The Gift of Legacy

A Missive from the Field: Issue 3, vol. 1

Photo by Infralist.com on Unsplash

I am still trying to process the last few weeks. 🌿

When I made the following post on Notes, it was just me trying to give voice to some of the things I have felt and observed amid the crazed tilt-a-whirl ride of our current age. I came home from work and felt deep in my guts that this is the hour faith-filled creatives were made for, because the hunger for purpose and meaning in the next generation runs deep. And I scribbled off this note, paired with my favorite Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood painting (“The Accolade” by Edmund Blair Leighton, c.1901), hit the ‘post’ button, and that, as they say, was that.

Only, ‘that’ was most definitely not merely THAT, as I found out in the weeks that followed: the community liked and shared, the view counts soaring as more and more heard the call, and my notification list bulged as my phone blew up day after day after day. I heard stories from other educators both current and retired corroborating my observations, delightful anecdotes of childhood wonder, fellow creatives writing to tell me they were moved to tears because they felt seen for the first time, and so much more.

Clearly, I inadvertently touched a nerve.

Clearly, it isn’t just the kids who are yearning for lives of integrity, honor, and chivalry, purpose and meaning.

So let’s talk. What does that look like for us, men and women of the arts? What are some ways we can step into this space and context and carry forward the torch?

Sketches from the last few weeks.

I believe the first order of business is to live with legacy in mind.

Despite what so much of our collective pop culture has sang to us for the last 50 years, it’s not just about us and our desires. If we become famous authors, wildly rich artists, and aristocratic thespians, that’s not all there is to the story. Creatives cannot exist in a vacuum — our work is largely lifeless and dead until it is engaged with by others. What can a painting say if there is no one to view it and appreciate it? What can a song speak to in our hearts and lives if there is no one to hear it? Everything we do as creatives and artisans is oriented on some level to the understanding that someone, somewhere will Hear and See. To think otherwise is short-sighted.

Therefore, creating with legacy in mind understands that there will be those who come after us, who will be left with the gift of our work (we will touch on the ‘gift’ idea in the next newsletter).

If the next generation is being gifted our legacy, then we must ask ourselves, what kind of legacy are we leaving? Is it one of life? Or one of death?

I know for my part, I want to leave the gift of the most beautiful, wonder-filled works of art and poetry and prose that I can. To do that, means I must devote myself to studying greatness, to dedicating myself to the improvement of my own craft, to filling my own mind and soul with beauty and wonder and truth so that’s what comes out of me (“Trash in = Trash out” remember?).

Newly Released Work 🌱

• “In the Crossing Season” (poem) in the Fieldmoot: A Feast of Poetry digital chapbook

• “Up the South Fork,” (illustrated poem in zine format) available to purchase! I’m quite excited about this — I plan to release several works this year in these homemade print runs. Zines are fabulous! They’re small, easily reproducible, and fun in an old-school artsy way. Buy a few and give them to your friends, drop a copy in your nearest little free library, leave some at the local coffee shop.

Find one in the wild? Snap a pic and post/tag me on Instagram or Substack (or both!)

• I recently added a new column/section to the newsletter here called “Pen-Scribbled Stories” that existing subscribers can add from the ‘manage my subscription’ page. It’s the repository for my more experimental and speculative fiction work through a poetic lens, where all the art and prose that bends across genre lines go. So far it has been fairly well-received, being featured in The Brothers Krynn ’s “Warrior Wednesday” and “Sword & Saturday” roundups, restacked by The Black Knight and others among the flash fiction and speculative fiction community.

• And lastly, my ginormous painting, “Sword of Truth”, was unanimously selected by the Arts committee and the City Council to hang in the council chambers for 2026! This is an incredible honor. You can buy prints of it here in my Shop.

Printed on 24# linen paper, 8.5x11 inches matted to frame at 11x14 inches, there are only 50 of these available. Once they're gone, they're gone!

Onward with Courage… 🌿

It’s not hard to see the darkness of the time in which we live, and there can be a temptation to wonder “How could I even make a difference — I’m just one person.”

Let me encourage you today: you can only banish darkness by holding up a Light. If we all hold up our Light, if we all commit to Shine — as best we can, in the way we were Made to shine — then I promise you: darkness will flee.

Your words, your art… It’s for such a time as this.

I’m so glad you’re here.

❦ Heather

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**If you enjoyed this newsletter, please consider checking out some of my other work or purchasing something from the shop. 🌿

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