Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Hello, How are you? - Words we often take for gratitude, but when asked at the right moments, mean the world.
The last month has been challenging as I figure out what my next professional steps will look like, and with that, I have taken a few steps away from writing as I try to figure out the answer to the questions I get so often: how are you doing? where are you working now?
As I try to figure out what's next in pursuing my dreams, I often return to Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem."
If anyone has advice on navigating or achieving a dream deferred so they do not explode, but rather blossom, I would love to hear it. For now, I will take notes on the lessons on courage and determination portrayed by Will Smith's role in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness.
Often, on my journey to achieve a goal not yet fulfilled, asking myself how I am doing everyday has helped me get through the daily delegations of being alive. While, being optimistic is not my forte, this has help me believe that my dreams will not dry up like a raisin.
I am unsure how to end this as I can't promise a newsletter soon, but I will ask for advice. What motivates you to keep waking up and going forth toward your dreams?
Until next time,
Briana
With that said this is an arts newsletter after all, so here are two exhibits that I think everyone should check out.
Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage the first large-scale exhibition dedicated to exploring collage by contemporary Black American at The Phillips Collection.
Adama Delphine Fawundu re-envision of the Lefferts Historic House, an 18th Century farmhouse landmark in Prospect Park that explores the lives, resistance, and resilience of Africans the Lefferts family enslaved and brought to live in the historic house.
Hey, I love the poem and I really feel your pain. Thank you for sharing. What I have found is that deferred dreams come back and present themselves to you like fruit to be plucked when the time is right. Sometimes you need to take a sideways step and work on something else that is fulfilling and gives you the skills and and confidence so that when the opportunity to manifest that dream arises you are ready to take it. It might take years though, as it did in my case. I thought that dream had died but when I saw the opportunity to grab the dream staring in my face, I realised I've simply been working my way towards it subconsciously. And you probably are too. So just do things that make you happy and feel good and the opportunity will present itself.
Don't have the best answer for this but what has helped keep me sane is to think of my dream as a beacon, something that I am constantly swimming / rowing to and will, hopefully, reach in due time. The journey to the dream may be long, drawn out and arduous but it's always in sight. There will be detours and speed bumps but, all things being well, things eventually work out when you least expect it. Would recommend reading Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist if you haven't already as well as this piece from Lauren Chanel on Substack (https://laurenchanel.substack.com/p/on-winning-losing-and-living).