Joy is Not Resistance
A Sunday Word
It’s been a while since I’ve written a Sunday Word, but a surprise last night inspired this week’s.
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A Sunday Word
JOY IS NOT RESISTANCE
I roll my eyes at the term “Joy is an act of resistance.” Independent happiness isn’t enough to resist massive, lethal systems, and Americans are especially susceptible to this kind of toxic individualism.
But we do need to make room for levity, to calm our central nervous system, and break from doomscrolling. We can’t make smart decisions in perpetual fight-or-flight. Empires know this; that’s why the news looks like it does right now.
Joy may not be an act of resistance, but it is an act of maintenance, necessary care in a world that benefits from neglect of ourselves.
Last night, as I was getting home, an army of Winnie-the-Poohs gathered on my street for a friend’s birthday. They invited me on the party train but I didn’t have a Pooh look. I ran into my house, raided my costume closet (everyone in New Orleans has one) and improvised with a lion jumpsuit I wore for Mardi Gras years ago and a Hawaiian shirt.
A Bluetooth, speaker, a cooler of drinks, a warm night. That’s all we needed.
The news has been so brutal, and my heart has felt heavy all week. I joined the bar crawl for a few stops and when I got home, I felt lighter than I had in days.
May you find your own army of Poohs outside your door and convince yourself to join them, if only for a little while.
Short video of the evening below.
My collection of Sunday Words can be found in my book POST.
