White People and the Bigger Ferguson Picture

It Seems To Me...

The events that are occurring in Ferguson are important to all of us.  Not should be.  Are.  The very least we can do as allies is stay informed as events move forward.  If you have not been following along, start now.  There is great reporting to be found from those actually in Ferguson.  On television, check out the best work from Chris Hayes on MSNBC and Jake Tapper on CNN.  Some of the best first-hand accounts and reporting are on Twitter, so check out St. Louis alderman Antonio French (@AntonioFrench), the Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery), Buzzfeed’s Joel Anderson (@blackink12),  Vice’s Tim Pool who has been live-streaming (@Timcast), the Huffington Post’s Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) and for how Washington D.C. and the Department of Justice are responding, Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner (@ChrisGeidner).  These are just a few, and the Ferguson hashtag is also informative.

This all began with the killing of…

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I Yearn for Sheep

I want out of the city as soon as I can
Want wet creeks, green gardens, moss underhand
Orchids in greenhouse and a horse golden bay
I want sheep in my pasture all silly at play

I’m tired of the circus and the weight of the town
Can’t breathe on the concrete or feel my heart pound
It’s heavy and irksome, no wonder he flew
I get why our stars seek escape from this too

The thoughts and the anger all bunched up is heavy
I need some relief and as soon as I’m ready
We’ll pack up the truck and head down the road
To the land that’s just waiting to give us a home

And the wood and the wind and the trees and the clover
You won’t want to miss it, you’ll want to come over
And join us for dinner, breakfast or lunch
I make a mean egg and we’ve got a whole bunch

And the lambs are a’ lambing and the kids are a’prancing
We’ll crank up the music and all get to dancing
The Party Barn’s hopping on Saturday Nights!
The mans got a voice that could blow out the lights

And I’ve got my dreams and I’ve got my hands
Love to dig in the dirt and live off the land
The flowers surround us, a spiral for miles
We’ve got a sweet spot for your inner child

I want soft thick wool spinning thin through my nimbles
I want to hear laughter and cats and crows and cymbals
I won’t need my cell phone attached to my palm
I’ll wear braids, skirts and sloggers with baskets on my arm

I want corners with books and friends sleeping over
An hour from the town and close to the sea
We’ll hike there at lunch and then play with red clay
Got my pottery wheel and the kiln of my dreams

Come out to my store and buy yarn and eggs
I’m out back in the art shed painting an owl
My dog will come call me and I’ll give you a hug
It’s easier out there, can’t wait till it’s now

To Sit Like Stone

If I could slow down
I would not be me

And so I will breathe
And do my best

Wanting not to be different
Is a mastery

If I wish to be stone,
Does it wish to be me?

I think the stone is pleased,
Why can’t I be?

Always in a hurry
Somewhere to flee

I seek
I come here to find something

Ah, just for a minute
I do feel peace

It is enough

Talking Taboo: Writing About Sensitive Topics

Because sharing can be scary 💘

The Daily Post

Over in the Commons for Writing 201, we’ve been working on finding our angles as writers. I’ve found myself responding to the same question from several bloggers: “I want to write about X, but I don’t want to seem too opinionated. What should I do?”

Hanging your opinion out on a global laundry line can be scary, especially when you’re writing about potentially contentious topics. We often tiptoe around those stalwarts of family dinner table arguments, politics and religion, but any issue on which two reasonable bloggers can differ can be divisive — and therefore scary — to tackle publicly. Human sexuality. Parenting decisions. Food choices. Who should win The Bachelor.

Today, let’s look at some dos and don’ts for writing about sensitive topics in ways that are both constructive and true to you.

First, a deep breath.

Before we delve into specifics, a pause and a deep breath for…

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Writing Through Grief

Thank you for those who have gone before me into the raw space and spoke of it, live, as it moved through in waves 💙 brave, brave, brave

WordPress.com News

Blogs are incredible vehicles for exploring our passions and finding our voices. They can also be powerful tools for healing in the face of trauma; for many of us, the act of writing is a cathartic one.

These brave moms are blogging their way through one of life’s more traumatic losses: the loss of a child. Calling themselves babyloss blogs, they provide insight for those of us who have never experienced this unique pain and support for other parents starting to navigate the same grief — along with hope that life does go on, and happiness is still possible.

C is for Crocodile

2014 BlogHer Voices of the Year winner Timaree started C is for Crocodile to chronicle her pregnancy, never imagining that after three years and five months, she would instead be chronicling her son’s fight with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia — an incredibly rare form of cancer. She blogged through his treatment…

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Writing Emotion

Grief is a lonely road. Art helps the healing.

Why Feelings Are Fucking Awesome

The heart breaks open so more love can get in. It summons it’s own healing. How wise we are within.

Fear and sadness have so many faces, so many gifts. Our emotional spectrum is so diverse it puts Baskin~Robbins to shame. And while gorging on the smorgasbord will leave you feeling sick, truly savoring the flavors will fill you up with the giddy joy of being alive.

In loneliness often we retreat into the silent solace where we finally get to meet ourselves. There is magic in aloneness. It resolves much need to be seen and validated by others.

Then again some needy clingy loneliness gets us all intertwined with people or just someone and that works too yo because we are social beings that need people. Whatever gets you through the day. Our codependent addictive urges often keep us alive long enough for us to realize we need help and are mature enough to reach out and receive it.

Anger is volatile and ugly, our emotional acne. When it erupts we get the toxins out. It may not be pretty but that poison can take us out when stuffed. So deal with it and be grateful for your own anger pushing you to express.

Guilt can be helpful as an indicator that we have caused harm. It drives us to clean up our messes, make amends, and offer up the opportunity for forgiveness to work its magic on our souls.

Shame is beauty in reverse, we think we are ugly and worthless. The twisty knot of shame calls us to learn to love and value ourselves. It invites the most healing spiritual tool of all, forgiveness, to work its magic on our souls.

Pain is our final straw, it’s where the feelings go to get attention. We are forced to slow down, pay attention to ourselves, and get the care we need. Pain allows us to process our feelings physically and opens the door too address it emotionally, where it started.

And joy? Joy is freedom, it is laughter, it is Truth. The courage to allow the self to truly express is ecstatic. Even when the expression of giving yourself gentle permission to curl up in bed and read.

The emotional body is the hem showing on our souls cloak of invisibility. Sometimes we have to be seen. Most often feeling need to be witnessed to be transformed. That’s why feelings are so loud sometimes. They start quiet. Listen softly now. PSST! Your slip is showing…