Thank you for your work this year! This page has been a life line for me as I’ve been on my own journey of creative exploration and rest from several burnout. You helped this black woman- and I know you continue to help so many more!
Thank you for this encouragement Deborah Ayanna! I am so glad this page has been so helpful for you. As I shape offerings through the studio lab I want to continue to shape spaces that Black women/femmes need. So I welcome your feedback! :)
Last landing track of the year is so right on time. Can’t tell you how excited I am to get into studio lab. But you know I plan to try. And least 3 more times.
First of all this comment made my heart flutter!! It is a study in platonic romance. Friend—as far as I am concerned, you are a co-visionary of the studio lab. You helped water it with your encouragement. Thank you so much!
I have much tenderness for you on this day and the days to come. May you embody the 'gentle landing' that you longed to share with the world for yourself in this season.
Thinking of your share about everything is the same except showing all the vulnerability in how you work it all out bc it feels too personal right now...
I also thought that Substack might be a place where I could share more honestly and with more vulnerability, but I find myself concerned that someone may find it and use my words against me. Not that I am saying anything vile. Maybe I'm a private person that wants to open up but I'm not ready and I recognize that I want more than sharing my personal self with people who may scroll right on by....
Hello Sejana, thank you for reading! I appreciate your encouragement.
Your thoughts about vulnerability brought me back to one of my favorite essays by Audre Lorde, The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action. In the first sentence she writes "I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood." Lorde understood that because of the identities she carried as a Black woman lesbian poet, there were certain things she knew needed to be said in order to avoid silences she would regret. I use this essay to discern what I write often, especially when I find myself silent because of opposing forces. Here is a link to the full essay:
In a favorite poem of mine from Lorde, she writes "it is better to speak knowing we were never meant to survive." She speaks directly to the fears that often shape our silence, especially when they are rooted to our survival.
To speak is almost to be certain our words will be used against us or someone will have fault with us. That is the risk of communicating. But what is the risk of NOT communicating? The latter question is the one that helps me discern what to write.
I will say the thread of survival in Lorde's words apply to my life. I write to survive. On some level my words keep me alive. I know many writers who feel this way. The choice for me to pick up the pen feels like a surgical choice that reshapes my airways to accept more oxygen.
Finally, my favorite quote from bell hooks is "no woman writer has ever written enough." I also love to think about how bell hooks was a Buddhist, formed in a tradition that held a deep appreciation for silence...so when she spoke and wrote those words were intentional.
If you want to talk more about writing, especially as you discern whether that will take a public shape, let me know. I am also developing a course on writing as a contemplative practice, should you be interested :) It will most likely be out in the fall next year!
Thank you for your work this year! This page has been a life line for me as I’ve been on my own journey of creative exploration and rest from several burnout. You helped this black woman- and I know you continue to help so many more!
Thank you for this encouragement Deborah Ayanna! I am so glad this page has been so helpful for you. As I shape offerings through the studio lab I want to continue to shape spaces that Black women/femmes need. So I welcome your feedback! :)
Last landing track of the year is so right on time. Can’t tell you how excited I am to get into studio lab. But you know I plan to try. And least 3 more times.
First of all this comment made my heart flutter!! It is a study in platonic romance. Friend—as far as I am concerned, you are a co-visionary of the studio lab. You helped water it with your encouragement. Thank you so much!
I have much tenderness for you on this day and the days to come. May you embody the 'gentle landing' that you longed to share with the world for yourself in this season.
Thinking of your share about everything is the same except showing all the vulnerability in how you work it all out bc it feels too personal right now...
I also thought that Substack might be a place where I could share more honestly and with more vulnerability, but I find myself concerned that someone may find it and use my words against me. Not that I am saying anything vile. Maybe I'm a private person that wants to open up but I'm not ready and I recognize that I want more than sharing my personal self with people who may scroll right on by....
Hello Sejana, thank you for reading! I appreciate your encouragement.
Your thoughts about vulnerability brought me back to one of my favorite essays by Audre Lorde, The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action. In the first sentence she writes "I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood." Lorde understood that because of the identities she carried as a Black woman lesbian poet, there were certain things she knew needed to be said in order to avoid silences she would regret. I use this essay to discern what I write often, especially when I find myself silent because of opposing forces. Here is a link to the full essay:
https://caps.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Audre%20Lorde%20-%20Silence%20Into%20Action.pdf
In a favorite poem of mine from Lorde, she writes "it is better to speak knowing we were never meant to survive." She speaks directly to the fears that often shape our silence, especially when they are rooted to our survival.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/147275/a-litany-for-survival
To speak is almost to be certain our words will be used against us or someone will have fault with us. That is the risk of communicating. But what is the risk of NOT communicating? The latter question is the one that helps me discern what to write.
I will say the thread of survival in Lorde's words apply to my life. I write to survive. On some level my words keep me alive. I know many writers who feel this way. The choice for me to pick up the pen feels like a surgical choice that reshapes my airways to accept more oxygen.
Finally, my favorite quote from bell hooks is "no woman writer has ever written enough." I also love to think about how bell hooks was a Buddhist, formed in a tradition that held a deep appreciation for silence...so when she spoke and wrote those words were intentional.
If you want to talk more about writing, especially as you discern whether that will take a public shape, let me know. I am also developing a course on writing as a contemplative practice, should you be interested :) It will most likely be out in the fall next year!