How does one invite and include marginalized voices into the proverbial “room?” How do we learn lessons and apply them to a challenging point in history?
Both questions ring loudly throughout New York Times bestseller and educator Elizabeth Alexander’s latest book, “Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales,” which began with an entirely different purpose.
Alexander, a renowned poet and cultural advocate, said she planned to write a small graduation book filled with inspirational thoughts about the power of culture and history. But after the events of 2020, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the police killing of George Floyd, the so-called “racial reckoning” and continuing national polarization and alienation, she said she was called “to offer something more” to readers.
In her latest book, Alexander weaves literary works of writers and poets — including her own original pieces — and juxtaposes text with contemporary art pieces to encourage readers to think critically.
“The art is not on-the-nose, illustrative of the tale or essay that it comes before; it is meant to make you pause, make you feel something, make you think, but not to be a literal representation,” Alexander explained.
Alexander also challenges readers by asking questions, which she said is a “powerful” method poets use to open a window for critical thinking. She said it’s a method she’s used in the classroom.
“I think these texts that you have taught year after year after year will elicit questions, because you teach work that you think is yielding and that will help people understand more deeply together,” she said.
Alexander’s book also features writers that still leave her with questions, such as Gwendolyn Brooks, June Jordan and James Baldwin, referring to them as her “touchstones.”
Part of the book is also Alexander’s invitation to readers to create a life to-do list that includes acting with courage, which she said was inspired by feminist icon and activist Gloria Steinem.
“Gloria Steinem prescribes that people commit one outrageous act every day,” she said. “I would say one courageous act [every day], be it an act of kindness, speaking up when the butterflies in your stomach say no, admitting when you have been wrong, pushing past where your knowledge stops through the discomfort of unknowing, always speaking truth to power. Strong communities know the most potent and useful challenges come from within.”
Guest
- Elizabeth Alexander, poet, educator and author of “Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales.”
