Hello Stranger on the Internet,
It's been a while since I last wrote an email. I've written a piece on Substack. And I'm also teaching a 90 minute mini spiral of the work that reconnects tomorrow as part of the Reimagining Education Conference if you'd like to join!
This email is part of a series I’m writing talking about thawing the freeze of capitalism, the imagination and the work that reconnects.
Typically, emails are supposed to come with a thesis statement, a hypothesis, or a problem to solve and I can’t really think of a specific problem to solve.
Our problems are wide and vary depending on the stage we are in and our contexts. So, no, there’s no problem. Except for the fact that, well, the world is falling apart. I, myself have a buffet of problems that I have to deal with day in and day out and they vary. This week, it’s been:
- My son’s behavior at school: distracted, disruptive
- My daughter’s screaming
- Debt repayment
- Reinventing myself, again, as an almost 39 year old
And that leaves me thinking: who am I to want to solve other people’s problems? My first response is: inventive. I’m a very inventive person. And as a child, that came as embellishment. One of my exes used embellishment to create beautiful standup comedy material, he was actually quite funny.
Somewhere along the way we’ve managed to judge embellishing as a bad thing, but what if it could be our saving grace?
Hear me out:
I really couldn’t imagine a world without capitalism for a long, long time. I even believed in the development model that I was taught in my master’s degree until I sat in a focus group with rural women who showed me how it was all following a colonial blueprint.
And I refuse to work for that beast.
We’ve all benefited from capitalism and we still do for the same reason: we can’t imagine otherwise.But what if we can embellish? Reimagine? Or at least do it with some intention!
I know that sounds a bit too vague so I’m going to try a couple of ways right here with you.
Capitalism working for me: I can have anything delivered to my doorstep and that’s a product of capitalism
Blank Truth: I’m just too tired and lazy to go anywhere with my two kids as the only adult around.
Embellished: I create relationships with the people who have things delivered to me. I choose to have things delivered because I avoid the overwhelming demands of the supermarket with aisles so strategically designed to make me want more.
This is always a stretch, especially on days like these. What’s one thing you can embellish to make it closer to a reality you desire? Or to explain why it is the way it is?
Hit reply, I’d love to read what you have to share.
Love, Sara
PS I’m running a 6 week Work that Reconnects Spiral workshop called Thawing the Freeze of Capitalism starting March 25, I’ll share more information over the next couple of weeks but you can find some more information here
