Thank you for your words that were a simple yet brilliant reminder of what we can do right now... chronicle what we see happening. As an elder in age, a noticer of details, and a long time student and teacher of history, I saw glimpses of this coming ten years ago, yet it is still shocking to see the rapidity that the changes are now happening. Most of the people around me are so overwhelmed that they can't hear about what I am seeing happening now. I don't believe it is because they don't care, but because they simply can't bear to look at it. As for me, I must look at it full on, but yet I have not known what to do with what I am seeing that others don't want to hear. You have given me the gift of seeing what it is that I can do with all of that - that I can record it. And while I will still take other actions to address what is happening in the world, writing down the record will be, not only recording a roadmap for others, but it will also give me the gift of having a place to "set down" this heavy load in some way. Thank you.
I just came across this—hi Rowen! (I'm also Rowen!)—and had to reach out because my next newsletter, sitting in my drafts, is synchronically titled An Herbarium as Resistance. It's on the act of starting a herbarium and how learning the names of plants, documenting their forms, preserving their beauty—feels, in today’s world, like a radical act of resistance. I loved reading this and feel deeply connected to the same mycorrhizal network of thinking.
Hello Rowen!! I love meeting another plant loving Rowen, especially one who spells their name with an e! Thanks for sharing, looking forward to staying connected! In solidarity 🙏🏽🙌🏽🔥
I've been meeting my journal with a lot of doubt, and this offering has helped me reframe.
Disempowerment and despair are quite sneaky tools of oppression--ones that sometimes get me spiraling thinking that resourcing myself through writing isn't enough of a mobilization.
Your writing feels like such a generous invitation to remember that how I show up to my journal helps resource me for how I show up for my people. The recent actions on Chicago Public School teachers remind me also that authoritarians, oppression cannot take root when we show up resourced for each other. And thank you for your awesome questions--saved them all for journal prompts. :) A storyteller I've been really looking to right now is Alexis Pauline Gumbs.
Incredible! I was just journaling this morning about the essential tapestry of ALL of OUR stories as threads in the larger story. Storytelling is gaining a come back in popularity these days... but many individuals still feel as if THEIR stories are not important.
Thank you for this reminder. I am a long time journaler and I love thinking of writing as a form of resistance to what we are living through. Storytelling and remembering are such potent and powerful ways to connect, metabolize what’s present and dream into new stories. Thank you! 🙏
Love this so much. It’s easy to get caught in doing and over-functioning (my trauma pattern!) and forget to document. Totally stealing your “burn” journal idea. I carry a lot of stories inside and rarely tell them. And. I like this idea of adding our perspective in to this moment. What we are seeing, hearing, experiencing. 🩷
Thank you for your words that were a simple yet brilliant reminder of what we can do right now... chronicle what we see happening. As an elder in age, a noticer of details, and a long time student and teacher of history, I saw glimpses of this coming ten years ago, yet it is still shocking to see the rapidity that the changes are now happening. Most of the people around me are so overwhelmed that they can't hear about what I am seeing happening now. I don't believe it is because they don't care, but because they simply can't bear to look at it. As for me, I must look at it full on, but yet I have not known what to do with what I am seeing that others don't want to hear. You have given me the gift of seeing what it is that I can do with all of that - that I can record it. And while I will still take other actions to address what is happening in the world, writing down the record will be, not only recording a roadmap for others, but it will also give me the gift of having a place to "set down" this heavy load in some way. Thank you.
Thank you for your courage, for your willingness, for your steadfastness. I am grateful to be here with you!
I just came across this—hi Rowen! (I'm also Rowen!)—and had to reach out because my next newsletter, sitting in my drafts, is synchronically titled An Herbarium as Resistance. It's on the act of starting a herbarium and how learning the names of plants, documenting their forms, preserving their beauty—feels, in today’s world, like a radical act of resistance. I loved reading this and feel deeply connected to the same mycorrhizal network of thinking.
In solidarity,
R
Hello Rowen!! I love meeting another plant loving Rowen, especially one who spells their name with an e! Thanks for sharing, looking forward to staying connected! In solidarity 🙏🏽🙌🏽🔥
Thanks for sharing! I subscribed :)
Thank you so much for this.
Thank you, Rowen.
I've been meeting my journal with a lot of doubt, and this offering has helped me reframe.
Disempowerment and despair are quite sneaky tools of oppression--ones that sometimes get me spiraling thinking that resourcing myself through writing isn't enough of a mobilization.
Your writing feels like such a generous invitation to remember that how I show up to my journal helps resource me for how I show up for my people. The recent actions on Chicago Public School teachers remind me also that authoritarians, oppression cannot take root when we show up resourced for each other. And thank you for your awesome questions--saved them all for journal prompts. :) A storyteller I've been really looking to right now is Alexis Pauline Gumbs.
Incredible! I was just journaling this morning about the essential tapestry of ALL of OUR stories as threads in the larger story. Storytelling is gaining a come back in popularity these days... but many individuals still feel as if THEIR stories are not important.
See my last post, ANGER, in ILeanLiminal@substack.com!
Thank you for this reminder. I am a long time journaler and I love thinking of writing as a form of resistance to what we are living through. Storytelling and remembering are such potent and powerful ways to connect, metabolize what’s present and dream into new stories. Thank you! 🙏
Love this so much. It’s easy to get caught in doing and over-functioning (my trauma pattern!) and forget to document. Totally stealing your “burn” journal idea. I carry a lot of stories inside and rarely tell them. And. I like this idea of adding our perspective in to this moment. What we are seeing, hearing, experiencing. 🩷