A Room of One’s Own
Virginia Woolf wrote “A Room of One’s Own,” an essay about
how women writers, just like men, need a place to retreat away from the demands
of their daily life, to be free to concentrate on their writing.
I’m retired, and have few claims on my time and energy. So
why am I not writing up a storm? Creative nonfiction is my genre, so I can’t
just whip worlds out of my imagination – which is no great shakes anyway. What
I often lack is something I want to write about.
Turns out, adversity is a profound trigger to creativity.
Think breakup songs and protest songs and novels. So, Trump 1.0, Covid, and 2.0
have all been very helpful for creativity.
In terms of protest writing both content and distribution
need to be considered. For example, the content needs to be suitable to the
planned audience. And the content needs to provoke the actions I hope the
readers will take in response. Actions such as voting, at the bare minimum.
More effective responses seem to be needed, because our
opponents stop at nothing to get what they want (or think they want, until the
tiger they voted for starts to eat their faces).
Possibly more effective responses might include contacting
our members of Congress, boycotting big companies, and attending demonstrations
(hopefully without violence or arrests).
What other actions will be required to save America and the
world?
