Janie

I’m still thinking about Janie. That’s the function of great art. It stays with you long after it leaves your possession.

I was thinking about Janie and about how she was limited by the world that she lived in. And yet, I see her as an anomaly for her time. She had the wherewithal and the courage to do what many wouldn’t. She was a free bird but sometimes she couldn’t fully stride because of how the world was set-up. She went along with what was to survive.

How do you change a whole system?

Sometimes it changes but it also evolves and adapts to keep its occupants contained. Are we really free? Was Janie ever really free? Do we simply find pockets of air in the underwater cave? How do we break a system meant to break us?

I keep thinking about Janie because in my mind, despite the systems meant to hold her back, in my mind, I still see a free woman. She did what no other woman around her was doing at the time. She dared to follow her own path regardless of what everyone around her believed she “should be doing.” I must acknowledge her privilege made it easier for her; but she was still a woman who tried the rules set upon her.

Janie’s spirit, her desires, and her daring actions made her free to me– despite the system still existing around her. She didn’t tear down the entire system but maybe she shifted something by living boldly. Maybe her daring caused friction and her light inspired someone else to take it even further.

I think revolution requires all things. But the Janies of the world serve a purpose too.