{"id":821,"date":"2017-12-11T20:48:10","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T20:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/?p=821"},"modified":"2017-12-11T20:59:51","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T20:59:51","slug":"rays-ing-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/2017\/12\/11\/rays-ing-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays-ing Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A drizzly day came in early December when eight people rose to do something different<\/a>. \u201cSolar Powered\u201d aimed to generate sweat\u2014perspiration as lubrication for social advocacy. It was a yoga & dance party aimed to empower people in light of dismal climate change facts; we wanted to discuss agency in a positive setting. I worked on the basic logistics of event-planning (d\u00e9cor, food sponsors, posters, securing a yogi), composing more than 50 emails in the process.<\/p>\n

Our team placed great faith in the collective; the ostensible success of our project was contingent upon the community\u2019s response. If nobody showed: were we S.O.L. (that\u2019s a euphemistic acronym, not the Spanish word for \u201csun\u201d).<\/p>\n

Foucault said, \u201cLosing is an art, it inspires a new quality of attention.\u201d (Hawkins 123).<\/p>\n

Did we lose? Trump might call us \u201closers\u201d\u2014we didn\u2019t fix global warming nor get a chance to dance. Was it all a loss? No! Everyone who saw our invitation has now read the word \u201cAnthropocene\u201d\u2014itself a spark. Worthy of a back-pat, we were able to conceive of and follow through with the event without abandoning initial goals. We received generous vendor donations, designed a petroleum\u201d arts project, secured a venue with capacity to host, entertain, and stretch 100 attendees. All on a budget of less than 25 bucks!<\/p>\n

So much change hinges upon a person\u2019s willingness to interrupt her routine. To be human in the Anthropocene is, ultimately, about sacrifice.<\/p>\n

Yes, free coffee and ripe bananas were promised, but the pillow doth beckon. Such sleepy indifference is apt: until we\u2019re forced to act, we\u2019ll likely remain snug in our comfort zones. I, too, am guilty of succumbing to slumber.<\/p>\n

Just as Icarus flew too close to the sun, so did I scald my self-made waxwings. Stress and sleep loss caught up with me so that on December 2nd<\/sup> I woke not at a crisp 7, but rather a slothful 8. It was, as they say, a \u201cworst-case scenario.\u201d Burnout occurs. And it\u2019s appropriate to discuss it here, vis-\u00e0-vis \u201cSolar Powered. I am indebted to the work of my teammates: our system adapted to my negative feedback.<\/p>\n

With yoga and movement, we prepare. Prepare for what? For life. For that worst- (or best-) case scenario. We ready our minds and bodies for the totality of possibilities.<\/p>\n

A fourth group member, tasked with advertising (be it Facebook reminders, printing posters, gauging interest) would\u2019ve been the ideal complement to our trio. In hindsight, we should\u2019ve held the event at 10 AM, having established more buzz beforehand. Still, as this photo of yogis can attest: \u201csmall is beautiful\u201d \u2013E.F. Schumacher (Litfin 157).<\/p>\n\n\t\t