Paul Rogat Loeb
Photo by Richard A. Huston
November 2004 | Evergreen Citizen
Editing Hopelessness
by Silja J.A. Talvi
It would be too simplistic to call author Paul Loeb a “cheerleader” for social justice and progressive change. But there’s no question that his books to date — including the acclaimed “Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in Cynical Times” — have helped many activists to find inspiration.
Loeb, a Seattle-based author, has traveled across the country talking to college students and seasoned activists alike about the history and the future of activism in the United States. He has confronted a deep sense of hopelessness. To address it, Loeb set about assembling a phenomenal collection of essays from authors of all backgrounds.
The result is his latest book, “The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear.” Essayists include Alice Walker, Howard Zinn, Nelson Mandela and Arundhati Roy. It is a truly hopeful anthology, just when we need it most. Evergreen Monthly caught up with Loeb at a Seattle café between book-tour trips.
EM: What was the most important thing that you learned in assembling the essays for this book?
Loeb: I learned from [the former president of the Czech Republic] Václav Havel that in recognizing when we’re acting for change, we’re doing two things. For one, we’re acting and affecting a particular issue, whether it’s an environmental fight, a community project or stopping the war.
But we’re also trying to broaden the stream of social change. Whenever and however we’re acting, we’re affecting the broader consciousness. There are unexpected leaps in social change that take place as a result of even the smallest amount of activism.
EM: Many people who became active in opposing the Iraq war seemed to feel like their efforts didn’t make any kind of difference.
Loeb: When they say, “Our efforts didn’t do anything,” I say, Imagine if everyone had been silent. When it was discovered that there were no weapons of mass destruction, it wouldn’t have even been an issue if [activists] hadn’t raise that question to begin with.
We changed the discourse.
EM: Why did you introduce this anthology of writings with an essay, “A Slender Thread,” about Diane Ackerman’s work on a suicide hotline?
Loeb: Her essay focuses on one phone call with a suicidal woman. It struck me that although the essay wasn’t really about the overt subject of the book, it was a powerful metaphor about the essential struggle for life or death.
EM: It was a very powerful and unexpected essay for an overtly political book like this one.
Loeb: In a way, the job of the book is to change people’s perspectives that the forces of bigotry and vengeance hold all the cards. If people look at life that way, they see nothing but darkness.
The job of this book is to put windows and doors on that tunnel of darkness so that people can see other possibilities. And if we can find new possibilities, we can see past the despair that surrounds us.
Silja J.A. Talvi is a Seattle-based journalist and a frequent contributor to Evergreen Monthly.
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