Over the past year, my body has experienced a few physical injuries, including a concussion from falling last January and a cut from stepping on a broken bowl back in August. The fall left both knees badly scraped and bruised so that scars are still visible on the surface. The puncture in my foot has involved months of getting ceramic out—piece by piece—and an MRI now confirms that “only scar tissue remains.” That scar tissue isn’t visible like the scars on my knees, ... Read more ...
shadow
Living in Shutdown USA
In recent weeks, friends have been asking about my experience with the government shutdown. I’m feeling and experiencing a lot, living in DC, or “America’s lightning rod” (thanks to Katharine Weinmann for this language from a recent comment). Certainly, the city feels on edge and reminds me of the urgent need for resistance, for visioning, and for choosing alternative paths, if we are ever to stop the perpetuation of injustice. I look to everyday life for direction, ... Read more ...
My Heart Hurts on Election Day
Election day morning: I join a line that snakes around my new polling place. Like others, I pull my raincoat tighter against the cold and damp morning air, as kids squirm, jump, and cry around us. After 40+ minutes and only few feet of movement, I step out of line, knowing that if I stay, I’ll miss a hard-to-reschedule doctor’s appointment. I feel frustrated, disappointed, and angry. Election day evening: I re-join the line and, again, wait outdoors in the rain. ... Read more ...
Hurting and Hollering in the Wake of This Week’s Violence
Bombs sent, guns shot. And I cry. Histories hidden, truths buried. And I ache. Hateful laws, escalating harms. And I mourn. White terrorism, everyday violence. And I rage. Black folks targeted. Jewish folks targeted. Native folks targeted. Latinx folks targeted. Migrant folks targeted. Trans folks targeted. Femme folks targeted. Marginalized folks targeted. Targeted, passive voice. Failing to name the assailants. Failing to name white supremacist, ... Read more ...
Blessed Change
What does it mean to turn our lives upside down? How might looking at the world differently inspire new perspectives? What new perspectives are needed to enact more equitable relations? In recent weeks, I’ve been pulling this “Blessed Change” card whenever using Doreen Virtue’s “Marginal Mermaids and Dolphins” oracle deck as part of everyday divination, a meditation practice for grounding and interpreting lived experience. I started pulling divination or oracle ... Read more ...
Inside the Chrysalis, or Experiencing Mess, Mess, and More Mess
It’s not uncommon for me to ride emotional roller-coasters with swings from sweet to sour as I go about my days. More and more, I’ve noticed these swings as I’ve tuned in with my emotions and embodied self through Reiki, yoga, and other contemplative practices. The more I do inner work and the more I embrace mess, the more the messiness of being an always-incomplete, imperfect human inevitability shows up. Still, if I’m being honest with myself, the past few weeks have ... Read more ...
Do It Scared
“Do it scared.” I have Docta E (Dr. Elaine Richardson) to thank for this mantra that I keep close at hand. A couple of years ago, Docta E talked with my “Writing for Social Justice” class about her book PHD to Ph.D.: How Education Saved My Life, and students asked Docta E to share advice for writers. Similar to the advice Luvvie Ajayi shares in the TED talk “Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable,” Docta E talked about pushing through fear and showing up for the work ... Read more ...
A New Spell for a New Space
These past few weeks I’ve been focused on moving and settling into a new home. The move has called attention to all sorts of stuff, habits, and emotional swings—things I’d like to keep and release, to shore up and tear down. This process has reminded me, too, of the contemplative practices that contribute to a sense of grounding: grounding needed to stand TALL for justice. One of these practices is spell-casting, which I learned from activist-writer-healer adrienne ... Read more ...
Against the Tyranny of Positivity
On this day of the lunar eclipse in Aquarius, may we allow ourselves to feel. To feel whatever comes up. To feel deeply, expansively, expressively. To feel a fuller range of emotions than we’re typically taught is appropriate or agreeable or allowable to feel. To grieve for Nia Wilson, for Markeis McGlockton, and for many people whose lives are deemed expendable. To rage against white supremacy, patriarchy, colonization, and oppression. To push past easy, ready, ... Read more ...
Naming Trauma as Trauma
As part of my research on epistemic injustice, I’ve been thinking about the power of naming: the power of having the linguistic resources to identify, describe, and call out varied experiences, especially experiences of injustice. Systemic oppression works in a way that denies the ability to name experiences of wrongdoing. When experiences are named, they can be acknowledged and addressed. To me, this is part of the power of the word microaggressions: the word allows ... Read more ...
![Since posting about turtles earlier this week, I’ve been thinking about the mantra “slow and steady.” Though I’m often hard on myself—noticing all the ways I fall short or don’t act on this mantra—I had a recent reminder that simply doing something regularly, even if less often than I’d like, allows for growth.
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Specifically, this week I “flashed” my first 5.9 climbing route (meaning that I got up the wall on my first try). I’ve been climbing for almost 16 months, and my learning has been slow, slow, slow … More often than not, I feel like I’m struggling. I feel clumsy and shaky. I bump my knees and tweak my shoulders and cry a lot. Yet, by sticking with the work (in this case, climbing), I’m meeting new milestones. A few months ago, I began trying 5.8s, then 5.9s, and now I’m regularly getting up those routes.
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Like a turtle, I’m moving from my starting place, perhaps slower than others and slower than I’d like … but steadily, I’m becoming a “climber,” and surely, I’m learning to stay with what’s hard to develop the stamina and strength to keep going.
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Knowing that stamina is especially needed for white folks to stay in the work for racial justice (and for all sorts of learning-living anti-oppression work), may the image of the turtle and the mantra of “slow and steady” help as guiding points.
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Two steps forward, one step backward, but stepping, still … Step after step after step …
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[This photo of me climbing is from a few months ago, but it shows me working the route. :-)]
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#bloggersofinstagram #socialjusticeeducation #climbing #climbingtraining #climb #climbing_lovers #climbing_photos_of_instagram #belayon #climbon #learning #climbinglessons #slowandsteady #slowingdown #longhaul #slowprogress #slowprogressisstillprogress #stickwithit #steady #saturdayvibes #saturdaymorning #reflection #storytelling #lifelessons #alwayslearning](http://scontent-ort2-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/7044bea515c5aed622b735fa2e0fdcf2/5CEAE4AC/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/c0.134.1080.1080/s640x640/51275780_538507049971301_4950861348305084968_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.cdninstagram.com "Since posting about turtles earlier this week, I’ve been thinking about the mantra “slow and steady.” Though I’m often hard on myself—noticing all the ways I fall short or don’t act on this mantra—I had a recent reminder that simply doing something regularly, even if less often than I’d like, allows for growth.
.
Specifically, this week I “flashed” my first 5.9 climbing route (meaning that I got up the wall on my first try). I’ve been climbing for almost 16 months, and my learning has been slow, slow, slow … More often than not, I feel like I’m struggling. I feel clumsy and shaky. I bump my knees and tweak my shoulders and cry a lot. Yet, by sticking with the work (in this case, climbing), I’m meeting new milestones. A few months ago, I began trying 5.8s, then 5.9s, and now I’m regularly getting up those routes.
.
Like a turtle, I’m moving from my starting place, perhaps slower than others and slower than I’d like … but steadily, I’m becoming a “climber,” and surely, I’m learning to stay with what’s hard to develop the stamina and strength to keep going.
.
Knowing that stamina is especially needed for white folks to stay in the work for racial justice (and for all sorts of learning-living anti-oppression work), may the image of the turtle and the mantra of “slow and steady” help as guiding points.
.
Two steps forward, one step backward, but stepping, still … Step after step after step …
.
[This photo of me climbing is from a few months ago, but it shows me working the route. :-)]
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#bloggersofinstagram #socialjusticeeducation #climbing #climbingtraining #climb #climbing_lovers #climbing_photos_of_instagram #belayon #climbon #learning #climbinglessons #slowandsteady #slowingdown #longhaul #slowprogress #slowprogressisstillprogress #stickwithit #steady #saturdayvibes #saturdaymorning #reflection #storytelling #lifelessons #alwayslearning")
![Still in my first year as a #smallbusiness owner, I can say that this work isn't possible without a strong, supportive network. There are many people to say THANKS to specifically, but let me say today (on #ValentinesDay) that my heart swells whenever I think of the support that's flowed my way this year. Today, may each of us feel a little more love flowing in our directions, a little more love filling up our reservoirs and making possible the work we're each called to do. Truly, you are loved. I send love. <3
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[Image description: This Valentine's Day card is primarily yellow and blue with pink-red flowers lining the bottom. It reads "you are loved" in large script, followed by "Happy Valentine's Day" in all-caps. Below that is the message, repeated in script: "Thanks for your support this year! With love, Beth (Heart-Head-Hands.com)."] .
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#supportwomen #gratitude #lovenothate #love #valentinesday2018 #valentines #grateful #gratitude #loveyou #instalove #lovenote #veganblogger #bloggerlife #bloggersofinstagram #womanownedbusiness #womanowned #womanownedbiz #youareloved #youarelove #thankyou #support #supportivefriends #supportnetwork #sendinglove](http://scontent-ort2-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/3aaa1eed7631b4856bd3035d1d0ee8e0/5CEDC5A1/t51.2885-15/e35/c96.0.479.479/51321814_116709839443439_8702693490264459485_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.cdninstagram.com "Still in my first year as a #smallbusiness owner, I can say that this work isn't possible without a strong, supportive network. There are many people to say THANKS to specifically, but let me say today (on #ValentinesDay) that my heart swells whenever I think of the support that's flowed my way this year. Today, may each of us feel a little more love flowing in our directions, a little more love filling up our reservoirs and making possible the work we're each called to do. Truly, you are loved. I send love. <3
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[Image description: This Valentine's Day card is primarily yellow and blue with pink-red flowers lining the bottom. It reads \"you are loved\" in large script, followed by \"Happy Valentine's Day\" in all-caps. Below that is the message, repeated in script: \"Thanks for your support this year! With love, Beth (Heart-Head-Hands.com).\"] .
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#supportwomen #gratitude #lovenothate #love #valentinesday2018 #valentines #grateful #gratitude #loveyou #instalove #lovenote #veganblogger #bloggerlife #bloggersofinstagram #womanownedbusiness #womanowned #womanownedbiz #youareloved #youarelove #thankyou #support #supportivefriends #supportnetwork #sendinglove")
