7 Comments

Love this: "I’ve been watching women elders from all over America place their votes, telling stories of their mothers and grandmothers holding a vision of a woman President, a Black and Asian President, and of passing that vision to their descendants." That's how I feel too, Sonya, and when I talk with my ancestors as I walk in the forest, they assure me we will prevail. Congratulations, too, on your sobriety birthday. After lockdown, when I found I couldn't do Zoom due to lack of connectivity in a remote rural area and a dislike for screens, I set up a women's meeting in a community center. Turned out that around 2018, a Conference-approved book and a cool pamphlet too called Voices of Women in Recovery, appeared. I had no idea how much I craved women's stories. We read one of the pieces each week and then share around the table. We've been gathering for two years now, and what happens each week is more powerful than any previous experiences in my forty-one years sober and clean.

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Kirie, Thanks for sharing these stories. They're the balm we need this week, that stories of the underserved will continue to carry us.

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I stopped when I read: “I was trying to express what I wanted without taking myself or anyone else down.” It made me wonder if for many people it’s a matter of replacing sobriety, as is your case, with something else that creates that lack of clarity/self-sovereignty. I know what it feels like to write without wanting to take anyone else down, including myself. It was its own kind of self preservation. But I think, with time, we learn how to access the truth without the angst (hope that makes sense?) The writing shapes us.

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The writing does shape us. I talk with writers about developing a muscle for vulnerability, but that doesn't mean we don't get to determine what's private and what's public. In my writing life, I've been able to move the notion of 'what we can talk about' through reflection and honesty, and that's what I prize in others. And, our brain can't always become as honest as it could be until we develop self awareness. Feels like a lifelong practice here. Thanks for commenting, it means a lot.

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So grateful for you and your sobriety. Love you sister.

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Love you too, darlin'.

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I love that this post came out on all souls day. I know of no one who has been more dedicated in working with ancestors than you, Sonya. I love the overlap of personal and political. Political change is only possible following personal commitment.

And holding intention, focussing on what we want to happen, rather than on what we fear might happen.

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