hi again
It’s another Sunday, and here I am with the newsletter again. Last week when I sat down to write, I was wary about writing Sun Showers. It wasn’t, of course, that I didn’t have things to say, but I was feeling that my voice was not needed. I didn’t feel confident that I had much to add to the conversation. And I was honestly a little overwhelmed and exhausted with the intensity of engaging so hard in what is going on in our country.
It is not lost on me what a privilege it is to just now be feeling exhausted. It is not lost on me that I have the ability to “tune out” or “take time to rest” if needed because my experience in the world is not filtered through the lens of being Black. These are things I often take for granted.
So I am engaging and trying to do what I can. Sharing money, boosting Black voices, and contacting politicians have been my actions currently. And I am explaining this now to you not to give myself any sort of pat on the back, but as a form of holding myself accountable. For me and people like me, it can be far too easy to slip back into the “normal” and the comfortable because, at the end of the day, white supremacy is privileging our normalcy and comfort. So by publicly promising to do more work and make shifts in my life that take advantage of my sphere of influence, I am both challenging myself and my non-Black readers. Start where we’re at and do better. Go further.
And, of course, to my Black readers, I love you. You are magical.
jen’s piece:
Love is the
knowing
that we share the
same mother;
from her roots
our roots
from her limbs
our limbs.
It's the magic that
opens the seeds
and whispers,
"There's space
here for you
to uncurl
a bit
to breathe,
to exhale
light and live and
show you flowering face
to the sun,
the source."
Love is the knowing
that you belong
here next to
me
root of my roots
limb of my limbs
son of suns.
prompt #9:
Today, I’m feeling inspired by the amazing Toni Morrison and her quote, “Don’t let anybody, anybody convince you this is the way the world is and therefore must be. It must be the way it ought to be.” It can be easy to fall into the seductive trance of pessimism. However, there is power in hope.
So today set a timer for five minutes and use this time to meditate on hope. What are your hopes for yourself, society, your friends and family, humanity? What is hope to you? How does hope feel in the body? Where does hope live? What is the value of hope? Why hope?
ashley’s piece:
Maybe you’ve been told hope is hokey, silly, the provenance of the weak. But that’s an illusion. That’s a dirty trick of power to make you retreat.
In reality, hope is tough, gritty; a little sassy, too.
Hope may get a little ragged, maybe a little worn, but who the hell cares when it’s got that glow?
Hope is scary. The fear of losing makes us stop before we have the chance to be let down.
But, again, that’s all the trick. The vulnerability was strong all along. The power, it was always there. We can take a sip when we’re parched and it’ll push us a little farther.
A step is just a step is just a step, but then, magically, one day you’ve made it across the world.
So I am holding on to hope, tight-fisted and sure. We need its power and we need its cure.