When You’re Weary, Feeling Small
I noticed that I was feeling a great deal of resistance to sitting down at my desk. Things that once came easy were getting more difficult. I still felt motivated by the work. But I could not access my energy for it.
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Spring Newsletter 2021
Our newsletter has a new look! Check out the special guest editorials, in-depth information about our new online learning platform The Paths Network, and how to make a contribution to our Spring Fund Drive. Donors receive the printed version of our biannual newsletter. Click on the image to download the newsletter
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Why We Say What We Don’t Mean to Say
We have been formed by a status-keeping system in our nation. It has shaped much of how we see the world. It has formed our “common sense” in ways that make no sense at all.
But not only can we be formed, we can be re-formed to see our common humanity. This is painful work. Real growth always includes pain. This work will never end, as long as I live.
However, the work of living more fully into our stated ideals, into our common humanity and the future we can build together is also blessed and enjoyable work. As we break the mold we have been formed in, we find ourselves freer to move, to stretch, to relax.
Small Things Matter in the Practice of Allyship
My perception was that people were trying to be subtly disrespectful of the chairperson, and therefore the tribe. This did not surprise me. But I felt angry and sad about it. I thought to myself, “What can I do?”
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Need an Ally, Be an Ally
Since then, these leaders and many, many others have continued to stand with each other, and to stand with others who needed them.
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Three Ways to Ally
We live, as Isabelle Wilkerson describes, in a caste system based on skin color and other factors. Our relationships to other human beings has been deformed by this system. Allyship is necessary because this caste system exists – and because we want to take that system down so that the dignity and value of every person can be honored and celebrated.
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How Not to Be an Ally
In our recent course, The Practice of Authentic Allyship, I told the group that I do not want to be called an ally. Allyship is a verb, not a noun. It is an activity not an identity. The only identity I want to claim is that I am a human being, in relationship with all…
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Meaningful Responses to Challenging Questions
I learned many things when I started working on a farm when I was in 6th grade. One of them was that it is a lot less work to keep the bucket of nails away from the edge of a table than to pick up all the nails once the bucket hits the ground. Once…
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Celebration of Groundbreaking of Mukilteo Mosque
The Muslim community was the target of dehumanization by some residents of Mukilteo. But the Muslim community held on to our constitutional values, members of the Jewish, Christian, Sikh, and many other community groups stood with them.
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