Spark 1

by Jason Blair

Think of embers—the quiet glow at the heart of a dying fire.

Even after the flames fade, the embers remain.

They hold heat. They hold potential. They whisper, It’s not over yet.

Today, as we look across a landscape shaped by crisis and uncertainty—by misinformation, distrust, environmental collapse, and social division—it can feel like the fire is going out. Systems are breaking down. Truth feels slippery. The future feels fragile.

And yet… something remains.

The artists—the dreamers, the makers, the question-askers—they are the embers.

They endure.

They glow with possibility.

They offer new ways of seeing, thinking, and being—especially when the world needs it most.

So ask yourself:

What has stayed for you?

What is the ember that still glows quietly in your heart?

Is it a memory?

A place?

A person?

A word, a song, a smell, a threadbare sweatshirt that still carries the warmth of a different time?

Whatever it is—it matters. It’s alive.

It is your ember.

And from it, we begin again.

So tell us:

What is one thing that has stayed?