A Short Blessing … & Lately

Previously posted on TinyLetter

Happy Wednesday, my fellow wanderers!

It’s been a heavy week for me over here. Though, even typing that out sounds slightly selfish. The heaviness stems from walking with two close girlfriends through their own dark nights of the soul. A lot of phone calls, tears, a surprise of laughter — but no hugs or flights to be near in a physical sense. While I long to be catapulted far and long from 2020, this pandemic has shown me just how important physical touch in relation to others is.

I know some of you have returned to teaching, being a student, aiding students, all of which involve the risky business of being simply near another body. Can I just bless you in that? I bless your heart for the ways it pushes you into the unknown for the sake of others, and the students’ heart that is either in-person or online — may loneliness not overcome you. I bless your hands that teach, that learn, and eyes that receive and see, really see. I bless your frustration, sadness, relief, and grief; all the feelings that wash upon us at any given moment. I bless every footstep from your front door out to your front door return. I bless the very Being you are and how you show up. I bless you.

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& Lately

Podcast Rec:

1. NYTimes The Daily: “Who Replaces Me?”  – A Black police officer in Flint, MI provides us a history of his life, his decision to become an officer, the ways in which he began to notice racial inequalities in arrests of Black communities, and what George Floyd’s murder has further revealed to him.
   
2. On Being: Living the Questions – Rev. angel Kyodo is unsurprised by all that 2020 is handing us. She offers so much wisdom on what it means to engage objectively and how to see this was all just a matter of time.
   
   Reading Rec:
3. The Atlantic: The American Mythology of Racial Progress by Jennifer A. Richeson – Richeson dives deep into the history and mythos behind equality and “trying” or “not trying,” and the important moment that is at hand. The Black Lives Matter movement is pivotal, it is different, and it is pointing us in the right direction … as long as we allow it to keep with momentum. 

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Namaste & Grateful
 Bre