..finding opportunity to speak, and write fulsomely in this time of pandemic and seismic transformation.. I still have to navigate the full compass of what it is I do; everything skews against 'what is expected of a black writer'..
And so, finding this article in The Guardian, UK, today, I am feeling.. heard in even framing the words of the question.. and that alone is a wonderful feeling!
Isabel Wilkerson, in her upcoming book "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" & this article, speaking right into the foundational issues of our journey.. I am so grateful for her voice..
https://www.theguardian.com/…/untouchables-caste-system-us-…
..so many -not only in this country, but round the world- have reflections of how deeply Congressman John Lewis touched their lives; and kept inspiring- not only as a black man of courage, but as a human being..
..my reflection, threads to a blog post of 2016, referencing a signal reflection of 2006, and the Voting Rights Act: Congressional Acts of Non-Violent Courage.
some time older..
and I am trying to think forward in a landscape that continues shifting its critical emphasis..
This.. has allowed me time for considering my voice in the space of individual emphasis, and ‘virtual’, sustainable endeavor, as an evolving platform.
And so - this spot online, this new 'here', is where I can share work, thinking, processes, and reach in establishing a kind of sandbox.. especially for other artists to visit, in which we might find ways to riff creatively, into unexpected results of broader food for thought..
Earlier this week I attended a panel discussion, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, on New Health and Economic Research on Work and Family Policies in the United States and Canada, hosted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research.