I just started reading this book by Judith Halberstam called The Queer Art of Failure. I won’t get into my reasoning for picking it up (in fact, it is one of only 8 books +a loaded Kindle that I brought with me from the States). Only after reading the first few pages it occurred to me that I say and use the word “hope” a lot. (“Cute” too but that’s another story.) It feels more and more like the word hope implies a sort of passive waiting for things to improve or at least for things to go in a desired direction. With that understanding, hope becomes somewhat impotent… Unless hope is a starting point for action. Let’s see how the book unfolds….
….had I read a few lines further, I would have seen this line: “This book… loses the idealism of hope in order to gain wisdom and a new, spongy relation to life, culture, knowledge, and pleasure. “