There is a joy that draws peoples together rather than a joy that's built within segregated spaces. The reverse is also true that the secret of joy is resistance. Weve seen how joy restores, unifies, and propels. It's a parade of my Grandfather's wit, it is all the shit haircuts I've ever had. What happens when somebody walks into a space marked by joy? In context where your energies have to be focused on survival, it doesn't leave a lot of energy for overt forms of complaint. Eugene H. Peterson We are two abysses - a well staring at the sky. "Resistance to the organized mass can be effected only by the man who is as well organized in his individuality as the mass itself." - Carl Jung. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. The suggestion that Juliet will "give" her "bounty" to Romeo is the most explicitly erotic moment in their conversation . This talk will give viewers a bird's eye view into what it means to be Black, millennial, and socially conscious. It reminds the teachers and students that they are fully human, fully worthy and deserving of a full and beautiful life. The language of oppression is one of scarcity and fear, and I think to some extent, the activists goal must be to remind those who have been convinced that progress is a losing game for them that there is in fact enough to go around. } else { "Our joy in itself is an act of . There's also the other ways in which space exists. Willie Jennings joins Miroslav Volf to discuss the definition of joy as an act of resistance against despair, the counterintuitive nature of cultivating joy in the midst of suffering, the commercialization of joy in Western culture, joy segregated by racism and slavery, how Jesus expands and corrects our understanding of joy. - Psalm 30:5. Albert Einstein A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness. As I began to slip in the depths of my own sorrow and yield to the temptation to surrender my heart to the dreadfully stark nihilism in this ritual around black bodies, I looked up and saw Dariuss mother, Rishawna Myricks. You have to have conditions set up where those people who have learned how to ride the winds of chaos can say to you, "Come on, let me show you how to do that." She said she tries to acknowledge the difficulties that others might encounter in these unprecedented times while also caring for herself and those around her. So the cultural haunts and habitat of a people, this is where their joy is made known. It takes hold of them. I never saw anyone take so much crap due to her love for and commitment to women and girls as Kathleen. The hooting spreads among the group, and the chimps begin to hug and kiss each other, with friendly body contact increasing as much as a hundredfold. PTKF2158-2J . But fundamentally, that is built uponand I never want to draw too sharp a distinction between other kinds of spaces and that geographic spacewe really should start to attend to where do we find joy, where do we find joy. I think there are artists, musicians, painters, and others who have shown that there's possibilities of living in being sustained by a form of joy that is not homogeneous, that is fully captured inside, if you willan expanding world of different people being brought together inside the sheer love of the music, for example. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world." There can be complaint, but you're spending a lot of energy just trying to hold it together. Thank you, Martha. For Telly the fish. All in all, the church and multiple churches have been places of extreme joy, surprising joy, and to quote the title of a famous book by CS Lewis, places where I've been absolutely "surprised by joy," stunned by joy. The collective representation of Black people in the industry is abysmal, as evidenced by multicultural children's publisher Lee & Low's baseline survey. Joy is an act of resistance: how to reclaim your identity and find your voice - Anil Sebastian - Change Makers Podcast Joining Michael Hayman today is Anil Sebastian, the artist, musician and creative director of specialist sonic branding agency DLMDD. And so we must risk delight. And we must know that to do so is not a distraction from resistance, but one of its greatest sources of power. Miroslav Volf: I don't know whether I'm maybe romanticizing things, but it seemed to me that from what I have observed growing up, but also when I have traveled, that I find more joy in the midst of oppression in almost paradoxical way, than I find in plenty. We are a people that has born witness to and embodied the miraculous ability to dance on the head of the enemy of our souls and press on to create a future that we do not yet see, and to do it with defiant joy. As a result, she was verbally pummeled, berated and called a feminazi (a total oxymoron). Three weeks ago today, on Friday June 9, hundreds of family members, friends, and well wishers packed into the New Revelation Baptist Church to pay their last respects to Darius Smith, a 15-year-old child who was killed by an off-duty customs agent in Arcadia, California. Rewind. If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?, Resistance is always lying and always full of shit., We are like water, arent we? Maya Angelou and Rosa Parks. Christopher McCandless It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. And that's what's key, the kind of mapping of joy that would be necessary to actually start to think about the reconstituting of a different reality of joy. John Keats Your success and happiness lies in you. But what does this phrase really mean? Willie Jennings: I look at joy as an act of resistance against despair and its forces, all the forces of despair. And I hope you'll resist. In a nation that denied our humanity, surrounded by neighbors who harbored hate for us in their hearts, our futures and our children's futures have perpetually been kept under the boot of the police state, our lives snatched away by a cop's pistol or the smack of a judge's gavel. Every single person let the healing waves of music wash over them with their soulful and buoyant caress, and just danced their hearts out right where they stood. Its power seems inescapable. What does a life of healing, flourishing, and joy even look like for communities that are constantly riddled with deeply traumatic pain? Evan Rosa: For the Life of the World is a production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. Between the two stands Resistance.. Every person and every community must grieve and resist in a way and at a pace that is right and healthy for them. As I said, there is the kinds of spaces constituted by practices of joy, like in music, as I call it "sonic space." (44.15) All of the Handmaids at this posting (Glen's) are called Ofglen (of Glen). I think that's the first thing you have to have. Images: Joy is an Act of Resistance by @rayoandhoney on Instagram; Publicolor before and after courtesy of Publicolor; Trash Any Color You Like by Adrian Kondratowicz. Miroslav Volf: Yeah. This is not what they imagined. Willie Jennings joins Miroslav Volf to discuss the definition of joy as an act of resistance against despair, the counterintuitive nature of cultivating joy in the midst of suffering, the commercialization of joy in Western culture, joy segregated by racism and slavery, how Jesus expands and corrects our understanding of joy. We see kids and adults of color being attacked everyday for just living their lives. . Spiritual resistance refers to attempts by individuals to maintain their humanity, personal integrity, dignity, and sense of civilization in the face of Nazi attempts to dehumanize and degrade them. Singer Joe summarizes: "This album is an attempt to be . We'd invite you to bring that same joy in supporting this work. Report; Willie Jennings: They had dreams of power. On the other hand, the novel shows that even in her fearful passivity, Offred does manage to resist her oppressors in the small ways that are available to her. At that moment, I witnessed the joy of a community that, even in mourning, knew that it had access to one of the most powerful tools of resistance to a system of state sponsored violence and oppression that seeks to crush the joyful spirits of vibrant communities like these. You have to have people who can show you how to sing a song in a strand land, laugh where all you want to do is cry, and how to ride the winds of chaos. And how do we nurture hope? Without that belief, theres no point in fighting. Lewis famously wrote in his autobiography, Surprised By Joy, "All joy reminds it is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away, or still about to be." Play. a : the inherent ability of an organism to resist harmful influences (such as disease, toxic agents, or infection) b : the capacity of a species or strain of microorganism to survive exposure to a toxic agent (such as a drug) formerly effective against it 3 : an opposing or retarding force 4 a Every year African American History month has a new theme. Visit faith.yale.edu/give. Miroslav Volf: So it's almost like a Pentecost joy, each speaking in their own tongue, but speaking that language of joy together. 4. She is a badass! And there's something very powerful about a womb of joy that nurtures and helps constitute identity. Posted on May 17, 2022 May 24, 2022 by Dilnwaaz Brey "Claiming joy is an act of freedom and power. There IS hope!! But contemporary hits are just as suspect; the Soviet Union, for example, censored songs by artists as varied as AC/DC, Tina Turner, and Julio Iglesias. Lorde uses the word erotic, meaning a form of deep, sensual (not necessarily sexual) pleasure, but I think you could easily use the word joy if it makes more sense to you: Recognizing the power of the erotic within our lives can give us the energy to pursue genuine change within our world, rather than merely settling for a shift of characters in the same weary drama., Ive talked a lot about the joy of communal celebration, but we can also find it in nature. "I look at joy as an act of resistance against despair and its forces. Brutalism Tracklist T-Shirt. You were an accessory. I'm Evan Rosa with the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. How on earth is anyone to find solace in the midst of such overwhelming grief? AFP NYC Board Member. There's also the Black Joy movement, sprouted alongside Black Lives Matter, which celebrates the happiness,. Thank you so much for the kind words, Helen! Within the imperialist white supremacist capitalist cis-heteropatriarchy, we generate joy by defying dominator culture. Is this a way of living a right life in the false one, to use Adorno's phrase? It's a robust act of resistance against despair. And I think at another level, the work of joy becomes serious work, which I think in our contextand by our context, I mean in the Westthe work of joy in many ways is not fully the people's work. Founded by Ingrid Fetell Lee, we celebrate the power to create a happier, healthier world through design. Joy as an Act of Resistance is the 2nd album by British rock band Idles. But the most celebratory of all animals are our closest relatives, the chimpanzees. He is the author of the Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, as well as his most recent book After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging.Jennings' joy is not for the faint of heart, the fair-weather friend, or a life of ease. Round your celebration out by listening to your favorite R&B, Rock, or Country song knowing that those genres were derived from the melodious sounds of Jazz. Rest is vital, but rest alone doesnt create resilience. Miroslav Volf: Things are going to be better. Like water, we mostly follow the path of least resistance., I had no real communication with anyone at the time, so I was totally dependent on God. We uphold their memories as sacred before God. It requires you to choose it from a sea of other options. Author Cheryl Strayed writes in her book Wild about how her mother made a choice everyday to find peace, even when things were difficult. Joy is Resistance - by Austin Channing Brown Joy is Resistance It's easy to feel like only the big stuff matters, but resistance to injustice is sometimes about pool, cake, and dancing. $j("#connectPrompt").show(); So did the divine right of kings. It is a parade of naivety, of a warm embrace, it is Young Thug's dress. Bitch Media Editor-in-Chief Evette Dionne put it best in a recent Instagram post: "Joy is a revolutionary force. The theologian Willie James Jennings said it better than we can: "I look at joy as an act of resistance against despair and its forces all the forces of despair." He said that in 2014, long . You have to have people who have been able to make you laugh in the places where all you want to do is cry. They are slandered, defamed, and discredited in the press. Photo by Amy Pion I get to have all that no matter how ugly things look. It goes against everything that racism was designed to do. Joy lets us reclaim our humanity. Stop. How does one cultivate joy? For in that moment, he truly was. Recognize that pleasure is a measure of freedom, writes Adrienne Maree Brown, author of a book called Pleasure Activism, which takes as its premise that the states of being that activists are striving for, justice and liberation and wellbeing, are highly joyful states, and therefore pleasure can be a powerful tool for helping us achieve them. Joy in that regard is a work, that can become a state, that can become a way of life." I loved your book, and this post really lifted my spirits. I grew up in such a situationlearning how to have a good time with nothing because we had nothing. We also need moments of release and celebration to mark the small victories and restore body and mind. You've come into a space that is not your own, and in some ways that space has claimed you as its own. Play. We produce new episode every Saturday, and you can subscribe through any podcast app. But whats most remarkable is what happens after these festivities. In the current national climate, it is more crucial than ever that we resist and repel the misogynist forces arrayed against us, and that we unconditionally stand with the women and LGBTQI people who are put at risk under the dangerous policies of the current administration. I would say something similar, but I would probably read it in this way. This exposure to the idea that girls are just as powerful and important as the boys next to them is how we continue to resist oppression and advance womens rights. Stories are told, jokes are told, people walk in, comments are made, and without you being spoken to directly, you've been spoken to. By Crystal Fields-Sam One of the goals of racism is to break your spirit by any means necessary. To me she was the embodiment of my existence as resistance. It is one the things that makes us truly human. Join our email list for theological and cultural commentary, educational resources, and more. We are proud to share this second installment of reflections in our Womens History Month series honoring womens roles in resisting oppression and advancing social justice. Thanks so much for your thoughtful feedback. While communal joy represents an outright danger to a repressive regime, individual joy can also empower resistance. And death in this regard is not simply the end of life, but it's death in all its signatures: death, violence, war, debtall the ways in which life can be strangled, and presented to us as not worth living. 5. In 2017, they formed the Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective of women and non-binary singers whose central tenet is that joy is an act of resistance. 97 Quotes About Joy. This inexplicable power to dance in the midst of mourning is not to be smugly dismissed, as has many suggest, as some sort of slave religion or momentary hyper-spiritualized pie in the sky delusion. 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