With the start of construction of the Enbridge Line 5 reroute having started, the lines between my art and organizing worlds have really started to blur. Without the work I do as an organizer I think I would just be too filled with depair these days. Yet, some days still are hard–like yesterday. Like fog rolling in, it felt like the weight of the world caught up with and I was just off all day.
I mostly just embraced it. It feels like the appropriate response given the state of the world right now. And given the state of things here locally, with most of the trees along the easement for the reroute having been cut down. At the same time, I know that’s not a place I want to stay.
I’m grateful that I have the steady belief that even when our efforts don’t stop the violence and harm, our efforts matter and make a difference. I’ve been thinking a lot about this with the Line 5 reroute: No matter the outcome, how can we make our efforts worth it and move the needle forward? The answer I keep coming back to is relationships. With relationships at the heart of it all, it seems that no matter what happens, if I’m deepening my relationships within my community and ecosystem, then it’s all worth it.
I’ve also been day dreaming about flowers. I’ve started preparing to put in garden beds at my house this spring, I bought myself my favorite purple tulips the other week, I’ve got a vase of forsethia branches in water to get them to bloom, and I started thinking about making a piece of art for my bedroom of a giant bouquet of zinnias to help cut through the gray days.