THERE IS HOPE FOR HUMANITY
       
       
       
       
       Overview
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       Am I reading that right? Geopolitical tensions, an out-of-control
       climate, raging economic inequality... and /there's still hope?/
       
       
       There is no hope for humanity
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       I picked up an issue of /Real Review/ last week and thought one of the
       article's contained therein was called "There is no hope for
       humanity". As I was reading, I had a felt sense of wanting to disagree
       with the contents of the article--an amicable dialog between Slavov
       Zizec and Tim Mottery containing freely-associated musings on
       humanity. See: the article wasn't despairing the fate of the world. In
       fact, it was underlining the importance of humanity's fate being
       undetermined and inconclusived. In other words, /the worst things
       haven't happened yet/, so why despair? Of course I later realized the
       article was in actuality called "There is hope for humanity". How did
       they get there? This is simplying what is ultimately a very nuanced
       discussion, but Zizek remarks that: "the hope for humanity is, 'my
       daughter forgot her phone.'"
       
       
       How I'm doing with it all
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       I feel pretty good about the plights facing humanity. Not good that
       they exist, but good in the sense that I believe it's possible to
       continue creating and making connections in spite of their
       presence. Humanity has always faced conflicts and challenges. Sure,
       the scale of the conflicts and challenges today are likely as
       difficult to surmount as they've ever been. All the same, it's
       important to remember that their conclusions haven't been drawn. War
       can still become peace. An anthropacentric era can still prioritize
       better ecological ethics and responsibility. There is hope for
       humanity, so long as despair doesn't get in the way.
       
       The comics below detail the range of emotions that I go through when
       thinking or speaking about some of the issue that feel ever present in
       my life. Importantly, I'm striving to remain engaged in the activities
       that bring be happiness, pleasure, and health. My thinking here is
       that so long as I continue to care for myself and find engagement in
       the world around me, I continue to be able to find ways to engage
       humanity's challenges. I can't take these things on myself. But no one
       can. I'm working to find the little ways I can contribute to growing
       what's around me--knowledge, people, communities.
       
       As you can see, I took the same dialog and drew three variations on
       color and texture. This was a bit obsessive, I'll admit, but I was
       looking for the best way to land the impact of the final panel. I'm
       not sure any really capture how this impact feels. Interestingly, my
       favorite execution of the dialog is actually in the thumbnails I drew
       before the three larger versions. The scale and lack of polish in the
       roughs look best to me (I'll upload the thumbnails soon). Of course,
       you can decide for yourself, dear reader, if any of these appeal to
       you.
       
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 (IMG) 2022-10-17_19-29-07_comic-8.png
       
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