Writing Prompt: How Are You Using Your Voice to Make an Impact?
We don’t want all of our writing prompts to be a reminder of the strange and challenging times we’re living in right now, but with Independence Day around the corner while our freedom is constantly being challenged, the state of the world — and our role in it — is top of mind. Which is why we want to know what you’ve been doing to make an impact: in your community, school, neighborhood, society-at-large…
Did you just attend your first protest and have a life-changing experience there? Was there a moment recently when you spoke up for something you believed in despite being afraid to do so? Have you gotten back in touch with your incarcerated pen pal that you first began writing to almost a decade ago? (That last one would be me!) We want to hear about it — tell us in one brief sentence or 200 words. And, as always, if this prompt inspires you to keep writing after the fact, kudos!
Need a little more incentive to start typing? The person whose comment gets the most likes will win a copy of the wonderful book of essays, Creative Nonfiction: The Final Issue (co-edited by CNF founder Lee Gutkind who joins us for a live chat this Monday with Dinty W. Moore!). On that note, we offered a free Narratively Academy subscription to the person whose comment got the most likes on last week’s prompt, and it’s time to announce the winner. Anyone who has read her writing won’t be surprised to learn that it’s Narratively contributor Kay Adams, with her absolute stunner of a story (read it here). With that, post away!
For the last seven years, I’ve been handing out handmade tokens—not for profit or praise, but as small, personal gestures of recognition to grocery workers, receptionists, TSA agents, housekeeping staff at hotels…anybody who’s an ordinary, albeit invisible, worker.
I watercolor, collage, layer mixed media on these little experimental canvases but the art doesn’t matter. It’s what I write on the back … starting with their name and then a few genuine words of appreciation, a line of honest, human empowerment.
When I look someone in the eye and ask their name, when I write a message just for them—I see the hesitation; we’ve been conditioned to expect the worst. But when I hand it to them, everything changes. They soften. Sometimes they cry. Most times we hug. Often, they tell me it’s the first time they’ve felt truly seen.
These tokens are not art objects; they’re vessels of presence.
What began as a solitary act has become a movement in kindness, in shared humanity, in seeing each other as more alike than different. Through my Ripple Practice™, I’m hoping to inspire more people around the world to use their creativity to reconnect rather than decorate.
In a world where freedom and connection feel fragile, this kind of slow, sincere recognition may be one of the most radical acts we can do.
I recently became the volunteer Blog Editor and also started writing Blog Posts for the advocacy group Activate Maine. I hadn't until recently thought of my writing ability as a tool that could be repurposed for use in advocating for Democracy, but indeed it is a very useful tool. I am excited, empowered about this new role and the feeling now that I am now part of stemming the tide of fascism. It makes the encroaching tide of fascism feel less inevitable.