Introducing ART & HARD TIMES
A new series on the stories that get us through
Today’s newsletter is the beginning of a new series that I’m calling ART & HARD TIMES,1 a reflection on how art helps us to navigate difficult times. I’ve written about that idea before, but I worry that it gets a little weightless: airy ideas of Art and Beauty against the very concrete horrors of our moment in history.
For instance, the week of the 2024 election, I wrote about metaphorically telling stories in the dark: the fact that people keep creating beautiful things even during dark times is a source of hope for me. I stand by that. But the next week I read an old Kurt Vonnegut quote that drove the wind out of my sails a bit:
During the Vietnam War every respectable artist in this country was against the war. It was like a laser beam. We were all aimed in the same direction. The power of this weapon turns out to be that of a custard pie dropped from a stepladder six feet high.
It often does feel like that, right? What’s the point of art and creation and joy when every headline reveals a new nightmare, happening in real time?
On the other hand, I’m sure we can all think of times when a book, song, or film caught us at exactly the right moment and changed our lives for the better. That’s not incidental or trivial. It’s a testament to the power of art, to the fact that we need it to keep living, almost as urgently as food and water and air. Art gives us new ways of seeing the world, helps us to dream of what the world could be. And when we’re at our most isolated and desperate, art tells us that we’re not alone, gives us what we need to keep going.
Hence, this new series that will run through the month of June. I’ve invited a few friends to chat with me about a work of art that helped them to get through a hard time in their life. Each Friday I’ll share the text of one of those conversations. Instead of reflecting generally about the power of art, I hope these stories will help to make that real.
I’m excited to share these conversations with you, and I hope you’ll get as much out of them as I have. Maybe it will introduce you to some stories (and writers) who will help you navigate the darkness in your own life.
We’ll start next Friday with the great
! In the meantime, feel free to share examples of art that’s been particularly meaningful to you in the comments.Things Seen & Heard
My friend
wrote a fantastic piece for the Hedgehog Review about why ChatGPT is a gimmick and a net negative for education (and the human mind).In a little self-promotion: I wrote about the new opera Loving v. Virginia for the Jesuit Media Lab. They sponsored a trip to see one of the premiere performances in Virginia; the libretto was written by JML community member Jessica Murphy Moo.
I also closed out a month of reflecting on Pope Francis in Catholic Movie Club with Roberto Rossellini’s The Flowers of St. Francis (1950), a joyful, moving, often very funny look at St. Francis’ spirituality. It’s a beautiful film and I highly recommend it, especially if you want something to help with the existential dread!
A simultaneous reference to the James Thurber memoir and the Paramore song