Tag: connections

January Bits

(Our view)

Winter came in like a fury two weeks ago with lots of snow and cold temperatures. It’s beautiful out with the snow glistening under the bright sun. All the winter gear is necessary at this point; hats, gloves, big, long coats, scarves, plus warm beverages for your insides. 

Successfully getting ahead of a winter storm we took Japhy to Minneapolis so she could get on a plane to Guatemala. She will spend the next 4 weeks at a yoga center on Lake Atitlán to become a certified yoga instructor. I miss her desperately yet I know she’s on an amazing journey in a very cool place. Also it is 83 degrees there…very different from 3 degrees!

(Japhy’s view)

My mom’s birthday was January 15th and we celebrated her life with a Red Lobster lunch with friends, game of spite and malice with another set of friends, texts with my brothers,  and a toast over FT with my sister-in-law all to say we miss her very much yet are glad she’s not in pain anymore.  Her pictures flash up on my phone all the time and it all gives me a reason to pause and think of her for a brief moment. 

Today I’m sitting in front of a beautiful burning fire thinking about the last time she and my brother Jason sat in this same space and I’m thankful for the good things she brought to my life. While reminiscing I pulled out one of her Big Sky Montana cookbooks to browse and I found a little note on a recipe telling me when she made it and what she liked. While browsing I found a Brussels sprout and walnut recipe I’m going to make tonight.

Because of the temperature I’ve made soup to keep our insides warm and happy.  I made a cauliflower/potato soup and a red lentil soup last week and both were very good. I made the red lentil soup for book club on the 15th and then made it again on the 17th for friends visiting from New York.  It’s easy to put together and I paired it with jasmine rice so it could be served as a dal and we had toasted pitas for our bread.  

Stay warm wherever you are and appreciate the little bits about your life…

Peaceful Reading…

Walking Toward Race

SAY THEIR NAMES
KNOW JUSTICE,
KNOW PEACE

 Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend my favorite writer’s retreat in Minnesota. I love to walk on the expansive trail and we were offered the chance to collect sap from the many maple trees on the Charlson Meadows property.  We were to be in the foyer by 11am if we were interested in going along.

I did a quick yoga vinyasa after reading for an hour and changed clothes to head out. I stood ready with my coat on at 11am, waiting and wondering if I was the only one taking up the caretaker, Renee’s invitation. I stood there until someone passed through saying she thought they’d already headed out. I bristled a little (what?!) because how had I missed them but headed out anyway to see if I could find them so intrigued was I by the idea of collecting tree sap for eventual syrup. Up and around the trail I traveled quickly only spotting a few heads once far ahead. I felt frustrated that I was missing this small event. I kept replaying how I’d missed them and knew they must have started out earlier than expected. No matter how fast I seemed to be hiking along the windy trail I could not catch up. 


Earlier in the day I’d been reading about caste and my thoughts in a very visceral way connected my trying to catch up, constantly feeling just out of reach, not good enough to get there and linked it to race in America. This is what we’ve done systematically  to my brothers and sisters of color throughout the history of our country. This small instance of feeling a little lost, a little left behind is in no way truly similar to how we’ve actually treated POC but the deep physical connection was made for me once again in that instance. I eventually did catch up to the group and was able to collect syrup but the heavy feeling stayed with me.

The American caste system was created with diligence as a means to dehumanize those enslaved by how they were treated like property and could not be educated in any way. After the Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom we made no attempt to create a balance of equity through housing, education, or quality of life.  Jim Crow laws continued to dehumanize people of color and the rules seemed to change and shift like moving earth continually keeping folk unstable. 

And then this week the Atlanta shooting of 8 people, 6 of those dead are 6 Asian American women which brings to attention almost 4,000 records of hate, discrimination, and harassment incidents against Asian Americans this year brought on by our hate-filled former president who mocked the pandemic and blamed people of Asian descent. You reap what you sow. 

How can we help people of color to catch up? How can we stop hate crimes? Big questions. We have to humanize what was formally dehumanized by our government and by individuals who cannot see past a person’s skin color or race.  I’m always alarmed by how white criminals, like Robert Long and Dylan Roof, are treated with a dignity undeserving of someone who has robbed the lives of other human beings, especially when it is racially motivated. And how can you say it wasn’t racially motivated? It was also a crime against hard-working women. Know their names:

I think we need a department of justice that oversees all crimes that might be race or gender related with specific standards of punishment. It needs to go beyond the local and state because we cannot always trust law enforcement to make the best choices. Thankfully, most people “having a bad day” don’t purchase a gun and proceed to shoot others.  As a white person we have to look at how we are using our privilege. Here is a link to an interactive list of Black/Brown people killed in the U.S. There are far too many names on the list. It should shatter us every day that this takes place. When can people of color be able to feel truly free in this country?


How can we be part of the solution? Tomorrow is a new day. We haven’t corrected the mistakes made in the Breonna Taylor case and America keeps piling on more hate crimes.

What I’m reading: 

 

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson – Yes, this is taking me a long time but it’s not to be rushed

The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller – she won this year’s Newbery Award for When You Trap a Tiger, which I read earlier over break. Both books are excellent!

 

Peaceful Reading…

Life is filled with surprises

Here is my life changing moment.  
One day last Spring I received a message on FB’s messenger, it just happened to pop up on my phone while I was sitting at my desk. The message stunned me and I cried right there at my desk.  
It said: “Hey Mrs Holt! Do you remember me?” 
Anton was a student of mine in North Little Rock, AR at Seventh Street Elementary.  He’d been searching online for 6 years for me. 10 years ago we left Little Rock and moved back to Iowa. It’s not much to go on when you’ve only ever called someone “Mrs. Holt” but eventually I showed up on FB for him. Miracle.
We communicated for over a year back and forth from Iowa to Texas and eventually his situation changed and we made the family decision to bring him here to Iowa-on the bus. It took 3 days.  He’d never travelled that far on his own. He was so proud of himself for being willing to go far from home.
He wants to go to school, he wants to work, and live life like others do. He just needs a leg up. He is the first in his family to graduate from high school and he wants more out of life than what he has seen. I knew he was worth it way back in 5th grade when I helped him frequently at home and at school. He is adjusting to Iowa, the cold, and being part of our family again.  
Every day teachers make connections with students. We are teaching young human beings how to be human; how to think, create, and navigate the bigger world around them. It is seriously important work.
Most often we make a daily brief impression (make it kind) but every once in a while you make a life-changing affect on a person and that is monumental for both.  It might make you cry at your desk at some point. That Anton would look for me for 6 years brings me such joy; knowing that as a 5th grader he was paying attention to everything we did together.  I wish he could have found me sooner but it worked out when it did. I’m grateful for our time together now. 

Peaceful Reading…

Last minute summer road trips w/ G.G.

(Groovy Girl and her aunt)

Groovy Girl and I have been on a road trip frenzy to finish out the summer with a bang!  We headed northeast first to the Rochester area of my former home state of Minnesota.  I can wax poetically about growing up in the Land of 10,000+ lakes and my dad and his boating adventures.  We spent many fun times going up and down rivers, camping on islands, going round and round lakes as generations of children and adults took their turns water skiing.  I recently saw an old pair of wooden skis at an antique store and it took me back to 3rd grade when I had them on my feet for weeks at a time.

(Groovy Girl and her wee cousin)

We went to visit my stepmother and stepsister who is about to have baby #2 (remember when hashtags represented number).  It was wonderful to see everyone and we delighted in seeing Groovy Girl’s young cousin, Amalia, who is growing fast. My other stepsister is in the process of moving with her husband and two young daughters to Minneapolis from the south side of Chicago so soon we’ll be able to easily get together.

We came home for one day turnaround and headed east to visit my friend Barb. She lives in the great state of Indiana in the northeast corner.  She just purchased a new house and we helped her move, clean, organize, and build to make the new house a little more ready for her family to live in. We spent one long evening doing battle with an IKEA closet organizer for her son’s room.

She runs a very busy business, Marilyn’s Bakery, and was pulled in several different directions while we were there (every day for her) so it was great that we could be there to help.  Groovy Girl and I like to help in the bakery but this time it was even more fun to stay at the new house, all shiny and beautiful, and work on that major project.  We also had time to get pedicures, attend two yoga classes at The Yoga Room with Mike and go kayaking in the small lake that sits behind her new house.

(Barb and Groovy Girl)

Barb and I have known each since before we were married or had children and there is something comfortable about spending time with someone who knows you so well. We can talk about just about anything and we are lucky that we’ve landed only 2 states away from each other even though busy schedules keep us apart for most of the year.

While we were gone my youngest brother sent me an email asking us to visit before summer ends.  We saw each other in Montana but it would be great to see them again and see the new house they have under construction.  We’ll have to see what the end of August-beginning of September bring as school starts next week for both of us.  How are you ending your summer?

Peaceful Reading…