Let's Stay in the Game

I committed to myself, several months ago, to relaunch the regular T.R.I.B.E. newsletter at least until the election.
It has seemed like the thing I had to offer…
something to give hope and raise ideas that might lead to activism in the readers. Because there is so much at stake.

I have been working on a one women piece about growing up in Missouri in Jim Crow for several years now. I meant it first as a way for me to try to understand the state of my birth and ancestry better- especially around the issue of race- but quickly became something more urgent after the events of Ferguson. I did one great reading in NYC a few years ago, and then I lost confidence.

I made the mistake of asking for too much feedback on the piece, in part because it is a controversial subject and because I haven’t acted professionally for some time. So I asked some people who honestly didn’t want to hear the real theme of the piece, to critique the work, and I lost my way.
It was my fault because I didn’t trust my own voice.

And this has been a lifelong issue for me…and for so many women I know, this self- sabotage. So I have just expressed two of the most important issues of this election…racial equity and women’s rights.

And neither are closed books, whoever ends up winning this particular election.
They can’t be! 
And neither can LGBTQ rights, and economic equity and the future of our environment.

I want to encourage you, and me and all of us to stay in the game.

Because I know in the deepest part of myself that entrenched biases die hard, and that it calls for a different kind of muscle to endure a long race than it does to run a sprint.

I began the adventure of starting a second career at age 49. I had the audacity to leave a long and rewarding career as a professional actor, to enter graduate school, pursue ordination as a minister and take the risk of stepping into a world where I felt I could really make a difference…at an age when some people are considering retirement (a concept I totally don’t get).

And honestly, it has been a rough walk. I had no idea how much ageism and sexism existed in the academy when I leapt out of the “Me Too” world of Hollywood into academia, and somehow I didn’t realize that there are some people who think women shouldn’t even BE ministers!
But I was so excited about the potential of this new work that I pushed ahead. 

Over the years, I have companioned many people through deep times of grief and indecision in their lives. I have worked in hospice and brought arts enrichment to elementary age students for 9 years, while serving as a full time pastor at the same time…and a lot more…

And I truly feel that not one sleepless night I have spent working to bring the Beloved Community to life has been wasted. 
Misunderstood? Constantly. But wasted?
No. Only if I quit.

I have learned a lot along the way, and again, I always deal with self- doubt…which is a crippling adversary. But it is an adversary, birthed by a patriarchy, that I just won’t give into.

So here is my hope.

I hope that if I can inspire one person to be braver in the attempt to get their music into the world…that butterfly effect of the beautiful gift of authenticity being launched will open doors and hope for someone. And that they will pass it on. 
That you will pass it on.

Because we cannot allow this to be one of the times when repression of freedom wins.
I am going to stay in the game.
And I hope you will too.
I’m going to finish that one person piece.

And for a while at least, I am going to keep up the blog too and launch some great conversations with people I know will inspire you.

Let’s keep on keeping on, ok?

You inspire me.

With love…across the quantum field,

Dr Jane