you are such a beautiful light -- & a beautiful writer ... & i agree with everything you say ... only, it is such a fine line, though, right ??? ... we cannot let "them" (i NEVER write or speak "his" name EVER) occupy our minds & hearts & souls ... and ... we cannot sit back & just let this happen ... so -- in complete sincerity, i ask -- what do we DO to STOP this fascistic takeover of OUR country while preserving our souls ???
Donate to opposition causes, volunteer, train your kids in your same mindset, use every opportunity to speak with purpose and urgency. No more time for casual conversations.
i was a precocious little/young Black girl raised in East Harlem/El Barrio...attending private school in the upper east side of nyc/taking the #101 bus up/over the hill to 91st steet/walking over to madison ave...caught between different worlds. Similar to your experience/my mom would also admonish me to 'be still'....it took me a while to listen/hear what she was communicating/telling me...tho i now know. that said/given this particular/perculiar moment....your words are so very much valued/insightful & needed/Dr. Eddie....thank you for the reminder 'to be still'...and breathe. #lacircumstanciadelavida
Beautiful imagery - I was told to be quiet & still because I was a girl and we were merely decorative. There’s one word in your work that gets me stuck, though. I just wish we could all agree that fake stuff created by humans to control other humans isn’t real. The more humans are told to believe in deities made up to keep us down, the more intelligent people tell us to believe in the fake, the easier it is for fascists to sell their lies. Trump & his ilk use gods to sell otherism, racism, the state-sponsored murder of women in miscarriage, inequality, inequity, immorality, a crime wave of fraud, grift and kidnapping for power & profit.
Thanks, Eddie 🙏🏼 I smiled when I read that your mom would say you were born to push a pencil. My working class late father used to tell me something similar. I’m also a professor so our parents were on to something 😂 I wasn’t rambunctious as a kid but did spend time alone using my imagination. I think our generation was lucky to have had time to imagine without the distraction of phones and tablets. Now in these dark times, as you suggest, we need to be still and listen to the divine. It’s all so much that we despair. Thank you for reminding us of the need to slow down, breathe, and embrace something we love. It’s absolutely necessary for our resistance which will be a long one. 💙
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this and needed this today. I'm a poet and prof by trade and have many artist friends among my ongoing brother and sister resister groups. Art and reading and imagination restores the soul and also threatens the autocrats because we offer alternative ways of looking/ thinking/ feeling. And yes, we all need to get quiet, rest, allow our imaginations to run free in the field of better times if we're going to hang in this fight too.
yeah i have read the "Terry Brooks’s world of Shannara"[elfstones was my bestone with the bigbattle although lost track in the last ten years] , mostly i read "david eddings" and "david gemmel" , so i concur with your reading choices [winks]..that said having a dog called "bimbo" would seem to need a chapter all of its own[winks]
perhaps the escapism of these fantasy and sci-fi books was my view of deflection,of peace..along with long walks in the countryside, and perhaps some copous amounts of alchocol, when really at pain? these are my versions of peace..or perhaps escapism to distance the maddening crowd, that seems as ever in this moment, even madder than ever :(
For me it was contracting rheumatic fever as a child and being told to sit still lest my heart get damaged. I think the fear of death is what kept me, a very active kid, still which also made me think about death a lot which, of course, is to say to think about life. Lots of dreams and ideas and plans to dance and do cartwheels when I was healed. It made me quite good at meditating at the age of 10. So, I was a dancer and a minister and a movement teacher and a healer of sorts and a writer, too. Now I'm 80 and I still have quite a wonderful time inside. My recent cancer took me to so many places of wonder.
Great advice. My pastor is big on telling us to be still and listen for God. It’s hard in all the craziness and busy-ness, but we need to listen; imagine—maybe in that space we can hope. These are dark times. I need to believe this mess can be fixed.
Thanks. I needed this today. I am slowing with the news. No need to know it all. I know it will be bad, he will be outrageous.
So today I continued doing the organizing and resistance work, while giving myself time in the yard to breathe.
you are such a beautiful light -- & a beautiful writer ... & i agree with everything you say ... only, it is such a fine line, though, right ??? ... we cannot let "them" (i NEVER write or speak "his" name EVER) occupy our minds & hearts & souls ... and ... we cannot sit back & just let this happen ... so -- in complete sincerity, i ask -- what do we DO to STOP this fascistic takeover of OUR country while preserving our souls ???
Donate to opposition causes, volunteer, train your kids in your same mindset, use every opportunity to speak with purpose and urgency. No more time for casual conversations.
i was a precocious little/young Black girl raised in East Harlem/El Barrio...attending private school in the upper east side of nyc/taking the #101 bus up/over the hill to 91st steet/walking over to madison ave...caught between different worlds. Similar to your experience/my mom would also admonish me to 'be still'....it took me a while to listen/hear what she was communicating/telling me...tho i now know. that said/given this particular/perculiar moment....your words are so very much valued/insightful & needed/Dr. Eddie....thank you for the reminder 'to be still'...and breathe. #lacircumstanciadelavida
Beautiful imagery - I was told to be quiet & still because I was a girl and we were merely decorative. There’s one word in your work that gets me stuck, though. I just wish we could all agree that fake stuff created by humans to control other humans isn’t real. The more humans are told to believe in deities made up to keep us down, the more intelligent people tell us to believe in the fake, the easier it is for fascists to sell their lies. Trump & his ilk use gods to sell otherism, racism, the state-sponsored murder of women in miscarriage, inequality, inequity, immorality, a crime wave of fraud, grift and kidnapping for power & profit.
Readers, if you love his writing, I highly recommend Begin Again.
oh yes! That was the book that brought me to this substack. Gorgeous
Thanks Eddie. I have lived by that motto, Be Still, ever since Covid 19 began. I stand by it even now.
Thanks, Eddie 🙏🏼 I smiled when I read that your mom would say you were born to push a pencil. My working class late father used to tell me something similar. I’m also a professor so our parents were on to something 😂 I wasn’t rambunctious as a kid but did spend time alone using my imagination. I think our generation was lucky to have had time to imagine without the distraction of phones and tablets. Now in these dark times, as you suggest, we need to be still and listen to the divine. It’s all so much that we despair. Thank you for reminding us of the need to slow down, breathe, and embrace something we love. It’s absolutely necessary for our resistance which will be a long one. 💙
Thank you for this.
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this and needed this today. I'm a poet and prof by trade and have many artist friends among my ongoing brother and sister resister groups. Art and reading and imagination restores the soul and also threatens the autocrats because we offer alternative ways of looking/ thinking/ feeling. And yes, we all need to get quiet, rest, allow our imaginations to run free in the field of better times if we're going to hang in this fight too.
Then be loud. And righteous.
Love this so much.
yeah i have read the "Terry Brooks’s world of Shannara"[elfstones was my bestone with the bigbattle although lost track in the last ten years] , mostly i read "david eddings" and "david gemmel" , so i concur with your reading choices [winks]..that said having a dog called "bimbo" would seem to need a chapter all of its own[winks]
perhaps the escapism of these fantasy and sci-fi books was my view of deflection,of peace..along with long walks in the countryside, and perhaps some copous amounts of alchocol, when really at pain? these are my versions of peace..or perhaps escapism to distance the maddening crowd, that seems as ever in this moment, even madder than ever :(
This is exactly what I need in this moment. 🧘🏼♀️🕊☮️
Amen Dr. Eddie!
For me it was contracting rheumatic fever as a child and being told to sit still lest my heart get damaged. I think the fear of death is what kept me, a very active kid, still which also made me think about death a lot which, of course, is to say to think about life. Lots of dreams and ideas and plans to dance and do cartwheels when I was healed. It made me quite good at meditating at the age of 10. So, I was a dancer and a minister and a movement teacher and a healer of sorts and a writer, too. Now I'm 80 and I still have quite a wonderful time inside. My recent cancer took me to so many places of wonder.
Great advice. My pastor is big on telling us to be still and listen for God. It’s hard in all the craziness and busy-ness, but we need to listen; imagine—maybe in that space we can hope. These are dark times. I need to believe this mess can be fixed.