The effort it takes to begin

Flexible Office begins tomorrow

Dropping in mid week to invite you to Flexible Office, my digital co-working space that begins tomorrow November 2 with a Visioning Session to help map out the next eight weeks.

We meet every Tue and Thu from 8-10am PST / 11-1 EST through Dec 28

I find that now more than ever the effort it takes to begin anything is completely daunting and insurmountable. We ask ourselves the question - why would we invent a class, launch a product, promote ourselves, and share our wins with a relentless genocide happening, mass shootings at every turn, death at every corner, confusion and pain in our personal lives? When is the right time?

The answer is now - now more than ever we must continue to create. We must continue to make art. To make art in these times is what the artist does. We do not shrink, we do not hide. We weave in our values and our politics into the work. We weave in our voice and actions into the paintings, into the chores, into the dog walks, into the new podcasts and the book you’re promoting and the class you’re teaching.

Nicole Lavelle

launched a newsletter called

PILES

and the first installment is a series of beautiful liberation graphics. She so beautifully crafted the language that we each need something different in these times, we each have a different role to play. Nicole has always been here to remind us how design is a part of activism, history, art making. Highly recommend subscribing to her newsletter and checking out the work and resources she included.

PILE 01: Liberation graphics

From Nicole’s newsletter : Palestinians Have Human Rights Too, 1976. Artist Kamal Boullata originally designed the logo and layout seen in this poster in 1977 for use as a bumper sticker. It was subsequently reworked by parties unknown into a poster. His original design did not have Hebrew text. Published by the Palestinian Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C.

To begin in these times feels impossible but we will and we must. To begin in a room of others makes the doing so much easier. This is why I created Flexible Office. I needed a place to call the IRS and not feel totally alone and stupid while I did it. I needed to call the doctor, schedule appointments, tackle my email inbox, all so that I could EXPAND MY CAPACITY for heartbreak and sorrow.

By beginning a new project I create more room for the truth to come through me. When I get to the middle I am allowed to pivot. And when I complete something or release it into the world, I know that I am of service in these times.

Flexible Office is a place to bring your whole self, broken hearted, full of life, however you are that day. It is a place to be with others in their confusion, trudging forward not alone but together. Flexible Office is sliding scale and available to all. See you tomorrow. In solidarity.

A portion of November’s paid subscriptions goes toward the Palestinian Youth Movement

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P.S. Not interested in being in the zoom room together? Check out The Art of Beginning class recording and Notion Template