As a writer (or at least someone who enjoys writing), I often have a desire to look back at things I’ve written in the past. Digging through some old poems, personal narratives, and letters to myself I found an old manifesto I wrote as a class assignment.

I wrote this about 2 years ago, and as we all know a lot can happen in 2 years. Surprisingly, much of what I wrote resonates pretty deeply with who I am and what I believe now. In fact I’m surprised that me, who feels much more informed now, wrote this back then.

This piece is personal, a little poetic, and might bring up a sensitive topic or two. With only some minor edits, here’s my 2015 manifesto:

Women, Art, and other Matters Concerning the Mind of the Complex and Complicated

humans are an invasive species. Worse than the roaches that live in your walls, moving in and taking over. Destroying the habitats of animales of all kind. HUMANITY (humans and hu-womans) must learn to return what we love about this land back to the land. Taking more than we give will indubitably be the end of all man and woman and humans.

To the matter of creatures delicate but strong, vague but educated, and terrorized yet confident.

Women. Woe men. woman.

There is no man without woman. but man is superior? God is presumed to be a man? Is a woman not the true creator of a man?

but we are sexualized

terrorized

         pint-sized (or expected to be so)

 

women are to be respected as men are.

women are to be paid as men are.

women are to be given the same opportunities that men are.

We made man. Now man makes us.

Man makes one dollar to woman’s 89 cents.

can you spare some change?  

 

Back to the matter of humans destroying and taking, the one thing we give back to eARTh is ART. Art is to be appreciated as art despite sex-u-ality, nude-ity, preg-nancy, porn-o-graphy and all other obsucre-ities.

Drugs are good for art. Drugs might lead to sex. sex is art. (sex with strangers isn’t art, making love is making art is making love, which of course is art)

People create

People destroy

People destroy themselves

suicide can be beautiful

suicide can be ugly (please don’t make me watch you slit your wrist again)

 

Suicidal? try a cup of coffee.

Coffee heals most

Suicidal? try a cup of tea.

Tea heals all.

 

People are hungry for two things.

People are hungry to create

People are hungry for FOOD.

 

there are people starving. “FOOD DOESN’T JUST GROW ON TREES”

It does. plant more trees. feed more people.

Plant more trees. Don’t use them to print money.

Plant more trees. Feed more people.

 

stop making things out of plastic. 

make more things out of paper.

Plant more trees.

 

I won’t shoot you for the color of your skin

but he might. or she might. or they might.

but I won’t (please don’t shoot my brother for wearing black at night)

 

life isn’t short, some things just don’t matter

Bury your dreams

Bury your aspirations

Only dig them up the day that life takes you to where they were buried.

And until then …