Themes for 2024
Photo by: Taku
Hope this post finds you all well. Can’t believe the end of 2023 is upon us! As the new year approaches I’d like to lay out some themes instead of goals. Going into 2024 the major themes for Naarak are: hope, compassion, and community. Not to use buzzwords, but we are in unprecedented times. The world is no longer sleeping: we are seeing major shifts across established narratives and challenges to the status quo. History is cyclical; it will repeat itself until we learn as a society, and a lot of people think we are entering the end times. Which brings me to our first theme, hope.
We talk about growing pains at an individual level, but why can’t that be applied to society as a whole? Instead of it being the end times as some believe, I would like to believe the world is going through another period of growing pains. Shaking off the status quo and old mindsets is our hope for a better future, and to ensure everyone is coming with us, we have to lead with compassion.
It’s hard times, uncomfortable times, and confusing times. We are only 3 years past a monumental shared global pandemic that disrupted every aspect of our lives and we are now seeing wars and atrocities at a rapid pace never before in our lives (openly). It’s easy to get swept up with media, social media activism, and being stuck behind our screens. Naarak is here to bring us together in a safe space, so let's ensure that we are continuing to maintain and build that as we go into 2024. Compassion for ourselves and those around us is the only way to move forward and if we take care of each other as a community there is hope it will spread to others around us.
Finally, community. The core of who Naarak is. We wouldn’t have these spaces if it weren’t for the support of everyone. What made me fall in love with NYC in 2006 is blurry nights meeting other Queer API outside of the Web smoking a cig and dancing late into the night. The community that I became part of during those times is an invaluable core memory. We hope Naarak can be that place for you, to be part of a larger shared community as well as a catalyst to find and build your own community. It just takes compassion and hope to bring good people together.
Happy Holidays and cheers to the New Year. Wishing you all the best start to 2024.
Xoxo Tai
