noun /prägres/

The fact that these blog posts might be getting progressively more cynical isn’t lost on me. We can blame this on the weather (which is still pretty bright and sunny) or the reality that I’m in deep with college applications. This week, we engaged in a melancholic but cathartic restorative circle and briefly connected the election to literary quotes. Both of those events, in very abstract ways, led me to basically wonder: What is progress? 

I’ve heard many times that progress isn’t a linear path. That must be true because if that restorative circle exposed anything, it was that we aren’t currently doing so well. For a while in quarantine, I was functioning properly and appreciating all the blessings that being at home offered. Once school started, however, I began feeling like I did at the beginning of quarantine: unaccomplished and perpetually behind. Did I ever experience “progress” in the first place? Then, did I later move backward? (or downhill according to the gif) Yes of course that’s a possibility. But what if progress is merely an illusion and I was just in some denial stage? 

”The Rollercoaster of Actual Real Life”

By now we know the results of the election. I think that this Saturday, many people around the country took a collective sigh of relief. And maybe after that sigh of relief, some people felt secure enough to check out. But the need for activism won’t end because of a shift in presidency. So what is progress? Progress could mean having the first Black/South-Asian and female VP in all of American history. It’s just that this progress seems a bit bittersweet to me. One, the race was so close and therefore, our country still so divided. Also, I personally am not a fan of the history our #girlboss has :) This refines my question to what constitutes genuine progress? Maybe negative factors can offset progress.

The last thing that comes to mind is the Star Wars franchise. I’ve previously written elsewhere about what I saw as performative representation (no commitment) when it came to John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran’s roles. Does empty representation offset the franchise’s progress of increased diversity? I don’t know. Read Boyega’s interview here! 

I don’t really have any answers. Luckily, I won’t stop looking! Happy last week of college apps to some of the class- maybe we can move on from this section of the “Roller Coaster of Actual Real Life.”