Lissa Cowan
We are all Writers
Updated: May 28, 2021

We are all Writers
"We are all writers," is something Rebecca Solnit, American writer, and activist, said yesterday in a talk hosted by Orion Magazine and Point Reyes Books. I attended this talk on the eve of the U.S. election to get some perspective, to calm myself, and stop refreshing my browser every 10 seconds. She said these words at the end of readings and a conversation with Terry Tempest Williams, an American writer, educator, conservationist, and activist referring to the fact that we are in fact writing our individual and collective futures. The actions we take today, the conscious efforts we make to come together, to stamp out systemic racism, to make societies that are just and fair, and celebrate all people, will be the pen or key strokes that create our collective future. What do we want the world to look like for the next generation? For six generations after that? Many disenfranchised people don't have control of their own lives, and it's our job for those who do have control to work hard so that all people can be brought into the conversation and we hear from everybody. The online event I attended was to launch a collection of essays The Most Radical Thing You Can Do: The Best Political Essays from Orion Magazine And so what is the most radical thing you can do today? What about tomorrow and the day after?