The Beauty of Weirdos

Our final episode highlights two things: the beauty of weirdos & your human hope. Project organizer, Professor Alexandra Juhasz, penned these fragments, anonymously, at a Fake News Poetry Workshop held at the Toronto home of that workshop’s facilitator, Professor T.L. Cowan. Later, at another workshop held within an NYU Performative Writing class and led by Professor Barbara Browning, these words were transformed into a song—by Barbara—quite unaware of who had written them. Two fragments of poetry formed a crossroads between T.L., Barbara, Alex, and others. And, the gifts of time, thought, place, art, and care—so live in this episode—also allow it to model HardTruth #23 from the online primer on digital media literacy: "galvanize people at the crossroads of cinema and community." These words were originally penned by The United States of Cinema, a collective that organized a National Event Day in April 2017. The movie 1984 was screened across the U.S, as a way to speak against fake news, totalitarian rule, and censorship. At the intersections of moving images, artmaking, and ways of being together, we can and often do manifest power and hope. Poetry, songs, performances, movies, parties, and workshops are places where truth intersects with our knowledge, disdain, and plans for each other and the internet. This podcast has been another crossroads for people, poetry, community, criticism, activism and care. The generous, volunteer contributions of scores of poets, scholars, and activists allowed for the many connections that have been built here in the summer of 2020. The stellar efforts of director and editor, Matthew Hittle, social media specialist, Julia Gill, and copyeditor, Gavin McCormick have provided the steady pulse that underwrote and enabled it all. Thank you for listening!Twitter: @100HardTruthsInstagram: @100HardTruthsYouTube: 100 Hard Truths Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.