SAINT MARJANE! I am deeply saddened by the death of one of my favorite writers and creative thinkers, Marjane Satrapi.
The Iranian writer and filmmaker had a huge influence on my writing life. I had the honor of meeting her briefly during a talk she gave at the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2014.
Satrapi exuded a rebel spirit, an inquisitive stance, and a deeply curious and courageous force that ran through her—I was changed by the encounter. I walked away determined to emulate those qualities in my own creative practice—not to be exactly like her, but to channel that spirit and stand alongside her.
“Stop thinking everyone has to love you,” she said toward the end of her talk.
“Put humanity at the center of everything. All living things are on a search to justify their lives through God. But our love of freedom should be superior to our own convictions.”
Satrapi warned that “morality is extremely relative,” a message that reverberates in today’s contentious climate.
“Don’t listen to what anyone says—not your parents! Not your teachers!” Satrapi told a student in the audience.
Don’t even take her own advice, she added.
“Consensus is always mediocre. You want a revolution? Let it be a revolution of ideas.”
Rest in peace, dear Marjane. Rest in power, rest in poetry, rest in revolution.
To read the full 2014 blog post, click here.
The Iranian writer and filmmaker had a huge influence on my writing life. I had the honor of meeting her briefly during a talk she gave at the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2014.
Satrapi exuded a rebel spirit, an inquisitive stance, and a deeply curious and courageous force that ran through her—I was changed by the encounter. I walked away determined to emulate those qualities in my own creative practice—not to be exactly like her, but to channel that spirit and stand alongside her.
“Stop thinking everyone has to love you,” she said toward the end of her talk.
“Put humanity at the center of everything. All living things are on a search to justify their lives through God. But our love of freedom should be superior to our own convictions.”
Satrapi warned that “morality is extremely relative,” a message that reverberates in today’s contentious climate.
“Don’t listen to what anyone says—not your parents! Not your teachers!” Satrapi told a student in the audience.
Don’t even take her own advice, she added.
“Consensus is always mediocre. You want a revolution? Let it be a revolution of ideas.”
Rest in peace, dear Marjane. Rest in power, rest in poetry, rest in revolution.
To read the full 2014 blog post, click here.
