The Big Bang of Collective Action: The Question
This is part of “The Big Bang of Collective Action”, a nonlinear list essay by me, Jason Wyman, Impact Producer for The Alliance for Media Arts and Culture. It captures in its simple complexity the breadth of The Alliance’s Youth Media Collective Action Initiative.
Each “bullet” in the list contains both a visual code and a story. Some stories are metaphor. Some are poetry. Others are summaries. And even one is a worksheet. It is my humble attempt to synthesize the collective and manifest its wisdom in the form that works best for that collective wisdom.
“The Big Bang of Collective Action” is meant to be read in whatever manner moves you. At the end of this post is a visual table of contents. Click whichever CODE catches your eye or makes you want to click.
And please know, “ The Big Bang of Collective Action” is also a tool. It is meant to be used. So please interact with it by clicking links, leaving a comment, sharing it with a friend, sketching an idea, recording a video response, and/ or writing your own post.
February 15, 2016
Less than one month after beginning
Over a phone call
Crossing this country
A question is asked by
Kate Folwer in Whitesburg, KY
Of herself
Of her community
Of me in San Francisco, CA
What are our desired futures?
And it inspires
A journey
Of finding what is beautiful about our home
Of creating ways of being that sustain collective action
Of asking questions and asking questions and asking questions some more
&
A movement
Of people coming together over distance, age, and time
Of presence physical and virtual
Of plural forms
&
A practice
Of peer learning
Of active listening
Of personal inquiry
One year and nine days later
February 24, 2017
Over a another phone call
Again crossing this country
A different question is asked by
Me in San Francisco, CA
Of myself
Of my community
Of Kate Fowler in Whitesburg, KY
Where are you now?
And it reveals
The unravelling
Of assumptions
Of politics
Of chains
&
The similarities
Of stories
Of belonging and place
Of mobility and rootedness
&
The complexities
Of learning how to unlearn that which we hold true
Of broadening rather than narrowing
Of intersecting identities
Today
This day has no date
There is no phone call
Crossing this country
It has no caller
Or receiver
Just questions asked
Of your self
Of your community
Of my self
What are our desired futures?
Where are you now?
