Let us not be bystanders
It's our time to stand up and be counted now...with our words and our deeds
Greetings, Writing to Right the World friends.
It’s been a tough couple of weeks in the US for those of us in the 50% of the country who do not support the incoming regime. Déjà vu, here we are all over again, bystanders to cascading catastrophes.
It’s a terrible feeling to watch the violence being unnecessarily, inappropriately, heartlessly inflicted on our neighbors: Canada, Mexico, undocumented essential workers in the US, along with everyone who had been recognized as in need of protection by Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, including women, LGBTQ folks, and people of color.
It’s heartbreaking to have to stand by and witness decades of progress being thrown in the gutter and trampled on—and for what? What purpose does all this serve, other than to bully and instill fear, to leave us cowering, heartbroken and immobilized?
So here’s the thing. What we know (thanks to DEI programs, I might add) is that in order to disrupt oppression, we need to move from being bystanders to being allies.
Being an ally means that you use whatever tools are at your disposal, including sometimes putting your own body on the line, in order to aid those who are being directly attacked.
Being an ally can take myriad forms; you need to consult your own heart in thinking about what you are able and willing to undertake to defend the civil rights our elders fought for, which are now under serious threat.
And not just civil rights—human rights, environmental protections, the very underpinnings of the American experiment in (theoretical, at least) equality—are now under assault.
So what are we going to do about it, friends?
We can’t undo executive orders, and our politicians in Congress are hogtied by the structure of the US political system too.
But that doesn’t mean we have to sit by and do nothing. Especially not when our superpower is writing.
I go back to Henry David Thoreau, who wrote while jailed for protesting the use of his tax dollars to fund war:
“If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth--certainly the machine will wear out… but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn” (Civil Disobedience; emphasis added).
Generations later, feminist anti-racist poet Audre Lorde wrote about how important it is to stand up in protest despite our fear:
“We can sit in our corners mute forever while our sisters and our selves are distorted and destroyed, while our earth is poisoned; we can sit in our safe corners mute as bottles, and we will still be no less afraid….We can learn to work and speak when we are afraid in the same way we have learned to work and speak when we are tired. For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us….It is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken” (“The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” Sister Outsiders; emphasis added).
Or Chicana lesbian worldwright Gloria Anzaldua, who wrote:
“Throw away abstraction and the academic learning, the map and compass. Feel your way without blinders. To touch more people, the personal realities and the social must be evoked—not through rhetoric but through blood and pus and sweat. Find the muse within you. The voice that lies buried under you, dig it up. Do not fake it, try to sell it for a handclap or your name in print” (“Speaking in Tongues,” This Bridge Called My Back).
Now is our time, friends.
These elders are sending us love and courage from across the veil, through their writing…reminding us that now it is our turn to respond to the challenges of our time with passion and purpose—to write what is in our hearts so that future generations will know that we did not go quietly into this night, that we stood up and dissented from the injustices we were forced to witness or to experience.
What is in your heart as you live through these first days and weeks of 2025, the Year of the Wood Snake?
Write it down, if only in your own journal. Write to clarify your thoughts, to express your feelings fully, to vent your rage or grief—it will help you to proceed with clarity and intention, following the promptings of your own heart, which knows what is yours to do.
I also want to acknowledge that maybe “doing” is not what is called for right now. Maybe it is enough to simply “be,” to still the troubled waters of your own inner spirit and wait for guidance.
When I sit, night after night, and let images come through me onto the page, I am not “doing” anything other than allowing myself to receive these mysterious messages from my deep psyche. And yet somehow this practice of “being” fortifies me for the “doing” that occupies my days.
I believe that there are psychic connections between us, which go beyond linear time and physical distances. We are all threads of rhizomatic psychic tapestries, subterranean but nourishing all visible action in the world. When we write and share our deepest thoughts and emotions, we are reaching out like mycorrhizal roots to support each other and those who, like the trees, are exposed, out on the frontlines, seeking unobstructed access to what all life on Earth desires: the freedom to grow and to experience joy.
My root nudges yours, here…let’s join forces, shall we?
Let’s write to right the world together.
Yours in the struggle for freedom and joy,
Jennifer
Come write and speak your truth with me in this powerful four-session Bioneers Learning online class!
In this hands-on class hosted by Bioneers Learning, we’ll look deeply at some of the major social and environmental issues of our time and consider how outstanding leaders have used creative expression to make a difference.
Inspired by these models, you’ll work on expressing your own ideas with confidence, clarity, and eloquence, in both writing and public speaking, coming away with a portfolio of writing, a recorded talk, and a circle of kindred spirits cheering you on.
Four Fridays, Feb. 28 - March 21, 2025, live online from 12 - 1:30 pm with recordings available.
At two-hour online workshop hosted by Berkshire OLLI, explore “The Many Faces of Love”
In this online memoir class, open to writers at all levels, we’ll focus on generating rich, detailed prose writing, capturing the full range of emotions inspired by Love and spinning them into the gold of a good story, well told.
You’ll learn how shifts in narration, point of view and voice can change the tenor of your story; how to use description to build detailed settings without getting in the way of pacing and plot; and how to get inside your characters (including yourself!), showing them in action in ways that move and inspire your readers.
Come prepared to be moved and to move others as we write and share about Love in good company!
March 10, 10 am - noon Eastern, hosted by Berkshire OLLI. $15 for OLLI members, $20 for non-members.
Meet me at Rowe Retreat Center next May for a purposeful memoir workshop, “Mothering the Self, Mothering the World”
Come on retreat with me in the beautiful springtime setting of Rowe, Massachusetts, where we’ll write to explore our deep connections with our Mother Earth, Gaia, as well as how the potent theme of mothering and nurturing has shown up in our lives.
Rowe is a magical retreat center nestled in the northern Berkshire mountains, with trails through mature forests bordering a tranquil lake. It’s rustic in a way that encourages communion with the land and camaraderie with the kindred spirits in our circle.
May 9 - 11, 2025. Sliding scale tuition and a variety of accommodations on site. I can’t wait to share this special experience with you!
Come Riding & Writing in Iceland with me in June!
Riding & Writing in Iceland!
June 2 - 8, 2025
The creative tonic of Iceland has to be experienced to be understood.
Come experience the body, mind and spirit glow that comes from Riding & Writing in good company in a beautiful place, warmly hosted by our friends Gudmar and Christina at Hestaland.
Click here to find out more and see beautiful photos from my past Riding & Writing trips to Iceland.
Friends, it’s my pleasure and my passion to support you as we stretch towards living our lives creatively and to the fullest.
The motto of my author consulting business is “Writing to Right the World,” and the motto of my book publishing business, Green Fire Press, is “Books that Make the World Better.”
If these intentions resonate with you and you are working on a book, or have one in mind, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Supporting creative people bring their work more strongly out into the world is one way I try to make the world better.
"And yet somehow this practice of “being” fortifies me for the “doing” that occupies my days." A deep yes to this, Jennifer. The word "fortify" is one I want to adopt, being fortified to sustain what we will be called forth to do in whatever individual calling in the days, weeks and months ahead. The time to "be" is essential.