Today has been unsettling. Simultaneously surprising (can this really be happening here? In the US?) and yet…not surprising at all. The past 4 years and then some have been building to this moment.
I am thankful I have a few days to think before seeing a group of students. Between teaching a class on trauma, and teaching a class on social movements, there is no way I can authentically, honestly teach this semester without talking about the events of today. It isn’t possible.
One of my favorite contemporary poets is David Whyte. In his book Consolations, he writes: “HONESTY is reached through the doorway of grief and loss. Where we cannot go in our mind, our memory, or our body is where we cannot be straight with another, with the world, or with our self”.
What are the mental and emotional places I am reluctant to go? As a parent…an “American”…a Christian…a social worker…a professor?
What is the loss I am most afraid of? Employment? Relationships with family members?
What is complicity resulting in, besides dishonesty and the perpetuation of white supremacy?
In trying to figure out how to get straight with myself, with others, and with the world, here are a few voices I have been reading recently, and today:
James Bell, III https://equitymatterspodcast.medium.com/all-it-took-was-six-days-99c789a2c696
David Dark: https://daviddark.substack.com/
Brittany Paschall, and other voices on The Salt Collective https://thesaltcollective.org/
May we walk boldly toward honesty.
Teaching (toward) Beloved 
Wow. Thank you. I must ponder your questions. You rock. ❌⭕️
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