Singing, dancing, escaping Nazis

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I recently watched The Sound of Music in an old theater behind a family with children who had likely never seen the film before. I watched through the opening credits as one of the parents rocked out to "the HILLS are alive" with one of the kids and I nearly died holding in laughter. Brilliance. How else should you react with a small child in your lap, trying to convey how important this movie was to your childhood?

There's singing. There's dancing. There's romance. There's even - and I would argue this is the most important part of the film - escaping Nazis. What more could I personally want from a film?

If we're going to share something with a younger generation, with tiny humans, may it be anti-fascist art. If we have to experience the moral failings of our country firsthand, let us at least tell the people too young to know any difference that there was a time when it went without saying that you would climb over mountains to avoid fighting in a death machine.

I don't know of many actions that are more important than establishing a reality where fascists, racists, and colonizers are the enemy, full stop. Even if it includes musical numbers and yodeling puppets.

There are so many opportunities to back down, to stay quiet, to avoid rocking the boat, that even small gestures in a theater do mean something. It can be easier to give in and live against your own grain than it is to work towards something you truly believe in.

I try to focus on how that can manifest in my daily life, the people I spend time with, the things I support, the things I make. Leading by example in small ways. Maybe. At least a little bit.

Today I'm also sharing a new print for Valentine's Day: You're My Everything Bagel, a letter-sized 3-color risograph print. Edition of 35, available now in my webstore with free shipping in the US.

I'm showing my cheeseball side just in time for a Hallmark Holiday. Remember to tell your friends you love them!

(reminder that newsletter Supporters get a discount to my webtore! Check the Supporter Extras page for the code)

And just in case you missed it, we're also going on tour with Laura Jane Grace in May across eastern Canada and the Midwest. We haven't played a show together since Pouzza Fest in 2019 (speaking of...) and I'm really looking forward to this one. Go get your tickets to the 40 or so shows we're playing this spring! 🎉

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