Society’s mistake
in silencing women
is that is teaches us
to change the world
with a whisper —
and we still remember
how to scream.
Category: Uncategorized
Suspended
I’m caught between
ecstasy
at your being here
and the grief of it,
for the world
isn’t good enough
for you
Primordial
We are new
in our experience
but ancient
in our spirit
Children’s Book Release
I have taken some time away from blog writing to focus on the co-creation and release of our first children’s book, When My Family Stayed Home: A Dog’s Quarantine Story.
This story is an uplifting perspective of isolation offered through the lens of a family’s dog who is thrilled, confused, and filled with love when he realizes his family is staying home with him. It explores the new normal that so many families have experienced during the global pandemic. It offers humor, human connection, and hope for the readers, young and old. This piece captures a time that is unique in circumstances but universal in nature. From making dance videos to building toilet paper forts, our dog’s family is experiencing something that we all have, binding us with this shared — and somehow positive, if you ask the dog — moment in history.
Creating this book was a great source of joy and connection during this time of chaos and isolation. I hope that it brings joy to you, too.
Thank you for supporting authors.
Stress
Stress is like ocean water:
you either
harness its energy
to move beyond boundaries
or you
flounder, paralyzed,
beneath its enormity.
Mother
We have known
miracles
and received
a glimpse of God,
for we have
seen a
Mother’s love.
Headline of Satire: I
2020 Election to be Held in Style of Masked Singer, with Candidates to Dress as Their Favorite Character from Scandal
Firestone Friday: Poem XXI
A powerful freedom
exists in knowing
that your identity,
your unchanging essence,
and your inextricable value,
do not rest
in production,
so whether you produce
triumphs or failures
or nothing at all,
you remain
as richly radiant
as you always have.
Mocked
Can you beleive
how they mock me
for the way that I speak?
“Logan uses big words now.”
There’s nothing so
beautifully individual
as one’s pattern of speech,
the path to self-expression,
the words that hang on your lips,
whispering to the listener
the secrets about who you are
and where you’ve been.
It’s ok if I’m sad,
but weird if I’m morose or sullen.
It’s normal if I’m happy
but too much if I’m euphoric.
I won’t reduce my language
just so that you like the sound if it.
(I don’t, and would not, hurl insults at another’s self-expression, and I won’t carry shame — or ignominy, if you don’t mind — for mine.)
3 Things Harry Potter Taught Me
When the reader explores the thousands of pages covered in the magical adventures of Harry Potter, she cannot help but to learn something extraordinary, even if she is as reluctant to embrace lessons as Ron Weasley. Here are some things that I have carried with me long after leaving the Great Hall.
1. Creativity can be more powerful than magic.
Even when you’re crushed, cornered, or conquered, creativity can creep in unnoticed and trounce your oppressors. I’m thinking here about Hermione convincing Professor Umbridge to follow her and Harry deep into the Forbidden Forest, where, much to their chagrin, the Centaurs vanquish Umbridge for them. Harry and company were beaten, bested with no chance of recovery, except that Hermione had so much creativity it proved to be even more impactful than a magical wand.
2. Appearance is without value.
Of course, I would like to argue that I long knew this, but do any of us actually internalize it? What I think is unique about the presentation of appearance in HP is this: the ugly and the outcast are not always good and the attractive, alluring characters are not always bad. In fact, they’re not always anything. Hagrid is an honorable outcast, but Wormtail certainly isn’t. Lockhart is captivating, but craven and self-obsessed. Cedric is both handsome and heroic. Appearance, HP seems to say, is happenstance; character is the stuff of consequence.
3. Age?
Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore effortlessly unite to communicate a revolutionary idea: age is an illusion. So, age isn’t an illusion, exactly, but our understanding of age certainly is. We make two mistakes: we think elder people are superior and we think elder people are inferior. Yes, somehow we make both mistakes at once. We think children or young people are inexperienced fools who contribute nothing worthwhile while also considering elders obsolete. (We somehow find a way to devalue every human.) Harry and Dumbledore lay those mistakes bare. Harry and Dumbledore are two of the greatest, most impressive wizards we encounter — one a child and the other supernaturally advanced in years. It is not one’s rotations around the sun that crafts one’s ability, value, experience, or intellect — it is the composition of his soul.
What has Harry Potter taught you?
Faith, Health, and Other Musings 