Stay calm–and vigilant
Last Saturday, as elections results were finally announced. I celebrated. Relaxed. Cried. Then I looked up and knew, “It ain’t over yet.” I thought back to my time competing my horse at cross-country events. I’d gallop my horse across fields, charge through water, jump over ditches (or so I hoped), and face thick stone walls. […]
Time for trust
We hoped it would be over. It’s not over. Maybe over was just a fantasy. The same forces that existed before the elections, some dating back hundreds of years, continue. My friend John Perkins once gave me a wake-up phrase that I treasure. John, an African-American change-maker, said (and I paraphrase due to rusty memory), “To […]
As we move through countdown
Are you on countdown this week? I keep ticking away days as if life is being divided into BE (before elections) and AE. I know this is historically myopic. The crow, the hawk, and the falcon are not counting down. They will keep flying regardless. As their kin have done for centuries. As the poet Rainer […]
This revolution will require love
Is it OK to rage when we’re committed to practicing love? How do we love someone whose words and actions have lead to deaths and needless suffering for millions? And when their credo of selfishness taints and threatens to destroy this county? If love is a tender, uplifting feeling of appreciation and warmth for someone, […]
What comes after a “staycation?”
When we were told to shelter-at-home at the beginning of the pandemic, I heard many friends talking about our new lives like a “staycation.”* We cut air travel and all but the most essential trips outside the home. We had more time. (*I realize this wasn’t true for everyone.) I organized my home, completed projects […]
Taking time on higher ground: John Lewis
In the Pacific Northwest, I love to go up into the mountains, the Cascades or the Olympics, where I can breathe cool, clean air, and be inspired by spectacular views. Standing on high ground gives me a chance to put life into perspective. I need that perspective. So much of the news is about low-getting-lower […]
Resistance, resilience, and great women–a formula for hope
What if women, in this county and around the world, were to link arms across divides, including color, class, faith, sexual preference, and nationality, to demand a more loving and just world. A “no” to greed, bigotry, and war. A “yes” to compassion, caring, and peace. Sound like too big a fantasy? But in dark […]
To change our systems, remember the body
A post on racism by Resmaa Menakem jumped out at me last week, so much so that I had to immediately read his book, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. I’ve read a lot about trauma and somatics, (the body as we perceive it from within), and […]
A champion for justice who deserves to be known
Last week was tough, for me, for many, filled with horrific images and the sadness that my country, the United States, is not living up to its ideals. While being confronted by the harsh realities of systemic discrimination, I sought stories that offered me pictures of resilience, perseverance, and hope. I found them […]
Finding the art of the “new normal”
First of all, it’s OK. Whatever you are feeling, or doing, it’s OK Life today is not normal. How can we hope for normalcy when planetary normalcy has been disrupted? It takes courage, daily, to stand tall and say to ourselves, “This is the new normal.” Given the current global realities, together with our personal […]
