How Do You Fight for Home?

Weekly wisdom to level up your creative life in 3 minutes, for free.

A SHORT STORY

Throughout my life, I have come to discover that there are tens of thousands of teachers out there in every corner of the world that I did not even know I had.

It never ceases to inspire me how an Uber driver in New York may well have as much to teach me as a guru in India or a monk from Tibet.

Recently, I’ve been thinking of one of my teachers - my friend Mustafah from Somalia. We spent a lot of time working together in 2011, and since then, I have had sporadic contact with him.

But, I’ll never forget three things he told me when I asked him what he would like to tell the world. He said:

“I would like to realize a life different than this one.”

“I would like my parents to not suffer.”

“I would like to see a country better than we are now.”

It’s that last part that I always return to. In my life, I have always struggled to find my own communal identity. What does it mean to be a New Yorker? What does it mean to be an American? What responsibilities does that hold?

But, as time goes on, I’m continually overwhelmed by how fortunate I am for all the opportunities afforded to me by holding those identities. I also understand how all of us living together define our community.

In the end, it's not just the titles or labels we carry that define us, but the shared aspirations, struggles, and hopes that shape our communities and bind us together on the journey of life.

And so, more and more, I get a little bit closer to that lesson Mustafah taught me a long time ago: My home is indeed worth fighting for.

What is your communal identity? What version of “home” do you fight for?

A CREATIVE TOOL

As part of my role at HUG, I help educate creatives on the emerging technologies surrounding Generative AI. Last week presented a major breakthrough with text-to-video possibilities with OpenAI’s model Sora.

If you haven’t been able to check this out yet, it is truly out of this world! The underlying technology is shifting so fast, that I believe the next generation of disruption will be defined by how quickly we can adapt and learn to work with these models!

A PIECE OF ART

Cross That Line

Written by Naomi Shihab Nye

Paul Robeson stood
on the northern border
of the USA
and sang into Canada
where a vast audience
sat on folding chairs
waiting to hear him.

He sang into Canada.
His voice left the USA
when his body was
not allowed to cross
that line.

Remind us again,
brave friend.
What countries may we
sing into?
What lines should we all
be crossing?
What songs travel toward us
from far away
to deepen our days?

Grateful,

Michael