There comes a day when what we’ve built for ourselves starts to crack, when the erosion of time and weathering from the outside world strips away our foundation. We get into a rhythm. We find a purpose. We find our path to that wellspring of creativity hidden deep within the tunnels of our minds. Then something happens.
The world shakes. A threat overshadows our picture-perfect shire of expression. Suddenly, we’re destabilized, adrift and victim to this shake-up that has silenced our rhythm and kicked dirt over that path we could so easily navigate before.
In 2025, many of us find ourselves glued to our phones, doomscrolling the horrors of the world around us. As someone who lives in the Chicagoland area, this feeling is amplified tenfold, as this part of the country is under siege by masked goons who descend upon neighbors, friends, and family members like wolves. They profile based on skin color and seize men, women, and children on their way to work, church, the grocery store, school, and other spaces that were once safe havens.
Citizens are detained. Immigrants are deported, and much of the time, they are disappeared without a trace, faces lost in the obfuscation of bureaucratic fog and masked, secret policing. And no one, not even their closest loved ones, know where these people have been taken.
It’s terrifying, and in response, friends and family have strengthened their bonds and come together in aid. Neighboring communities have stepped in to support those who are hurting most, shielding the most vulnerable from a federalized force that consistently breaks the law and operates without oversight.
Given all this going on and a government shutdown that has persisted for nearly a month at the time of writing this newsletter, it’s difficult to write a newsletter telling you to simply “create.”
In uncertain times like this, it’s more important than ever to carry on with your creative projects in any way, shape, or form that you can. It’s not just about the act of expression, it’s about keeping that human spirit and soul alive. It’s about repairing the bridge between humanity, sharing tales of love, fear, friendship, and the will to overcome even the most dangerous challenges. It’s about lifting each other up and rousing every last one of us to action, so we better work hand-in-hand.
More than that, in times like ours, we create to document. We write, draw, paint, and whatever else to capture the zeitgeist and make sure that future generations understand exactly what is happening.
As works of art are removed and erased from public museums and libraries, it’s imperative that each voice continues to cry out and share for as long as possible.
Those whose goal is to spread terror and pain loom large for a time, but their day is the shortest of the season. They can’t create, and they lack the humanity, love, or empathy to tap into the enduring soul that artists and writers connect with each and every day.
What I’m trying to say is, it may not feel like it, but now is your moment. When we look around at the horrors of the world, it probably feels pointless to sit at our desks and write or take that evening to reflect and create something, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Those feelings of being lost? That fear and pain and hurt that’s worming its way through your gut? That love and sadness you feel for people whom you never met as you watch a video of them being torn from their families and violently thrown into the back of an unmarked SUV?
Use that. Capture those feelings. Document what you’re seeing. Take all of those emotions, release them into your works, and share them with whomever needs that art most.
Your fear corroborates the fear of others. Your love and empathy gives warmth to those who are hiding out at home, cold and alone. Your stories and depictions of what’s happening today will endure, and future generations will have a chance to know the truth of what’s happening out there right now.
My friend, I end every newsletter by saying we’re all in this together, but in this moment, I want you to meditate on that phrase.
Because we are.
You, myself, and every other person out there pushing back against the darkness. We’re creating, fighting, and working to build a more beautiful world for people of all races, creeds, religions, backgrounds, and identities.
Emphatically, we’re all in this together.
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P.P.S. Here are the latest happenings in my neck of the woods:
I have the first article in a new Phantom-focused educational series over at Chronicle Chamber.
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