Manifesto Journaling Prompts

This is the second in a four-part issue on the theme of Manifesto. The first issue in this series includes a number of manifestos in various genres, including poetry, essays, a zine, and speculative fiction, all by members of The Spiral Lab Collective.

Below, TSL Collective member Meg Max shares an invitation for you to delve into the writing invitation that we used to get us started on our own manifestos, as well as an invitation to a free workshop run by Meg and Leif and Marta on Saturday 18 April at 1:00 pm EDT. You can register for the workshop here. After the workshop, we will publish the fourth in our Manifesto series, featuring any work you would like to submit, from the workshop or your own journaling practice.

As a galaxy brained person, I have a hard time whittling things down. I love the clarity of a definition, especially with big and complex themes like Manifesto. When I looked it up, the online etymology dictionary stated that (among other things) manifesto is also used as a noun, “obvious facts, palpable things.”

Of course, I can’t help but think that what seems obvious to me will inevitably be completely different from what’s obvious to someone else. And of course, what’s worth saying changes depending on where we are, who we are with, what we’re trying to do.

Below we’re sharing prompts that invite you to explore “manifesto” in a variety of ways. Use them as starting points, invitations, interrogations. There is no way to do this wrong.

These prompts were the original inspiration for this issue, after Spiral Lab Member Aileen attended a workshop with the poet Linda France, who shared these manifesto prompts (which we are using here with permission and deep gratitude!).

We offer these as starting points. You don’t have to explore every single one of these, you can do them in whatever order pleases you, and you can take your time.

I can’t help but think that the obviousness is itself what makes a manifesto worth making. It invites us to excavate the things that feel so simple we don’t bother to say them aloud.

So, I’ll finish with the thing that lives so deeply in the marrow of my bones that I sometimes forget it’s worth saying: Being together is an act of making. You don’t need to pick up a pencil. You don’t need to write or draw or paint. All you need to do is show up, and you’ve created community.

How incredible is that?

On Saturday 18 April at 1:00 pm EDT, we’re offering a gently facilitated Manifesto Zine making workshop. Hosted by myself, Leif and Marta, we’ll use the prompts below, alongside creative care invitations, to create a zine filled with your own statement of what matters. The making we will do is grounded in Creative Care, and focuses on expression as connection and exploration. You don’t need any experience to join us. Although you’re welcome to arrive with any art-making supplies you have lying around, all you need to enjoy our time together is a pen and some paper.

You can register here. There is no fee to participate.

We hope to see you there.

Meg

What sets you alive? What really matters to you?

Don’t leave any part of yourself out - even the parts that are sometimes unwelcome. What would you put in your personal manifesto? You can include simple things, it doesn’t have to be dramatic. You can start lines with

To..., I will..., I choose..., I stand for..., Remember... (or something else)

“Do what you can with what you have. Nothing more is needed.” - Rick Ruben

You could create a poem or something else.

It’s a space for what we know is worth walking towards.

Manifesto means ‘making real, making happen’.

We have to act to make changes, not just have ideas.

If you like, you can start by taking a sheet of paper and putting a heart at the centre of it, then around the heart list all the things that are important to you.