On the beauty of roots
Or how I've been coping since November 6th
I am still grieving the results of this year’s election, I will be for a long time. The dreamer and empath in me (quite large pieces of who I am) is wallowing in disbelief. I recognize that I sit in a place of immense privilege and that others with less privilege have been scared and concerned for far longer than me. I hope to listen and center their messages in the years to come. To be a better ally than I was in the first term. As my husband says, there is deep hurt happening in our country and Tr*mp is a symptom. We need to grieve, survive, create, and listen throughout this next term.
I have gone back and forth on whether or not to acknowledge the election here at The Beautiful Anyway Dispatch - there seems so little beauty in our coming reality. But I can not be authentic if I am ignoring the context of our lives. And I think that the work of noticing beauty will be even more important in the coming years. Here are a few small snippets of beauty I’ve seen since we found out the results.
//
By 8:10 am the morning after election day this year, my two young children and I sat at our local gluten free bakery. I was in need of community, caffeine, and apparently cake for my kiddos. This bakery has become a home away from home for my family; a place where we can be totally ourselves in public. It feels safe: for my GI system and my heart. I knew that those were people I want to check on and I wanted them to check on me. It was an intentional choice for these to be the first people other than my household that I saw that morning. I feel so grateful to have deep rooted friendships in my local community.
//
There were some adult tears at preschool drop off that morning. My daughter’s preschool has always felt like a place we can be ourselves, especially the children. Feelings are welcomed, normalized, and worked through with safety. It meant so much for the adults to greet each other with the same promise of emotional safety that morning (and it has continued). We know the work ahead is bigger than before. It is wonderful to have educators and parents along the journey with me to raise a caring and informed generation.
//
I am reaffirming my desire to be more involved in our garden this coming year. This goal initially started as a concrete way to grow closer to our land and the beings we live alongside; to eat more produce; to practice more analog and slow processes. Now it feels critical to plant things - to hope for growth that will happen after January 20, 2025; and to provide for our family and neighbors in meaningful ways.
//
I am working on the biggest piece of physical art I have done since middle school. It aims to speak to the realities of care giving: that the majority of our work is unseen, done “underground”. I am hoping to find a home for this work in 2025; another promise to myself to believe in a world past January 20, 2025.
Because of the theme, roots will be a key feature in the piece. Making this art has reminded me to be where my feet are: to look where I have started to grow roots and be as present as possible. The deeper my roots are in my local community, the more I can get to know the work that needs to be done here. The deeper our garden roots, the better I understand our very local ecosystem and the more connected I am to the humus and non-human beings. The stronger I am rooted to my dreamer and empath, the better mother I can be, showing my children a path of authenticity and care for others.
//
Where have you seen beauty or roots in the past few weeks?