This poinsettia is amazing me—still blooming in these last days of February and reminding me that resilience (emotional elasticity, stamina, and strength) is something we don't often recognize until it’s already present and in place. When I googled how long poinsettias bloom, I was (and wasn’t) surprised to see that 40 days are a common period. The information not only confirms this poinsettia’s resilience (blooming for 3+ months), but it also feels like the ... Read more ...
whiteness
Learning from and Healing Scars, Both Personal and Collective
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 ...
Why I Don’t Believe the #CovingtonCatholic Student’s Statement
I woke up today (the day after MLK Day in the U.S.) to a Facebook friend who presents as a white woman asking if I’d seen the #CovingtonCatholic student’s statement because she’s not sure what to believe. Later in the day, a white family member also sent me the statement, presumably to vindicate the white students. These messages come in response to me speaking out over the past few days about the incident, asking for white folks to break patterns of niceness and to ... Read more ...
My New Year’s Resolution = Self-Love for Countering White Fragility
The days leading up to this new year have been bumpy for me, pushing me to recommit to radical self-love. I’ve had some really tough conversations with family around everyday injustice, and these conversations have reminded me why we need a deep well of emotional literacies for confronting complicity. In the midst of one of these tough conversations—in which I was speaking aloud my embodied responses to white supremacy—I shared that my heart was throbbing, and I ... 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 ...
Beyond Self-Care: How Hiking Invites Self-Work
Time outdoors and along hiking trails is especially important time to me. As I’ve written previously, it’s time to consider the steps involved in making change, including learning to tread alternative paths. It’s time to slow down, notice beauty, and appreciate life, even in the roughest of conditions. It’s also time to do important intrapersonal work toward disrupting biases and internalized inferiority + superiority. It’s possible to consider activities like hiking ... 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 ...
A Barrage of Microaggressions
Some years ago I began recording everyday microaggressions toward learning to recognize racism, which is so often coded and which whiteness has taught me not to see. This recording project aimed at building a repository of common microaggressions to teach with and practice interventions using Augusto Boal’s theatre of the oppressed. The project emerged from conversations with colleagues of color, who shared how often white colleagues failed to believe their experiences. ... Read more ...
Crocheting Granny Squares, Connecting to Grandmothers, and Crafting a More Just Future
Recently, I felt inspired to pick up crocheting again, after many seasons without touching a needle, hook, or yarn. Feeling the call for creative self-care, I ordered vegan yarn in the colors of the 7 chakras and laid them out, planning a small afghan of granny squares. Thread yarn onto hook. Chain five, and connect stitches, making a circle. Days after purchasing the yarn and only a few stitches into my first granny square, my mom shared some news. Betty, the woman ... Read more ...
![New month, new waves of gratitude.
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*THANKS* to Patreon supporters for believing in the work of Heart-Head-Hands.com and supporting through small monthly donations.
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I wish I could sit down and share a meal with each of you. Here's an effort at virtual meal-sharing--with a photo of me enjoying an all-vegan + gluten-free Ethiopian dinner (one of the many things I love about living in DC). Let me know when you're in town so that we can share a meal together.
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[Image description: Beth sits behind a dinner table, hand perched on a large platter that includes stews, sauces, and veggies -- all served on injera. Ready to eat.]
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And want to support the work of Heart Head Hands: Everyday Living for Justice?
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Consider becoming a patron, and receive monthly Q&A newsletters (last month's delivered as a video from my kitchen table). Link: https://www.patreon.com/bethgodbee ...
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#thanks #gratitude #mealsharing #vegan #veganblogger #veganblog #veganglutenfree #glutenfreevegan #patreon #patreoncreator #patreoncampaign #patreonsupport #supportartists #supportwriters #writersofinstagram #bloggersofinstagram #blogger #bloggerlife #thankyou #community #communityofsupport](http://scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/37724106ad70e2ed3192e9a32548677f/5D75AEBF/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/s640x640/54512871_444039536138510_6566513645336989925_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com "New month, new waves of gratitude.
.
*THANKS* to Patreon supporters for believing in the work of Heart-Head-Hands.com and supporting through small monthly donations.
.
I wish I could sit down and share a meal with each of you. Here's an effort at virtual meal-sharing--with a photo of me enjoying an all-vegan + gluten-free Ethiopian dinner (one of the many things I love about living in DC). Let me know when you're in town so that we can share a meal together.
.
[Image description: Beth sits behind a dinner table, hand perched on a large platter that includes stews, sauces, and veggies -- all served on injera. Ready to eat.]
.
And want to support the work of Heart Head Hands: Everyday Living for Justice?
.
Consider becoming a patron, and receive monthly Q&A newsletters (last month's delivered as a video from my kitchen table). Link: https://www.patreon.com/bethgodbee ...
.
.
.
#thanks #gratitude #mealsharing #vegan #veganblogger #veganblog #veganglutenfree #glutenfreevegan #patreon #patreoncreator #patreoncampaign #patreonsupport #supportartists #supportwriters #writersofinstagram #bloggersofinstagram #blogger #bloggerlife #thankyou #community #communityofsupport")
