Sister Corita Kent, 1967-68
“I’m struggling in my activism to know when to say something and when not to say something.
What advice do you have?”
“Part of it is tuning into your intuition and being comfortable in the waiting and witnessing of others who are already doing the work, who are already in. In the dance-making, they leave. That person might be tired, they might have seen their part of the dance complete itself. Maybe their exit feels like an invitation to enter. And maybe you only enter for a moment - a 20 second solo or maybe you join another trio that’s already in motion. So, when you look at how do we engage right now with the world - whether publicly or privately - for me I’m using a lot of the same compositional tools that I use in dance-making to make those decisions in the world.”
“When do you know that it is time to pick a new place? What time shapeshifting in front of us right now and priorities that actually fuel us - having space to talk louder, what would you say to someone who has the impulse to find a new city to move to?”
“Geographical moves can’t fix our inner emotional landscape, so I think that’s always really important to remember when you are thinking about moving. Even when I’m moving somewhere that I know is going to be more in line with the pace I want to go at or the values that I have , it’s really easy for me to attach that kind of narrative of “well when we move, xyz will feel better.” So when you’re picking a place, ask yourself what is important.”
“I’m struggling with perfectionism in my relationship, life, public presence, and creative practice. I have a big project coming out in a couple months and am starting to be like “what if it’s not good enough? What if I messed up? What if I said something that is harmful? I’m just really freaking out, like I don’t know what to do with myself.”
“Here’s the thing - we have to be committed to imperfection. We have to be committed to living an imperfect life. Because how many times have I been so sure of something, and really believed in it, and then it still didn’t go as planned. Right? So we have this opportunity to commit ourselves fully to the fact that we’re not perfect, and build that resilience and stamina for the messing up. There’s phrases around, “there is no messing up.” In Sister Corita Kent’s rules for the classroom, there’s a line that says, “nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.” There’s only making over and over over and again. There’s only beginning again over and over and over again.”