#resistwithlovenotes

Artist: Esmeralda Pineda

“Guaraches” 

Caminare con orgullo en este mundo, por ser quien yo soy, y en mis pasos siempre estaran las huellas de mis guaraches

Love Needs to Be Us, by Nicholas Shifrar

Lady Liberty has been grabbed. The fame- Delusion of our befuddled masses guides The good capitalist to capture and tame The coastal breeze, sacred lands, each and every tide. Drawbridges cranked up, fear-gates built ‘round homes, Cries nullified by the mechanical howl Of progress’s imperial fires ‘n’ groans. The elites’ issue is towards suffering they scowl; Their ideals bend towards love, but their spines bend too. The conservative’s issue is worship of the self When the world needs worldly love renewed. Doctors’ dilemma same - profit vs. health. Refuge is home. Home is love. Love is us. We’re not our own - we’re Another's brief magnum opus.

Introducing a new Body Joy Project initiative, Resist with Love Notes:

In my junior year of college I started a project called Abandoned Love Notes. I would make drawings, prints, sometimes even little sculptures inspired by my favorite love poems. I would then take what I made, usually tie it with a ribbon, and go leave it in some place that I loved(or at least liked allot). With my art I would leave a note that said, “Like ribbon tied Easter eggs, I'll leave love notes in my wake. ♥” I would include a blog and an email address for the project on the note. I loved the idea of a stranger discovering the piece, of it inspiring wonder and making their day. Often I didn’t know what happened to the love notes I left behind, but sometimes the strangers really did write back. It felt like magic.

I didn't make them for several years. I got caught up in other projects, in jobs, life, schedules, grad school. It became one of the things that I wanted to do, but would put off.

I recently read about a mosque in Texas being burned to the ground and it made me think of how we know what a hate crime looks like. A brick through the window. Hateful words and symbols spray painted onto buildings. But what about it’s opposite? What does a random act of kindness, an act of love from a stranger look like?

RESIST WITH LOVE NOTES is a Body Joy Project initiative dedicated to imagining what that random act of kindness can look like. In a political climate and time so filled with hate, we are choosing to resist with love. We are dedicating that love to the marginalized and vulnerable. We challenge you to pause, let go of your anger, and join us in making love notes of your own

-Chloe, Body Joy Project Co-Founder

See the love notes at: http://www.thebodyjoyproject.com/love/