Look for the Cues
What next?
Cues for the people’s path exist in nature everywhere. We know that but do we look, do we listen? These photos below come from the forest of our new home. Answers at our feet. Always. Yesterday, I woke up in an Airbnb, saw a text from a friend in Belgium that read, “Trump” with a shocked-eyed emoji. That’s how I knew. I had driven three hours the day before to cocoon in with two beloved women in circle. We had chosen this election time—fraught as it was because our circle is sacred to us, a sanctuary, a water well of nourishment and growth, a deep dive commitment that requires time away from family, a circling we have done 8+ times and will continue to do. It made sense to be together.
When I called home, I gazed into Eula’s face: “Trump won, sweetie.”
“What?” [pause] “Really?” [pause] “Is Kamala sad?” [pause] “So, I’ll be 15 when he isn’t President anymore?” I didn’t mention that future elections are up for grabs now.
“Yes, and the election after that you’ll get to vote.”
“I know,” she says with a conviction I haven’t heard in her voice before.
I want to share the words that feel like a balm to me. These are orienting words. No doubt you have seen some of these already. See them again. Circle up, circle up. Feel. Remain curious. Take care of yourself. Take care of others.
from Maria Popova’s newsletter: A Lighthouse for Dark Times. I found it very helpful regarding chaos and history and artists. The artists carry us forward!
from my friend Courtney Martin, always wise: Stay Tender. Stay Together
from Valarie Kaur’s newsletter The Long Labor : “We will organize and innovate.”
adrienne maree brown’s Instagram: a human who is always on the pulse
from Aurora Levins Morales (thank you Hannah for sending to me)
Last night I dreamed
ten thousand grandmothers
from the twelve hundred corners of the earth
walked out into the gap
one breath deep
between the bullet and the flesh
between the bomb and the family.They told me we cannot wait for governments.
There are no peacekeepers boarding planes.
There are no leaders who dare to say
every life is precious, so it will have to be us.They said we will cup our hands around each heart.
We will sing the earth’s song, the song of water,
a song so beautiful that vengeance will turn to weeping,
the mourners will embrace, and grief replace
every impulse toward harm.Ten thousand is not enough, they said,
so, we have sent this dream, like a flock of doves
into the sleep of the world. Wake up. Put on your shoes.You who are reading this, I am bringing bandages
and a bag of scented guavas from my trees. I think
I remember the tune. Meet me at the corner.
Let’s go.
from deep thinker and writer Rebecca Solnit:
They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I. The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving. You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is. The pain you feel is because of what you love. The Wobblies used to say don't mourn, organize, but you can do both at once and you don't have to organize right away in this moment of furious mourning.
You can be heartbroken or furious or both at once; you can scream in your car or on a cliff; you can also get up tomorrow and water the flowerpots and call someone who's upset and check your equipment for going onward. A lot of us are going to come under direct attack, and a lot of us are going to resist by building solidarity and sanctuary. Gather up your resources, the metaphysical ones that are heart and soul and care, as well as the practical ones.
People kept the faith in the dictatorships of South America in the 1970s and 1980s, in the East Bloc countries and the USSR, women are protesting right now in Iran and people there are writing poetry. There is no alternative to persevering, and that does not require you to feel good. You can keep walking whether it's sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.
from David Brooks. His article really pried open my thinking. I don’t agree with everything he says but, unlike many of my coast-dwelling friends, I live in a liberal community bubble surrounded by Trump supporters. It’s very real and in our face here in Montana. If Kamala won, my friends and I were preparing for retaliatory riots and gun violence. As in, making plans for the safety of our families. A few days ago, I was on my hands and knees in the school parking lot trying to rescue an escaped cat from under a car with a woman who is die-hard Trump, a woman I have very sweet banter with while we wait for our kids to spill out of school. I am trying to understand and I am terrified.
Go well into the world, go well, go well.
Beautiful word, Molly. A balm and a guide in this disorienting moment. Thank you.
The grandmother dream broke me open. YES! And this morning Maria's piece was the only thing I'd seen that made sense to me. Thanks Molly