"There is a structural lovelessness and powerlessness to the political events of our time. It is easy to feel despair, to want to lose hope. I write - not to tell you to keep hope alive, but to invite you to lean in further to listen to the nuances of your discomfort. In the new year, in the new decade, remember this:

Your discomfort is a holy ally, a redeeming interruption. Where you are most confused, exhausted, distressed and compromised, is where the wild things grow. Where crazy colours, beguiling angels' trumpets, decadent air ferns and wise old spruces sprout with festive abandon. Where the thrumming of frogs, the discourse of cricket limbs, the ambivalence of a nightly mist, and the audience of a delighted moon contrive an unheard score. It's where your primal self, where the unthought, calls to you softly - reminding you that you are not to be easily resolved..."

--Adebayo C. Akomolafe