MW Rx. 59 - Garden Party AKA This Is A Lot

What this episode covers

It's just me this week, but I'm not alone, because you're with me. xoAmy Amy's first prescription is an instagram post from Austin Channing Brown, who acknowledges that This Is A Lot: "You're not imagining it. You're not overreacting. You're not being melodramatic. Your body isn't lying to you about how heavy it all feels. It can be helpful to see how systems of violence are all connected but it can also be overwhelming. It can feel like you exist under a weighted blanket- it's hard to move, hard to breathe. I wish I could offer you relief and organize it all into nice, neat boxes roughly the size of an Instagram post and issue some orders that would have us solve all of this. But I cannot. We need a revolution. And then another one. And then another one. And then another one. Because the backlash to our revolutions is real. We are living through one right now. And your survival. And your art. And your voice. And your writing. And your passion. And your joy. And your beauty all matter for getting to the other side- so you can enjoy and experience the next revolution. Remember the goodness that you want in the world. Remember the human dignity you want for Black people, Palestinian people, queer people, disabled people, poor people, women people, children people, houseless people, incarcerated people, marginalized people and all the intersections thereof. Remember the goodness you're working toward. Because the backlash of hate is impossible to carry if you do not remember what it is to love. And as silly is it feels we must remember love." And while we weep for the world, Amy brings Northern Lights (the Canadian equivalent of USA For Africa, We Are The World) to remind us that Tears Are Not Enough. If we can pull together We could change the world forever Heaven knows that tears are not enough As Angela Davis famously said, "Freedom is a constant struggle." Now is the time to figure out our roles in the revolution, and Amy takes inspiration from the cucumber plants in her garden. Each cucumber grows at it's own pace, in it's own shape: some are curved, some are straight, some are round, some are flat, some are slim and some are bulbous. Amy is struck by the fact that we’ve all been conditioned into a false sense of Uniformity - at the grocery store and in our human lives - that everything and everyone needs to look the same, act the same, be the same - but that's NOT how Nature works. Nature both celebrates and requires difference and diversity. To underscore the point, Amy brings a scene from one her favourite movies, Harold And Maude, where Maude points out that what appears to be a field of uniform daisies is made up of thousands of individuals with all kinds of observable differences. And Matt Baume's video essay The Rowdy Queer Rebels Who Turned Television Gay which reminds us that true reformation requires all different types of activists, working together toward a common goal. And last, Amy adds Garden Party by Rick Nelson. Rick's fans didn't want him to mature and grow - they wanted the Little Ricky Nelson that they knew and loved, to the point where Rick would get booed when debuting new material. So he wrote this song: Well it’s alright now I’ve learned my lesson well See you can’t please everyone so you gotta please yourself You are allowed to grow and change into whatever shape pleases you. You can make the world into a shape that pleases you too - one cucumber, one garden party, one revolution at a time. Blessed fucking be. We must remember love.

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