Hi all!
(This letter is being sent to previous students of mine in the past 2 years, as part of a series I started when UWB first went into lockdown. An archive of previous emails can be found on my website. If you want off this mailing list, let me know. If you want to stay on it, send me your non-UW email address.)
I know I keep saying that this’ll be my last message, but, man, so much has happened this summer… I feel compelled to just celebrate with you all that we’ve got HOPE again, especially with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on the ticket, and I hope to god you all go out and vote if you can!
Just want to remind you that, as Sam says to Frodo:”There’s some good in this world… and it is worth fighting for.”
The last few years have seemed very tenuous and tumultuous. Maybe even futile. It sometimes felt like we were Sisyphus, pushing the boulder up a mountain to never get anywhere. But as Camus says: “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” Because Sisyphus has decided to own it. He owns that fucking rock and that fucking mountain; he sees the lot in front of him, and he raises the stakes by going all in and saying: “You know what? Fuck you, universe. I’m gonna do it. You can’t take away my conviction to do what’s right even if it seems futile.”
But also, take a look at this video. Watch that boulder slowly crash through the forest.
Surely, Sisyphus is gleefully just having fun with that boulder?
We are Sisyphus. We are that boulder. We actually do matter and do have an effect. So long as we stick together and join in collective action. Remember that while we are but tiny specks of nothingness in a vast uncaring universe, we have each other, and that’s worth fighting for. EEAAO taught us that even in chaos, we can choose kindness. And that ability to choose to be kind is everything. Nothing can take that away from us.
Looking back at UW, I see good intentions everywhere. But good intentions don’t always equal fairness and justice. I always believed we were all on the same team, fighting for what’s right. Now, from the outside, I realize that wasn’t enough. We need more than just good intentions. We need to know we’re in this together. We need to trust each other. That’s how we create real change. So please, be generous, be caring. Trust that we have each other’s backs. That’s how we move forward.
Anyway, I also wanted to share with you a new publication I have with a colleague where we talk about our intentional pedagogies of care during the pandemic. These letters to students have gained academic recognition, and I’m super happy they seem appreciated! 🙂
https://kairos.technorhetoric.net/29.1/interviews/schaefer-chen/index.html
cheers and love,
mark