hope – Page 2 – The Trailer Park MFA

Trauma and Compassion

What if the value of our suffering–its use–is that it gifts us with compassion? I think all along I have taken the wrong approach. As a writer, I believed I was writing about my suffering. But the truth of suffering is that it is the collective, common experience of our species–and indeed of life. Akira Kurosawa wrote,Continue reading “Trauma and Compassion”

Creativity as Defiance

When it feels like you’ve got nothing left, make it up as you go. Create a new world. And dare to believe in it.

A Question of Faith

Years ago, when I was still in the church, I was having a conversation with an atheist. “But you have faith in something,” I assured her. “Everyone believes in something.” “Nope. Nothing.” She was 43, a mother of one of my friends, and I was 18. Brash, confident, always ready for a debate. “But youContinue reading “A Question of Faith”

Terror and Hope

“Make art from the places that terrify you,” my artistic mentor, Amy O, said this time last year. And it has proven good advice. Most of us have a lot of things that terrify us, and that turns out to be a good thing. If you’re an artist. But a surprising thing happens when youContinue reading “Terror and Hope”