their choice and it speaks more about them than the creator.

I’m sure time and age have helped Joy reach this generous conclusion. I, on the other hand, am less forgiving. I do agree that it’s a choice. And I’m a huge proponent of that. I wouldn’t want anyone to tell me what I should or shouldn’t be reading. That being said — what’s NOT being said about the question or the answer is that it’s become SO easy for people to simply ignore the hard and upsetting stuff. Sometimes it does come back to triggers (and as someone who works with trauma survivors, this is a very valid and real concern) however, 9 times out of 10 when I’m talking to someone who uses that as a justification, they don’t actually realize that what they’re experiencing isn’t a trigger-reaction. They don’t realize that “triggers” have very different meanings for those with trauma versus those who are using it out of context. So yes, I very much understand those who choose to avoid triggering content. It’s those who willfully and intentionally want to avoid any and all upsetting material because of their fragility. Because of their inability to read the hard stuff and look at their own lives and see the cracks in the veneer. Who absolutely do not want to think about changes they may need to make because of what they’re reading.

And yet! Yet! The younger generations (millennials, Gen Z) are some of the most ferociously active members of social justice movements. They are not afraid to stand up for causes. They are not afraid to correct elders about their misuse of gender pronouns. They are wildly ambitious young people who aren’t afraid to fight for what is right and just.

And therein lies the paradox. I see it every day — the bravery mixed with the ignorance of self-introspection. The desire to help others yet refusal to look at their own internal shit. It baffles me as much as Boomers and past generations are baffled about the habits and quirksome qualifiers that elder millennials have.

I don’t think I’ve processed all of my feelings around this enough to continue with a hypothesis, but I am sensing that this topic/theme won’t be going away anytime soon. There is something here that is nagging at the corners of my mind to be witnessed.

Idea #3 — The Ownership of Power

In her session, Lyla June spoke of something so powerful it was like a punch in the gut. She said,

“People forget that power doesn’t belong to us. It was given to us to take care of and share.”

It’s utterly beautiful but it feels so far from the truth in our society. In fact, it feels like the exact opposite. We literally put ONE person in charge of our country, who has the most “power.” Even though we’d like people to believe there are checks and balances, we all know who really holds the power. Varying levels of power dynamics play out in every area of our lives, in every community, organization, family of origin, etc. You name it and there are power dynamics at play.

But I think the gist of what Lyla was saying is that not everyone has to play into or abide by these power dynamics. In fact, rejecting the power dynamics is its own rebellion and we develop our own sense of power through it. We put the power back into our own hands and in the hands of the people who need it. We cannot always stop those who are in power. There will always be people who want more and more power and will do terrible things to get it. But we can empower ourselves and empower others. We can lead and live our lives through the lens of sharing power with those we interact and engage with.

I was reflecting on how I already do this in my daily life but how I can be better at it in the future. One thing I love about my programs and workshops is that I try very consciously to empower every single student. I try to teach from a place of a co-creator or collaborator rather than someone who “knows” more or “has more education.”

But even that doesn’t seem to be enough to me. It has me thinking about ways in which I can engage and involve my students in their learning in a way that empowers them even more. I don’t know what that looks like right this minute, but I do know that the tugging in my gut about it tells me I’m on to something. That in order for my students to see how powerful they are, they need it to be reflected back to them. If I can figure out how best to do this, I think I will see even more of a shift in how they respond to the materials and the work they’ve done for themselves.