Grounding in Our Agency

with a prompt for justice

These days my early training in helplessness wants to reach up through the earth and wrap itself around my ankles to immobilize me. As a person who has suffered with cPTSD, I recognize helplessness as a symptom of my earliest traumas. The world currently offers me many reasons to stay small and unseen. But that’s no way to move toward freedom and justice; helplessness will not help any of us resist.

When I think of resistance, I think how necessary it is. For Trans lives, BIPOC lives, immigrant lives, and the lives of the chronically ill, the acutely ill and the disabled, for those of us depending on social security, medicaid, medicare and other federal support, how so much is at risk for so many.

I could ostrich myself and ignore what’s happening. I could use my personal sense of fragility and my disabilities as an excuse to do nothing. I could rationalize sleeping for the next few years. I could dissociate and hope other people might rise up instead. But of course we are all the ones we’ve been waiting for. So how can we move forward? What can we do?

A lot. I was on a strategizing call two nights ago with 10 thousand other people! Run by Working Families and MoveOn.org, it was thrilling to hear and implement plans for resistance.

When I feel inundated with emails offering me too many ways to get my voice into the world, I give myself some breathing space, remind myself: I do not have to respond to everything all the time. Then I can reframe the emails as the gifts that they are, so that I can actually be heard on a myriad of issues. (You do not have to donate every time you send an email or make a call.)

There are so many ways to voice dissent and demand resistance and change. And if you are disabled, check out Claudia Alick’s Calling Up Justice for ways to resist in community with other disabled folks.

Pick the issues that affect you the most (or what you care about the most) and focus on those. Stay focused. Try one action each day. Call your reps and keep calling and emailing. Phone bank if you can. Donate if you can. March and rally if you can.

Try not to get trapped in the idea that you can’t do anything. That’s where they want you, that’s what they are banking on. Let’s refuse to let them win. Let’s ground ourselves in our agency, what we can do, whatever it is.

I heard Jane Fonda speak last week live at an event for Eve Ensler’s latest project, “Dear Everything.” Jane was begging us to have hard conversations with the people who voted red. Jane said we can extend some compassion to those who may be waking up to reality in their own pain (don’t call them woke). So much that is happening can work to bring us together to reimagine a new government with greater limits on presidential power.

An earlier substack I wrote titled Finding Our Voices reminds me that this is ongoing work, incremental, necessary and healing. I have been writing (in addition to activist work). Some make art. Whatever you are doing to use your voice, to push against the impulse to stay silent, will be empowering and healing. Whether or not you share your work or not, the act of making a mark on a page is an act of resistance. You might even surprise yourself!

The Justice Prompt:

Take any part of the historical uses of the definitions of justice with its roots below or use your own idea of justice along with your own lists of what is unjust in the world, yes, make a LIST of all the things.

It is often helpful to see the list, to solidify all of the things. Keep it somewhere. That way it isn’t floating around in your psyche ready to trigger you randomly. There’s a place for it. You can take it out when you’re able. Lock it back up when you need time free from its energy. You are in control of it.

When you have your list of concerns and injustices that you can hold somewhere, you can exercise more control over all the ways injustice works to feel destabilizing. You can ground yourself in your own agency.

You decide what you will write about (or make art about) session by session.

Set a timer, so you always know there will be an end to your explorations. This creates more safety around the difficulty of using our voices. This allows you to use the time to explore your feelings, your stories, your knowledge, your sensory experiences about whatever subject you have chosen. (5 minutes works well.)

How might this impact the work you’re already doing? How can it be incorporated into any characters or settings or worlds? When Shakespeare was writing Romeo & Juliet, the No-Dueling law was enacted. Will incorporates that beautifully. Your mileage may vary. You don’t have to compete with Shakespeare, but you are welcome to employ his winning strategies. He makes a simple love story more relevant for his time.

So here are a few ideas of justice to play with or against!

The definitions: from Etymonline, the online etymology dictionary, Justice comes from the mid-12th century, "the exercise of authority in vindication of right by assigning reward or punishment;" also "quality of being fair and just; moral soundness and conformity to truth," from Old French justice "justice, legal rights, jurisdiction" (11c.), from Latin iustitia "righteousness, equity," from iustus "upright, just" (see just (adj.)).

Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. ["The Federalist," No. 51]

The meaning "right order, equity, the rewarding to everyone of that which is his due" in English is from late 14c. The Old French word had widespread senses including also "uprightness, equity, vindication of right, court of justice, judge." To the Greek philosophers (Plato, Aristotle) the notion was of each thing in its proper sphere or serving its proper purpose; inequality of aptitudes and outcomes was implied.

In English c. 1400-1700 it sometimes also had a vindictive sense of "infliction of punishment, legal vengeance." As a title for a judicial officer in English from c. 1200. Justice of the peace is attested from early 14c. To do justice to (someone or something) "deal with as is right or fitting" is from 1670s. In the Mercian hymns, Latin iustitia is glossed by Old English rehtwisnisse (see righteousness).”

All of this is so very white Western canonical, I want to offer something else to consider here. In terms of finding our voices right now when they are needed more than ever, I am inspired by the words of Audre Lorde who said,

                              "When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard 
                               or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. 
                                                                 So it is better to speak." 

artwork by Scott Sherman at ScottShermanStudio on Instagram

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February 5: South Arts Cultural Sustainability Grant

February 10: MacDowell Artist Residency

February 12: Florida Rep Playlab submissions

February 12: *NEW* Sundance Institute 2025-2026 Feature Film Producers Fellowship

February 13: Melbourne International Film Festival 2025 FINAL Deadline

February 13: NEA Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) Submission

February 14: *NEW* Manifest Gallery: Watching, a Call for Works about Observation…

February 16: *NEW* Manifest Gallery: Magnitude Seven Submissions

February 19: *NEW* Bethany Arts 3rd Annual Emerging Artist Fellowship

For Queer Playwrights in the MidAtlantic Region, The Strides Collective Commission application is open til February 23, apply here!

Clubbed Thumb's New Play Commission due March 20th!

Pittsburgh New Works seeks one-act plays for their 2025 season of world premieres. 15 to 20 plays will be selected as full productions or readings. Read our guidelines (they have changed somewhat) and if your play qualifies, submit it no later than Sunday, April 6!

For 10-30 min plays for The ReOrient Festival (about the Middle East Or by Middle Eastern writers) til April 30th more info / submit

February 28: *NEW* Columbia Center for Science and Society Environmental Humanities Grants Applications

April 1: *NEW* The Democracy Cycle 2025 Open Call

Amazing People Doing Amazing Things:

TOUCH a new play by Lori Goodman directed by Janice L. Goldberg will run at The Tank, 2/20 - 3/16. With the inimitable Carole Foreman in the lead role! Sit with me 3/8.

MRS LOMAN, a new play by Barbara Cassidy asking how can we deal with a sexist and racist canon, (a must-see sequel to Death of a Salesman), is opening this week on Theatre Row directed by Meghan Finn. Running through 3/15, go see it! I love this play!

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Robin Rice’s play PECKING ORDER runs at 59 E 59 - 1/29 - 2/15, get your tickets here!

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