I've Lacked Imagination...
...And I'm determined to fix that.
This issue was written before reports surfaced that federal agents arrested TWO Black journalists, including the vice president of the Minnesota NABJ chapter. I’m obviously outraged but I’d be lying if I said I’m surprised.
There’s a running joke amongst my loved ones (but, also, even my most casual acquaintances) that I have been old my entire life. I was raised in a matriarchal family by my mother, her two sisters (who are 11 and 17 years older than her) and my grandmother. If I constantly sound like a southern auntie it’s because, from birth, I was raised to be one. Yes, I call the outdoor trash can a “Herbie Curbie” because of the boomer and Gen X Atlanta natives in my family. Yes, I refuse to drop the word “finna” and “y’all” from my vocabulary SPECIFICALLY because I don’t buy into the notion that southern + Black vernacular sounds uneducated and ignorant. Yes, I tell my friends that I “need to lay eyes” on them and that I “haven’t seen them in a month of Sundays.”
But I think being a member of the Old Lady Gang has had an unintended impact on me, too. Because I wasn’t raised around many kids, I don’t think I was an inherently playful one. I loved to read. And write. I loved computer games. And I loved to learn. But I didn’t do a ton of playing just for the sake of playing. I distinctly remember it feeling useless to me. Juvenile, even. (30-something Jewel cackles then cries because 1) I was quite literally a juvenile and 2) WHAT I WOULD GIVE FOR PLAYING TO BE MY ONLY RESPONSIBILITY NOW!)
Even when I was expressing myself creatively, I don’t think I ever got comfortable sharing it outwardly. At my mom’s house, there’s a massive binder full of song lyrics, poems, fan fiction and short stories that I never shared with anyone.
While I’ve always been a writer, it wasn’t until recently that I’ve even considered my work could be creative in any way. Journalism appeals to my logical side. It’s based in facts. But, we all know, the stories we decide to tell, the way we decide to present these stories and the color we evoke are based on the way we view the world and our ability to bring that world to life on pages, on screens and in headphones for others to consume.
Earlier this year, I chose “whimsy” as my word of 2026. Specifically, I said I want to use discipline to unlock a whimsical life. It’s my way of allowing myself to be the structured person I am naturally, while also encouraging me to be more playful, too. I think this is important for me personally, but also professionally.
Here are a few ways I’m working to cultivate my imagination this year:
Reading more
Writing outside of work
Exploring Atlanta in its current form
Taking more pictures
Coloring
Experimenting in the garden and in the kitchen
Allowing myself to conceive of a better political and social future for us all, beyond the constraints of this current moment
⚜️Sovereign⚜️@sauvamemteDon’t limit your political imagination to what you can see in this moment right now. everything you have was fought for by people with vision beyond what was in front of them or offered to them. in order to have more you have to go beyond what you can see. Move forward.10:43 PM · Nov 5, 2025 · 22.5K Views2 Replies · 503 Reposts · 1.18K Likes
Other musings:
Aside from Stella stealing my mat and demanding attention, I truly do love my current workout schedule. The other day I pulled up a YouTube pilates workout that I’d previously done before. It was easy. I know it was not easy when I did it the first time, because I’d saved it to potentially do again later. You know what that is?
Amen to all this. I keep fun in my gym routine and crack hella jokes. Doing the same with whatever “work” ends up being. I’ve always had wild, ambitious ideas but even in failure they’re often good for society / community. Thanks Jewel
This framing around discipline unlocking whimsy is brillaint. Most people see structure and playfulness as opposites, but treating imagination like a muscle that needs consistent practice makes so much sense for anyone retraining themselves to be creative. That binder of unpublished work probably has gems in there worth revisiting now that time's passed.