So let’s talk utopia for a moment.
What are we working towards? Would we know the finish line if we saw it?
I’ve been breaking down this idea of “Utopia” a lot lately. This idea that we’ll reach a perfection state where systems of oppression cease to exist. Or maybe cease to hurt so much so often. On a long car ride recently, I finished the book Black Utopias: Speculative Life and Music and Other Worlds:
In the book, there was this compare and contrast of different utopian authors and where they succeeded and fell short of the “Utopian” ideal we’re all striving for. But there was this overall question of “Is this commonly accepted idea of Utopia really something we should even be striving for?” Is it ever attainable or even knowable. Does one person’s utopia beget another’s dystopia?
My idea of utopia (especially after reading this book) has definitely changed. I think it’s easy to be idealistic and say that the whole world will know peace and harmony. That we’ll join hands walk into the glorious sunset while the violins play. Now, this isn’t me being nihilistic, just coming to the realization that the world would take many reconstructions and, as Jayna Brown points out, require the absence of time and the decentering of the human to reach a utopia. And maybe we don’t want the utopia we end up with.
I’d say that my Utopia is just joy. Joy in your skin and stuck to your clothes. The access to joy even when you don’t feel so joyful. I think that when we can fill ourselves and those around us with joy, we come much closer to something beautiful and whole. We come closer to a future that is possible and non-linear. We learn to create our own pocket utopias with each other. To share them like trading cards. To covet them when we need to. To gatekeep when we must. I think that the radical action we should all be taking is to demand joy and wholeness in every space we occupy.
We deserve it. So demand it.
Announcements!
Class is (almost) in session!
The first quilting workshop is on April 16th!! There’s still a little time to hop in so head over to the Studio Two Three website and register!
ALSO!!! First market of the season on April 22nd!! We’ll be slinging a few prints, maybe a shirt or two so come hang out!
I have some really exciting workshops and updates coming up so stick to this little newsletter to stay up to date on what’s going on!