I resigned myself to being an observer of the living: one who observed half the time and floated away the other half. I wanted to reach out to strangers and ask them to pull me to shore: I wondered if any of them were drifting through life like me. I knew about sound and wondered how to pull it from the parts of me where it had been dormant. I knew that there were screams inside of me that became muffled whispers because I refused to hear them.
A man is flesh, fingernail, bone, dreams. and maybe some grit if he‘s lucky.
But sometimes a man is a door that a woman can walk through to enter a world that she cannot access on her own. Years ago, the snow-kissed skin of a white man could be seen as freedom by a brown woman, not only for herself, but for any children she might have. I wonder if Asu ever saw Papa as a door.
Hello #SheSaid!
Thoughts for those of you finishing up this week….for those of you that signed up for the mail list, mine is mailing out this week too.
In 2012 I sat among the Mam Indigenous people in Guatemala impacted by mining. We were gathered in the basement of a church for ceremony and I noticed that the colours in the four directions were the same I knew: white for North, red for East, yellow for South, black for West. I smiled at the sight of shared knowledge that made me feel closer to home. They were in a state of active recovery of traditional practices—again, same deal as us.
I turned toward the big scary things looming in the distance and let myself feel them, and to let myself fall apart, trusting that Creator would put me back together again after it had passed. Mama rarely cried or showed fear, and I knew a part of this had to do with her desire to protect us. I couldn‘t follow her down this path. I made a mark in my map, broke the endless loop, and created a new way. #SheSaid
#Bookspin December:
1. Hunger
2. The Future Is Disabled
3. All Boys Aren‘t Blue
4. Woman on the Edge
5. The Reason
6. Swimming in the Dark
7. Crip up the Kitchen
8. It‘s not about the Burqa
9. The Argonauts
10. Dutch Girl
11. Greenwood
12. Swimming in the Dark
13. It Could Happen Here
14. You or Someone You Love
15. All Boys Aren‘t Blue
16. Freedom
17. Ordinary Notes
18. Coming Out
19. His Name Is George Floyd
20. Ordinary Girls
Hello #SheSaid
Such an odd feeling this week, reading this section about grief, about holding things in and letting them out, about taking up the burden to help others, and then carrying that weight. And how holding it all in our bodies is not great for us…. I need to let it sink in more to comment, but I think we all need to let it out more, stop holding it in to make others comfortable…
“The world will Always Take what you are willing to give.”
We all need to be a little less willing to give, remember the old saying, ‘put on your oxygen mask first or you can not help anyone else‘. Save some space for yourself to just be, refresh, regenerate, get grounded, and just be in the moment and refill your own well before everyone drains you dry. “The world will always take what you are willing to give.” Save a little you for yourself
Hello #SheSaid
If you were able to get ahold of this book, how did you like this week‘s sections? If not, did you sign up to get my book as it travels around visiting?
Sorry for the late post, but we can talk in the comments 😉
Hello #SheSaid!
I‘m really enjoying this book so far, not much overlap with her previous book, but the talk about matriarchs, carrying on the traditions over multiple generations, ties to & fighting for the land, the continuing line despite it all, the people that we lean on & in turn become the ones approached to lean on, all feel very solid & centering to me this week. Terrible things happen to people & a people, but humans & families carry on.
Hello #SheSaid!
My book has arrived, so the schedule is up and ready to go!
Hello #She Said!
I know a few of us have had issues getting ahold of this book in the US…not sure why it‘s available in Canada, England, Australia, but not on the US. I got her first book just fine…BUT I do not like being told I can NOT read something. It makes me want to read it more.
I know it is price-prohibitive for us all to order it from overseas, so I have a suggestion. Let me tag everyone & let you know what I‘m thinking in the comments.
Hello #SheSaid
This is supposed to be our next read, but I‘m having a difficult time getting a copy here in the US. Is anyone else having issues?
pickI didn't think it was possible to read a story that mirrored mine so very closely, right down to the new fear that our broken hearts will surely fail any day now. Tears streamed down my face while I read this, as I suspected they would.
pickBeautifully written, thoughtful and engaging portrait of what it means to be an Indigenous woman in 2023. In a short span of time Helen Knott lost her mother and her grandmother. She reflects here on her journey to reconcile with the loss, to find her tears and her scream, to make space for herself and her loved ones, and to figure out her place as a woman free of the constraints of societal and colonial expectations.
"Mortality is a thing housed in the bodies of the women I love."
Becoming a Matriarch | 
