HEArt Online — Contemporary literature & art that challenges discrimination
& promotes social justice.
The arts educate, inspire and entertain us. Words, images and sounds have the possibility to alter the human psyche for a moment or for decades. The arts show us who we are as a society and as individuals. The arts show us what kind of personal or public space we have created and want to create.
We are bombarded by words, images and sounds daily much of which is from advertising on TV, our computers and phones. It is powerful stuff and as people in a society it benefits us to understand how all this shapes our views and consumerism, our relationships, everything. Being conscious consumers of images, sounds and words is important so we can make our own decisions about our lives and not be subconsciously directed by the power of sound, words and images to embrace their underlying message if it is not in harmony with how we feel or what we want to create.
Do you react first with a feeling? Do you react by thinking? Do you listen to the tone of a politician's voice and ignore the content if the tone is sweet or powerful or angry ( if you like anger)? Do you vote for him or her because you like how they dress? Do you gather information about what foods to eat not by the nutrition content on a label but by the color or texture of the food or an ad that shows smiling happy people eating the food? Are you an intuitive person who just knows what is right for him or her and your choices are much of the time right? If you are an intuitive you are fortunate. On the other hand are you totally influenced by others and never give your choices a thought?
What does this all have to do with the online magazine HEArt? For me this publication focuses on the idea that we do have choices and we need to consciously choose. We need to consider choosing "fairness and equality" if we want peace in this world. What "fairness and equality" means can be different things to different people. For me it means recognizing our shared humanity and the suffering discrimination can bring to those whose humanity is not respected. I believe poetry and fiction, all the arts- dance included, can humanize people awaken them and hopefully when this happens encourage us all to create a peaceful world where respect and fairness ( basic human rights) for all exists. When you see or read that another person is just like you, you begin to see them less as an enemy or force to oppose than as a fellow human being living on this "crazy" planet who is trying to survive and live a life of happiness or at least one where the struggle for daily survival is not so all consuming there is room for nothing else.
HEArt online has a mission. It is a one of a kind publication.
