to boundless curiosity
in twenty twenty-three and beyond
“All of us are born, and all of us are going to die…
the point is to do something worthwhile in between.”
-Toni Morrison, A Humanist View
Dear friend,
Thank you for joining me on this journey to somewhere better. Somewhere beyond a culture “whose only fuel is greed, whose only god is profit,” as James Baldwin wrote to Angela Davis some time ago. Toward other worlds, where all are safely at home.
Imagining the prospects of these worlds, I’m overcome with confusion and wonder, anguish and joy. The sum of this can petrify me. I’m just awed by the three confluent miracles of earth, existence, and the future. Everything is connected!
We can always dream, but Democracy is an action. It is the jazz and harmony of dignity and justice for all. Friends here like Chris LaTray and Antonia Malchik help me tune into these brilliant symphonies. They share words of movement and reciprocity, joining traditions of freedom thinkers who inspire beautiful, new worlds.
This path is many. They are indefinite, uncertain, and entirely worthwhile. The point is to go walking, Eduardo Galeano reminds, because the journey is also the destination.
Walking recently with some dear loved ones, through the cobbled streets of Baeza, Antonio Machado’s poetry emerged for emphasis:
Wayfarer, there is no way.
Make your way by going farther.
By going farther, make your way 1
So, we make our way—walking somewhere better. Wondering, reflecting, learning, and growing. Grounded: knowing the real from the imaginary:
Profit is not real, for example, but health is. Life’s resources are real: clean air, water and nutritious food. Without them we won’t survive.2 I think we’ll be fine without Blackrock, Vanguard, and JPMorgan though. Likewise, carbon credits are not real, but carbon pollution is. So are heatwaves and hurricanes, droughts, floods, fires, and famines. Peace can be real too. Though debt is imaginary.
Friendship is the realest though.3
I have much to be grateful for this year, but it is your friendship I cherish most.
Writing you gives me hope, which, as Mariame Kaba distills, is a discipline. Hope is a discipline. And I am hopeful as I write for a world, which embraces and organizes around the realities of our interconnection and interdependence with EVERYTHING.
Indeed, such a world already exists and has always existed. It lives and thrives in the music of movements for justice, just as Stevie Wonder sings:
The force of evil wants, to make you its possession
And it will if you let it, destroy everybody
We all must take, precautionary measures
If love and peace you treasure, then you’ll hear me when I say
Love’s in need of love today
You must know, dear friend, I have nothing but love for you. Thank you for walking, thinking, singing, and dancing with me this year. Your presence is the greatest gift.
If you are anywhere on New Year’s Eve, may it be at the Top Hat in Missoula, grooving into the year with the good people of Shakewell and my best friends Ben and Kayti of Desperate Electric. Wherever you are though, I hope to see you soon.
Here’s to walking, with boundless curiosity, empathy and humility, in 2023 and beyond.
With love,
Matt
I am preparing for another year of deep research and writing, expanding my essay, solely for the good of the whole, into a short book on Democracy, Montana’s beautiful Constitution, and the futures we could be. If you wish to support this project, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or gifting a subscription to a friend.
You can revisit each of this year’s editions to blue world below. They are filled with links and notes to resources I’d love to discuss with you more. Write me in the comments or directly at hey.blueworld@gmail.com.
The blue world tunes playlist on Spotify continues to grow too. Thank you for your contributions. Check it out if you haven’t and let’s keep building with it.
Finally, a very special thank you to my friend Madeleine Brink for her invaluable help with each of these essays. blue world would not be what it is without her.
Peace and love to all.
June 9, 2022: welcome to blue world
June 20, 2022: sounds of a blue world
July 4, 2022: what are you celebrating today?
August 15, 2022: bouncing back
August 29, 2022: musical verano pt. 1
September 8, 2022: a musical verano pt. 2
September 10, 2022: block party tonight!
October 28, 2022: “solely for the good of the whole”
"Wayfarer, the only way..."
By Antonio Machado
Translated by A.Z Foreman
Wayfarer, the only way
Is your footprints and no other.
Wayfarer, there is no way.
Make your way by going farther.
By going farther, make your way
Till looking back at where you’ve wandered,
You look back on that path you may
Not set foot on from now onward.
Wayfarer, there is no way;
Only trails of wake on water.
El original:
Proverbios y Cantares: Poema VI
Antonio Machado
Caminante, son tus huellas
El camino, y nada más;
caminante, no hay camino,
se hace el camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante, no hay camino,
sino estelas en la mar.
“According to the World Wildlife Foundation, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages by 2025. Two-fucking-thirds. In three fucking years. Then what?”
Read the full essay bouncing back, with love as always. It’s my favorite from this year.
I read Eduardo Galeano for the first time this year and have been very much taken with him. Thanks for the connections!
Lovely, thanks for a strong love letter of hope for 2023!