When the World Trembles
the Artists Remember
I have been building Creativity In Person, a collaborative space for artists, musicians, creatives, and community advocates. I’ve been thinking deeply about what it means to be creative during unrest. Asking questions like, How can my husband and I provide a safe space for others to feel connected and present instead of isolated and anxious?
Healing is often treated like a destination, something we reach and then move on from. But to me, healing is more like a growth mindset. It’s not a single moment of breakthrough, but an ongoing process of reaching, reconnecting, and remaking. From the moment we’re born, we begin reaching for the ones who soothe and nourish us, and for the tools that help us make sense of the world. Creativity has always been one of those sacred tools. It keeps me connected to myself, to others, and to the idea that healing isn’t linear or final; it’s a way of living with openness, curiosity, and courage. And in that space, we don’t just heal ourselves. We make room for others to heal, too.
🔥The Day Everything Changed
I remember the morning of September 11, 2001, vividly. I was home with my two sons, one had just turned three, and the other was a toddler. I had the news on in the other room while making breakfast when I heard my three-year-old making explosion sounds.
He was watching the Twin Towers burn.
I rushed in and scooped them up, thinking: This is too much. He shouldn’t be watching this.
But the truth is, I stood there too. Frozen. Helpless. I wondered if there was anything I could do at all to protect my family, my students, my country.
A short time later, as I became increasingly anxious, I took the boys across the street to my elderly neighbors. I sat on their couch and cried. Nothing felt real. But I was glad to be with someone. Not to be alone.
The next day, I returned to my classroom. I was a high school art teacher. The halls were eerily quiet. We were all waiting for more bad news.
I didn’t have the words to help my students process what was happening. So instead, I told them they could choose any size canvas. I turned on instrumental music. And we painted in silence the whole class period.
It became one of the most memorable moments of my teaching career.
Even now, those students, now grown, remember that day. Some remember what I painted. I still have that piece. I’ve carried it with me through multiple moves. It doesn’t hang on my wall, but I can’t let it go. Because it reminds me: art doesn’t just reflect what’s happening, it helps us survive it and invites us to heal.
🔁History Keeps Repeating
That wasn’t the first time artists helped the world carry unbearable weight. It never is.
During the Civil Rights Movement, Nina Simone, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry didn’t just make art, they spoke truth to power.
After 9/11, Bruce Springsteen released The Rising, a national act of musical mourning.
In 2020, murals appeared overnight after the murder of George Floyd. Protest signs became visual art. Sidewalk chalk became liturgy. Poetry became resistance.
From Langston Hughes to Amanda Gorman, art has always held what the heart could not yet say.
🏛️Watching It Burn — Again
Now I feel that same tension again. But slower. More surreal.
I watch the country I once lived in dismantle democracy, brick by brick. It feels like people are allowing planes to crash into the foundations of government on purpose. And many of the people we elected to protect the structure are participating in the burning.
And I keep thinking: Do we just stand here and watch it burn?
Because I’ve stood in that place before. Frozen. Wondering if I had any control. And back then, what I could do, what I chose to do, was to create. To gather others into a room and let them process the unthinkable with color, texture, and music. I painted out the pain as the music played.
That’s why I started Creativity In Person.
It wasn’t just about creating beautiful things. It was about protecting something sacred, our ability to feel, to process, to stay human. It’s how I advocate now. It’s how I keep showing up, for my mental health, for others, and for the hope of rebuilding something better.
🧠A Reminder to Creatives
If you’re a writer, a singer, a painter, a maker of anything, don’t doubt your role. Don’t tell yourself you’re just one person, or that your work doesn’t matter.
It does.
What you make might be the only thing helping someone else feel again. We don’t just need policies. We need poetry and creative writing. We need memory. We need imagination. We need tactile representations of our internal responses.
Even when everything else is burning, the artist remembers how to hold a flame, without letting it destroy them.
🌀Reflection
Have you ever experienced a moment, in your personal life or in the world, where creativity helped you make sense of something difficult?
What are you creating right now that helps you not just watch it burn, but build something new?
Drop a memory, a thought, or a photo in the comments. Let’s remind each other we’re not alone.
💬 A Quote to Carry With You
“The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.”
— Toni Cade Bambara