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# 10/02/2026 Daily Video: You matter. Your art matters. Period.
- URL: https://thisreidwrites.com/10-02-2026-daily-video-you-matter-your-art-matters-period/
- Published: 2026-10-02T22:41:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T22:56:04.000Z
- Description: Langston Hughes understood the power of artistic resistance. Creative, you matter, and your art matters. It all comes down to the power of humanization.
- Author: Ruthanne Reid, Author
- Tags: daily video, art is resistance, langston hughes, harlem renaissance

Langston Hughes understood the power of artistic resistance. 

Creative, you matter, and your art matters. It all comes down to the power of humanization.

🎥

**I make pep-talk videos for struggling creatives every single day. If you want to be reminded that you are not alone, follow me below:* 

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## ROUGH TRANSCRIPT

Welcome back, creatives.  
Ruthanne Reid, author and stroke survivor, here to help you get out of block and  
into a daily habit of creation.  
I'm going to read you a poem.  
"Wave of sorrow, do not drown me now.  
I see the island still ahead, somehow.  
I see the island, and its sands are fair.  
Wave of sorrow, take me there."  
Now, this poem was written by Langston Hughes, who  
was an incredible activist and  
innovator, and part of the Harlem Resistance from 1930s,  
which, if you don't know anything about, you need to go research.  
All that to say, I think this guy would  
understand where we are.  
Specifically, he would understand the power of art to  
process, understand, and get through the  
really awful times.  
The Harlem Resistance made a difference.  
Jazz came out of it, poetry, music, actors, actresses,  
just incredible stuff, because they understood that art is  
resistance.  
Now, obviously, I don't have the same challenges.  
I am, in all appearances, just an ordinary  
white woman, so I have privilege.  
I know that.  
But what we are going through right now, and  
the importance of art, as I process grief and  
anger, and dealing with betrayal from those who should have taken care of  
us, and everything else...  
I feel this poem, sir.  
And I want you to feel it, too, because your art,  
the honesty in your art, the battle in your art,  
putting it down, making it vulnerable, making sure that  
it's real, can get you through, can  
carry you as these waves of sorrow push you to whatever the next thing is.  
Art matters.  
There is a reason that every time fascism steps in,  
the first thing they go after is books, movies, any kind  
of artistic expression, because art communicates,  
and it does so in a way that actually humanizes people instead of dehumanizing people.  
There is a reason fascists go after it.  
What you make is important.  
I've said this before, but it is true, even if all you're  
making is a cute little comic about lesbian cats exploring Mars.  
It matters.  
Creative, don't let them stop you.  
Don't let anybody stop you.  
Even if your little thing is tiny and terrible,  
it's fine.  
It can be tiny and terrible.  
It is still an expression of you as a human, and you matter.  
You do not need to be a billionaire in order to matter.  
Whatever you need to do to keep going, keep going.  
Keep creating.  
Keep making real art.  
Sit down with me, and together, let's make  
something new.