Paul Rogat Loeb

What keeps us going when times get tough? How do we keep on working for a more humane world, no matter how hard it sometimes seems? In a time when our involvement has never been needed more, this anthology of political hope will help readers with the essential work of healing our communities, our nation, our planet—despite all odds. In THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE, a phrase borrowed from Billie Holliday, the editor of Soul of a Citizen brings together fifty stories and essays that range across nations, eras, wars, and political movements.Danusha Goska, an Indiana activist with a paralyzing physical disability, writes about overcoming political immobilization, drawing on her history with the Peace Corps and Mother Teresa. Vaclav Havel, the former president of the Czech Republic, finds value in seemingly doomed or futile actions taken by oppressed peoples.Rosemarie Freeney Harding recalls the music that sustained the civil rights movement, and Paxus Calta-Star recounts the powerful vignette of an 18-year-old who launched the overthrow of Bulgaria’s dictatorship.Many of the essays are new, others classic works that continue to inspire. Together, these writers explore a path of heartfelt community involvement that leads beyond despair to compassion and hope. The voices collected in THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE will help keep us all working for a better world despite the obstacles. pt. 1. Seeds of the possible. From "The cure at Troy" / Seamus Heaney A slender thread / Diane Ackerman Ordinary resurrections / Jonathan Kozol Standing up for children / Marian Wright Edelman You are brilliant and the earth is hiring / Paul Hawken Political paralysis / Danusha Veronica Goska pt. 2. Dark before the dawn. From "September 1, 1939" / W.H. Auden The optimism of uncertainty / Howard Zinn On being different / Dan Savage The dark years / Nelson Mandela An orientation of the heart / Václav Havel Reluctant activists / Mary Pipher pt. 3. Everyday grace. "The peace of wild things" / Wendell Berry Gate A-4 / Naomi Shihab Nye Mountain music / Scott Russell Sanders The Sukkah of Shalom / Arthur Waskow Getting our gaze back / Rose Marie Berger Fragile and hidden / Henri Nouwen There is a season / Parker Palmer pt. 4. Rebellious imagination. "Celebration of the human voice" / Eduardo Galeano "Last night as I was sleeping" / Antonio Machada Childhood and poetry / Pablo Neruda To love the marigold / Susan Griffin Walking with the wind / John Lewis Rough translation / Toni Mirosevich Jesus and Alinsky / Walter Wink Stories from the cha cha cha / Vern Huffman Do not go gentle / Sherman Alexie Despair is a lie we tell ourselves / Tony Kushner pt. 5. Courage is contagious. "To be of use" / Marge Piercy The transformation of silence / Audre Lorde The small work in the great work / Victoria Safford We are all Khaled Said / Wael Ghonim Arab revolutions / Stephen Zunes Not deterred / Paxus Calta In what do I place my trust? / Rosalie Bertell Faith works / Jim Wallis The progressive story of America / Bill Moyers pt. 6. The global stage. "Imagine the angels of bread" / Martín Espada Kids, trees, and climate change / Mark Hertsgaard Curitiba / Bill McKibben with a postscript by Paul Rogat Loeb Come September / Arundhati Roy The black hole / Ariel Dorfman Behemoth in a bathrobe / Carla Seaquist pt. 7. Radical dignity. "How have you spent your life?" / Jalaluddin Rumi Letter from Birmingham Jail / Martin Luther King, Jr The real Rosa Parks / Paul Rogat Loeb Prisoners of hope / Cornel West Road to redemption / Billy Wayne Sinclair Resisting terror / Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall Composing a life story / Mary Catherine Bateson pt. 8. Beyond hope. "Origami emotion" / Elizabeth Barrette From "The New York poem" / Sam Hamill Staying the course / Mary-Wynne Ashford The elm dance / Joanna Macy Is there hope on climate change? / David Roberts The inevitability trap / K.C. Golden Hoping against hope / Nadezhda Mandelstam You have to pick your team / Sonya Vetra Tinsley, as told to Paul Rogat Loeb From Hope to hopelessness / Margaret Wheatley pt. 9. Only justice can stop a curse. "Still I rise" / Maya Angelou Only justice can stop a curse / Alice Walker The clan of one-breasted women / Terry Tempest Williams Next year in Mas'Ha / Starhawk The gruntwork of peace / Amos Oz No future without forgiveness / Desmond Tutu