Journal for Justice

Images above include a small sampling of Journal for Justice pages that I have created over the years. Click carousel to rotate.

Journal for Justice is a project that I started in 2020, in the midst of early days of the pandemic, prominent social justice conversations, and a need to calm my nervous system with an action that could be done at home, in quiet space, but still reach out into the ether.

It began as a 40 Day Journal for Justice project, kicked off right around my 41st birthday. I called on Lea (@craftymue on Instagram) to help me figure out the project, share it with the world, and participate, keeping me active and accountable for a period of time.

Initially the 40 days was meant to symbolize a commitment to doing the work, to showing up beyond one day. But ultimately, it grew and morphed into a practice that I believe is still plenty impactful in bursts and moments. I love that it is a quiet way of shifting ourselves, and thus the people and spaces around us. And it’s accessible to people of any age, using any medium, with any level of artistic skill, anywhere in the world.

What we write down and create becomes what we pay attention to, becomes what we care about, becomes what we talk about, becomes how we show up.

2020 was not the first time Social Justice showed up in my journal. I could probably track some of my earliest journaling for justice scribbles to high school at least, if not earlier. It’s appeared as cards, as notes, as letters to politicians, as symbols, as stories. Social justice issues made their way into art journaling around 2016, as a way to calm myself down before bed, when my thoughts and worries would spiral out of control, and words felt inadequate. But it was 2020 when everything coalesced into a project that felt a bit like a vocation.

This is a practice I want to share with as many people as possible.

It changes me when I engage in it. I’m more clear, focused, calm, and committed. Maybe what I work on inspires someone? Maybe it ripples out? Maybe it opens a conversation? Maybe it inspires a bigger piece of artwork, or a new body of artwork or poetry? Maybe it only changes or brings awareness to something deep and hidden inside myself. Maybe it is absolutely nothing but the process of commiting to the page instead of doing something else. Whatever happens, I am right where I need to be when creating a page.

When I’m anxious and I don’t engage in it, I can feel myself get restless and shaky. I need the practice and the process.

I was honored to be invited to guest edit the Art and Activism issue of Strawberry Moon, a magazine devoted to art journaling, with Editor Suzanne Earley, and share the practice with readers at that time. I was also honored to share the process in a workshop for the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Woven Conference in 2023.

And… I would love to share it with you!

Join my FREE mambership level on Patreon to join live Journal for Justice Creativity Circles when I schedule them.

Or reach out to inquire about workshops, lessons, conferences, talks, etc. I’m happy to schedule something in person or online. There is generally a fee to support my work and my time for non-Patreon workshops, but I am happy to chat with you about waiving fees in circumstances where there are no grants to cover costs and participants would be invited to engage at no cost to them.