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1 June 2020 Dear Friends & Students, This past week has left me stunned as to the current state of the country. While I shared some thoughts on Instagram, truthfully I find myself questioning whether or not I even have the right to speak. As means of “escape,” I binge watched Little Fires Everywhere (on Hulu). Instead, I became even more uncomfortable recognizing aspects of myself in Reese Witherspoon’s character, or at least fragments of who I was in a former life.. In the last scene of the series, the character Pearl asks her mother to read her story aloud, and in her musings, I gratefully found my current self again: I dreamt that I belonged to you because I knew you would keep me safe. But when I started to wake up, I saw those gilded bars around us, and I couldn’t remember how it went in the dream: Was I the bird, or was I the cage? Was I myself, or one of my mothers? Was I safe, or was I suffocating? Because the bird is in a cage. And the cage is in a town. And the town is made of blinding white flour and beautiful lies. And maybe we can’t help the things we dream for more than we can help the stuff we’re made of, or maybe can.. If we can finally see the lies and the town and the cage we are inside of, we can see so many other things too: We can see the door, the way out. And we can fly away. I recognize it’s my time to go deep, to educate myself, to consider the source and how the color of my skin makes me complicit in the fires burning everywhere. To dissect the things I do not know (or have not wished to know) about myself. I hope you will join me and engage in this conversation. While some may be further along than others, as a nation we are falling short. We are all complicit, and it is my prayer that we can do better. At least we must try. I have linked multiple resources that I have found helpful ~ it’s incomplete, but so too a place from which to grow. I invite you to share your stories and suggestions ~ thank you to those who have already done so. Writing this newsletter has begun the convergence of many narrative threads that have been woven into the fabric of my life. It’s a deliberate work in progress, and as such I am in the process of redesigning my website and developing content on Substack, so stay tuned.. As always, I hope you are well, safe & finding meaningful ways to care for one another ~ thank you for reading and for your support
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