Fabrice's Newsletter #14
Fabrice's Newsletter #14
The Age of the Butterfly Effect & The Artist Statement
Welcome to everything in the fabrice guerrier-verse: you will find my essays, my philosophy, updates on my science fiction and fantasy writing, youtube vlogs, new episodes of The Fabrice Guerrier Show, 500 words memos on the future of the creative industry and much more.
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Hello all,
I began this year minimizing cellphone and laptop use. I took about a month and a half off from social media. It did wonders to my psyche and my mental health. You should try it. It was very renewing yet very hard. It was a transformative and introspective moment that changed me for the better. Because of it, I feel the most grounded and aligned since I left Washington D.C and moved to Los Angeles, CA back in June, 2021 of last year.
During this technological detox, I was immediately pulled to all the dimensions of myself. It placed me at the center of many tensions of finding ways to stay connected with my communities meaningfully. On top of it I faced the brutal fact and questions - was it horrible and privileged of me to completely disconnect on social media? while ignoring the facts that our world is in decay, still reeling from a global pandemic and now War on European soils which hasn’t happen for a long long time.
In my first newsletter of this year 2022, I decided to gather all my friends, family, network and acquaintances here in this email on Substack. Especially since so much has changed in my life since I last sent this newsletter out in Fall 2021.
In this newsletter, I usually speak to ideas I have been wrestling with internally and books I am reading. I also do experiments like the little book I wrote here in the past newsletter and released called: Breaking Free From Mass-Produced Consciousness: A Little Book for Artists, Entrepreneurs, and the Leaders of Tomorrow. I also share updates on everything else happening in my world which I am now coining the Fabrice Guerrier-verse.
Nowadays because we are always thrown in an immense sea of emails, I understand if this is not for you, please feel free to unsubscribe!
The Age of the Butterfly Effect
I’ve had so many conversations with friends and colleagues over the last few months as we’ve entered into this new year 2022, the roaring 20s. We’ve moved passed a disastrous global pandemic thats ravaged the lives of humans across the board and in the U.S especially those with economically disadvantaged backgrounds - Black, Brown and all poor folks. COVID has really shown the cracks of our societies are real and what many (some) of us always knew and have been fighting for our entire lives.
I believe the old forms of power structures established for the West during the Peace of Westphalia is transforming or at least needs to be transformed. Yes democracy is young, yes its unfinished, yes it was never perfect and endlessly needs to be fought for, but the nature of nations, governments, and our international institutions is not as it were 50 to 80 years ago. Yet people today live in this illusion that it still is hopelessly holding on to the past not looking toward the future for insight.
Today, it has also shown that no one nation or company can deal with these problems individually. Global and local problems seem to affect all nations and not one body can intervene anymore. This is the stage we are at in humanity at least for the next twenty to thirty years. It seems we are in the age of the butterfly effect and it’s just going to amplify I feel.
I really sense that there is an old world decaying and there is a new one rising.
We are rising to a World Society (Which I speak more in my column in Haiti Observateur). One where a singular problem affects all people whether we like it, know it or not, the entire world everywhere is touched - the ship that fell in the Suez Canal early 2021 affects the entire world, the fires in California affects the entire world, George Floyd murdered by a U.S. police officer affects the entire world, the ice caps melting affects the entire world, the merchant burning his body alive in Tunisia who sparked the Arab spring affects us all, Ukraine being invaded by Russia affects the entire world.
Yet the traditional rules of procedures on a governmental level at least currently fuels the infamous “Damned is you don’t and Damned if you do.” The traditional rules and procedures and our culture hasn’t allowed our collective imagination to adapt to this rising dawn, this exponential growth we are experiencing at all levels, this great change and this birthing of something new we have not seen before.
Something better, something stronger and something more adaptive and deeply emergent. Something has to change. On top of these, unknown and powerful forces such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, The Internet, Crypto, Climate Change, Rising Inequality and much more... are deconstructing these traditional forms exponentially and the academic and meaning manual of which our leaders are operating today and think through is just outdated in many ways.
Today, I believe for change to be robust we need to think on a localized yet planetary level. It needs a top down, middle out and bottom up systems approach that engages different groups of people (however different they are, more different the better) and cultures towards creating this new change.
This calls forth in us immense visions of creativity and imagination to move humanity forward. Where does that leave us individually though? Many us and myself included feel helpless sometimes and unable to change society and these large massive problems. Then we always devolved to the usual apathetic “It’s going to take generations to change this, we won’t see it in our life time.” Some of it might be true but I am personally in strong disagreement with anyone who adheres to this line of thought. I think it’s a cop-out. Just a plain cop-out.
We each individually have immense agency to bring people together, to create and organize change at all levels and transform ourselves in the process to lead by example. Yet many are afraid of change.
I believe the most unknown element in all of this is humanity. We just have to break free. We are our greatest hope.
This is why I moved to Los Angeles, this is why i’m dedicating my entire life to the arts and believe so much in its power - to writing, to my work with Syllble, to the world of ideas, to the historical fantasy novel I am currently working, to music, to acting, to filmmaking and much more.
“The paradox of our Age is that we have bigger houses but smaller families; more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicines but less healthiness. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet our new neighbor. We built more computers to hold more copies than ever, but have less real communication; We have become long on quantity, but short on quality. These are times of fast foods but slow digestion; Tall men but short characters; Steep profits but shallow relationships. It’s a time when there is much in the window but nothing in the room.” —The 14th Dalai Lama
I personally believe no matter what systems of governance we design or economic model we attempt to implement, all of it will have been futile in the face of those internal forces in us that hold us back collectively - the traumas and unhealed wounds in us, the worries and bias in us, the outer walls and semiotic boundaries of what is possible in our imagination, our endless conditioning, our comfort level, our aversion to suffering, all of this and more is preventing us from accessing new imaginations, new applied-imaginations. That change needs to happen and evolve in our minds and in our hearts. That change doesn’t need to take a generation, it can and has happened overnight before in the past and it will continue to do so amidst of these times of revolutions, over and over again if we believe in it.
My Artist Statement
I wanted to share something personal, i’ve never shared with anyone before. It’s my artist statement I wrote back in 2019. It really fuels and captures what I am attempting to do. Whenever I create in my essays, my science fiction and fantasy stories, my music or all aspects to the art of my life. It grounds me:
I want to awaken the genius of humanity in this 21st Century. I create to reimagine ourselves on this planet earth. Recreate our shared history. I want to help people in their inner and personal evolution. I want to reinvent the future. I am from one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere and now live in the richest country in this western hemisphere. Haiti and the United States are close to my work. I try to bring presence, mindfulness, synchronicity, existentialism, creativity, magic, self-reliance and divinity. To express creativity, be more open, more curious, be more inclusive, more active agents in their communities and propel societies forward. I create because I want to be able to tap into people's souls. Awaken them. Imagining new international systems with nature. Create new healthier cybernetic collectives. Grow. Catalyze the inner life. Transcend collaboratively as a space faring creature. Become the poetry of life, love, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, philosophical truths, push mankind to its next era to its will to power. Heroic characters. Racial healing. I want to impact. Upgrading the mind. Zest for life. Upgrade our character. Innovation. The Future. I do this through writing, story, technology, writing fiction with intent. Catalyze new meaning. Reaching a new audience so the impact is wide and of value. Tell new stories for mankind. Integrating Afrofuturism and mythology to reclaim what's within us. I weave in cultural heritage from Haiti and the power and genius of this Haitian history and character. Create peace. Reclaim agency. I bring new universes and understanding to transform conflict, to evolve and to entertain truth.
I believe everyone is an artists and the greatest art is the art of living one’s life. So, what is your artist statement or code that drives your life? Your values? I challenge you to rethink these especially as we move close to the first day of the Spring Equinox on March 20th.
“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.”― Pablo Neruda
Go back in your journal or write in a piece of paper why do you do the things that you do you? How can you be more aligned with that WHY. I believe if more people are aligned with their personal WHY we will create and imagine collectively a better future we desire. It’s the first pillar in the Future Manifesto I drafted.
In closing, I believe what the world needs more - are people filled with hope, filled with excitement, filled with optimism, filled with purpose, filled with their WHY fully. People who are more alive and seek create change is what will evolve humanity. This is when the imagination can be expanded, outside of dogma and these deep rooted beliefs we are holding so much from the past. It imagine is to dance with change.
Whats Happening In The Fabrice Guerrier-Verse
INTERVIEWS: The Restorative Justice Life: Radical Restorative Reimagination
I was interviewed on the Restorative Justice Life Podcast and spoke about “Restorative imagination, creativity, and restoratively designing our collective futures.” Give it a listen below!
Real Things Living Show: Building Hopefulness
I was interviewed on Real Things Living Show podcast and I speak about on why it’s important to empower others, remain hopeful and why creativity will save humanity. Give it a listen below!
SYLLBLE - Syllble Studios Partners With Brittle Paper Magazine On A Shared World Project Created By Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers From African Nations
I’ve partnered with the leading literary African magazine to bring together 10 established African speculative fiction authors to create a new fictional world. They are producing a new African mythological cannon that attempts to reimagine the continents past, present and future. Each of the writers and artists will write a short story in that world in whichever creative mediums that suits them best. Read the press release here
MUSIC - Released EP called REACH
I release a EP (Extended Play) called REACH. My stage name is POUVWA which comes from the Haitian creole word for Power. These particular songs expresses so much of my experiences as a Black person in America and the level of nihilism I have to fight endlessly in spaces that were never designed for me.
Music has always been something I am passionate about and I believe is a powerful tool for change and activism. From being in a local band in D.C to now living in LA, I am very inspired to redefine myself, i enjoy the musical artistry. The house I settled in Little Armenia, i’ve found very supportive roommates who are musicians themselves and have been given me plenty of sound advice. To be honest, I wanted to release this short EP and get it out of the way. I am now working for the rest of the year to put more music out with higher quality. Give it a listen
THE FABRICE GUERRIER SHOW - Episode #19 Edwidge Danticat: The artist and his time, haitian futurism and the shifting of the world
I concluded Season 2 of The Fabrice Guerrier Show Interviewing Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat on her visions of the future.
Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian American Novelist, Short Story Writer and Essayist. She is the author of several books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection, Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist, The Farming of Bones, The Dew Breaker, Create Dangerously, Claire of the Sea Light, and Everything Inside. She is a 2009 MacArthur fellow and a 2018 Ford Foundation “The Art of Change” fellow.
ESSAYS: Column in Haïti Observateur Newspaper
For many who didn’t know, I am a Columnist at this Haitian newspaper called Haïti Observateur. The title of my Column is “Haitian Futurism.” Where I explore Haiti (where i was born) as it connects to the future of our planet.
Here are the last two ones for you to read:
HONORS: The Root Magazine 100 Most Influential African American: #68 Fabrice Guerrier
With great disbelief and gratitude, last December 2021, I was named as one of the 100 most influential African American in the United States in 2021.
This is what they said about me:
Fabrice Guerrier founded Syllble to connect underrepresented writers worldwide to collaborate and reimagine solutions to humanity's greatest challenges.
Science-fiction author Fabrice Guerrier uses the internet to create a social, political and intellectual explosion similar to the Harlem Renaissance. Believing creativity and collaboration are the keys to saving humanity, he founded Syllble for creators to exchange ideas from across the world in 2017. The virtual production house has hundreds of members globally and published the first-ever fiction novel co-written by authors from four global regions: Latin America, North America, the Middle East and Europe. The Syllble collective offers writers editorial support, access to publishing pipelines, community feedback, and a growing Brain Trust of mentors and experts. His podcast, "The Fabrice Guerrier Show," is dedicated to harnessing this moment's creative and technological potential to reinvent society for the better. In 2019, TEDxFSU brought Guerrier back to Florida State University, where he graduated with a B.S. in International Affairs and Leadership Studies certificate. His talk, "Gone Are the Days of the Lone Genius," asserts the creativity and innovation that will drive the next industrial and technological revolution is humanity's ultimate group project. The Haitian-American writer advanced this concept in 2021 through a partnership with the U.S. State Department's Innovation Station: Creative Industry Lab.
YOUTUBE: Why I Moved To Los Angeles?
Follow my youtube channel, I am not as active but will be posting more in the coming months integrating season 3 of The Fabrice Guerrier Show:
Thank you for reading and making it at the bottom of the newsletter. Shout out to my Patreon supporters! Without you none of this would be possible: Troy Hodges, Jan Fumosa, Paulette Moore, Martin, Olivia Nantermoz.
If you believe in my work and believe in the change I speak of. Any help and support on Patreon will be welcomed. For those who are new to Patreon it’s a site that you use to support artists and creatives in their work, where you get exclusive updates and interesting engagement on my writings and the content I am creating. Just as Leonardo Da Vinci was supported by Patrons, you can support me!