Christmas Reflection 2016

As I reflect back on 2016, I see beautiful uplifting experiences and then the shock of awakening to the

underbelly of American politics and the festering illness of racism, homophobia, misogyny and xenophobia. It’s hard to talk about these topics in a Christmas newsletter but they won’t let me go. I truly believe we are in a time of transformation from the old paradigm to the new, entering the 5^th Dimension and the Age of Aquarius and the time of the Feminine, leading with the heart. And yet, we are also in need of profound healing. You don’t realize how much until you hear that a colleague who is articulate, successful, who turns every reading into a community gathering, has been followed often by the police due to the color of his skin. Until you see the photo of someone in the next neighborhood over cleaning the swastika from her garage. Until you see the rows of brown paper bags getting packed with Saturday’s lunch for KidPack and find out that ¾ of the children at the neighboring school are receiving food support because their families are struggling economically. Until you hear the statistics of suicides by GBLT kids and murders of transgender folks.

What can we do?

Be our best, ask questions, follow what calls to us, pray, meditate, gather in community, stand up for what we believe in, donate food, serve meals, have conversations, make art, appreciate the good, pay attention.….work on ourselves. Our own assumptions and ignorance. Our own intolerance and judgment.

You may feel called to protest, write letters to congress, and boycott certain businesses. You may feel called to a rejection of consumerism, purchasing only what you need, recycling, giving away, living more simply. You may feel called to deeper stillness, embodying peace, listening to the inner voice, speaking from the heart. You may feel called to write poems or songs or plant a garden. But whatever you do, do it with love, do it from a place of peace, so that the world we build from the shards of the old is based on peace and love. Read The Most Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible by Charles Eisenstein.

Read poetry: the famous and the local. Attend readings. Buy books. Support literary organizations.

These are some of the things I did last year and will continue to do:

Taught a memoir class at the men’s correctional facility, followed by a  reading of their stories to about 100 audience members and “Writing About Your Ancestors” at the women’s facility, with laughter and tears as we shared stories about grandmothers and mothers. Mn Prison Writing Workshop raised $29,000 in order to continue to fund our programs and to meet the matching funds requirement of our current state grant. Our annual reading was attended by over 250 community members. It is such joy for me to hear the improvements in my students’ writing and to know that some are now publishing. My colleagues are my heroes and my literary community. They are dedicated above and beyond, they are smart and wise, they are open-hearted and compassionate. And they are receiving their own grants, accolades and awards.

Presented a panel on teaching incarcerated writers at Split This Rock Poetry Festival in Washington, DC. It was a renaissance of hope, three days of dynamic, powerful, moving, thought-provoking poetry, panels and workshops. Poetry as activism, as resistance, as subversion. Novice poets mingled with experienced poets, spoken word poets with published poets, all ages, genders, and ethnicities.

Encouraged the children at Unity Minneapolis to meditate, to be in silence and stillness, to know the Divine is within us all. Every Sunday I am in the classroom with a story, art project, game, and/or  discussion.  I am tested by challenging behaviors, tardy families, not enough volunteers, and my own expectations. And every Sunday there is fun, there is a child saying something profoundly wise, there is silence, there is grace, there is wonder.

The Writing Life: 

Going into my fourth year of leading Writing for Healing group at Pathways.

 I am back teaching creative writing at Face to Face Charter High School in St. Paul. 

I was invited to be the key note speaker for Jacob’s Well Women’s Retreat on the topic of resiliency and how to access one’s inner guidance with writing, to be repeated at Unity Minneapolis on Jan 22.

I will teach Writing Through Crisis at The Loft Literary Center in March.

I am looking towards teaching on-line classes in the spring.

The novels and poetry manuscripts, stories and essays and poems are getting sent out but the plethora of writers submitting makes it harder than ever to be published. Nevertheless, I won the National Women Book Association’s contest for Pilgrimage and my essay called Words to Light Our Way will be live on line in Talking Writing the week of Dec 18: www.talkingwriting.com

I can’t promise that we don’t have a rocky road ahead. It takes much more determination to stay positive, to use the tools I have learned to use so well: patience, affirmation, trust, gratitude, surrender, staying open, being flexible, blessing those I meet. But I do promise that this is the beginning of something that will change us as human beings, a painful awakening that is inevitable and necessary. Hold to the Light!

You are the Light!  Namasté!

Christmas Message and News 2015

Dear Friends and Fellow Travelers,

I am blessed in so many ways. I never wanted to live here but it is here that I have found community, opportunities, inspiration. And as well, the awareness that changes are needed in our culture and our world as we bear witness to those whose lives and voices must no longer be silenced. You may have heard that Minneapolis is one of the best cities to live in. You may not know it is one of the worst for black people, including one of the highest incarceration rates in the country. What we are called to do is to speak up and stand as allies for people of color—so that is what I am doing before I share my accomplishments of this past year, while I have your immediate attention. Please think of how you can speak up, be an ally, for those who struggle for justice, for their lives. It’s possible to do more than just show up at protests. There is showing up at your place of work or local hang out by saying something when someone is unthinking, racist, intolerant. There is educating yourself by listening and reading. And there is offering what you can in the way of space, visibility, opportunities instead of deferring to the usual people you know. Reach out. That’s my message for the holidays. Be the peace you want to see by being the human you imagine you can be.

 Most of you know that I was honored to facilitate the writing workshop in Stillwater prison in order to have a reading on the topic of remorse during Victim Awareness week. The reading was attended by invited inmates, staff members of the Department of Corrections, Restorative Justice and Victim Services, the commissioner and 9 fellow instructors of Mn Prison Writing Workshop. It was cathartic as the men shared the impact of their crimes on others, finishing with healing stories of self-awareness and transformation. The reading cracked our hearts open. Tears, laughter, and handshakes completed the evening. Teaching this class gave me the inspiration to offer a panel at Split This Rock Poetry Festival in Washington, DC this coming April 2016. I am thrilled that Nell Morningstar and I will present this panel as well as attend readings, workshops and panels on the issues of social justice. The Times They Are

A’Changin’….right? They have to. Right?  I also taught a class at Shakopee women’s prison using an anthology of local African-American writers as our text. It is quite different to write with women. The emotions are closer to the surface; tears flowed as they shared stories of abuse and losing their children. This work is so deepening and fulfilling in ways I can’t describe but I know I am helping to birth stories that need to be told. Our annual reading of MPWW was attended by over 200 people. And the in-house journals, edited by the Stillwater Writer’s Collective with guidance from our instructors, continue to be a wonderful way for our students to see their work in print. Not to mention, some are getting published in journals on the outside.   Those of you who contributed to our fund raiser: it means so much to us to have your support: thank you!  

Another organization I work for is Saint Paul Almanac, collecting stories from diverse communities for the annual publication, now an anthology instead of a datebook, and the StoryMobile, collecting stories through ipads and videos, in locations embedded in the community such as street festivals.

And of course, Unity Minneapolis continues to be such a blessing to me. This year my goal was to help our children meditate. After practicing Centering Prayer with the 4-5^th graders, some said it was their favorite part of Sunday morning. Some mornings we do mindful movement or yoga, visualizations or chanting or toning, and some mornings we are actually completely silent and (mostly) still.  When we enter silence together, it is magical.  I also was inspired to create curriculum on celebrating differences: differently-abled (blind, disabled, deaf); different behaviors (Autism, Asperger syndrome, ADD); different families (two moms or two dads); and different gender self-expression (boys who wear dresses, girls who play sports) because our congregation includes differently-expressive people. The Times are a’changing! There is an impressive variety of children’s books on these topics. Our favorite activity illustrated the final lesson—we poked our faces through life-sized painted figures (a karate kid, a princess and a soccer player) and had our photos taken. We also had a fun house mirror and face painting. When I asked the children which was the hardest to try, their answers surprised me: they were not what you think! These were followed by lessons about healing because our founder Myrtle Fillmore healed herself of TB with prayer and Jesus, our teacher and Way-Shower, was a healer. Well….this Sunday when we asked one of our preschoolers if he wanted to sing a Christmas song, he said, “Jingle bells: I am tired of those songs about Jesus!” Next up: Our wishes for the world based on Desmond Tutu’s children’s book and then we have a Muslim guest (a friend of mine and spoken word artist) coming to share the traditions and meaning of Ramadan. I am happily using my creative skills in service of our children’s spiritual development. Lucky I am to work with an incredible, enthusiastic, patient director of Youth & Family Ministry, Nancy Maiello.

With an increase in arthritis pain, a Y membership enables me to attend yoga classes, swim and hot tub. Unfortunately, acute discomfort prevents me from attending evening events the way I used to. Young at heart: but alas, “my body my horse” as May Sarton wrote: slowing down. Can you believe it?

In my own work, the professional edit of my memoir is complete and I am seeking a publisher or agent. Please add your prayers to mine that it finds the right home. It’s a fascinating, complicated, heart breaking, disturbing, healing story to write and to re-live by editing. Poetry has been part of my path to wholeness but during the 10 years I lived communally, I only started to write again at the end. I am lucky to have rekindled my passion and luckier still to have readers. Now may the circle widen. So be it!

Family matters: Boys are doing great. Shawn does payroll for the entire company; he has employees. (That will show you what bringing up children in an alternative lifestyle can do!)  Brenda was accepted into nursing school. Nicholas still loves football, Joshua is quite skilled at ice hockey. Oliver is grandma’s boy (of course!) and loves books, games, puzzles, numbers, and riding the bus. Jason plays basketball and baseball. I’m taking the older boys to see the play Fahrenheit 451. How strange that the futuristic technologies Bradbury predicted have come true. My mom endures, somehow, my dad’s severe dementia, as she turns 80. My next visit is planned for April. Continued prayers welcomed.

These are tumultuous and transformative times. I believe each time we remember who we are and salute those we meet with Namasté, each time we connect deeply to Mother Earth, to our fellow human beings and all God’s creature large and small, each time we accept ourselves as worthy of love and extend that love through an act of kindness, of beauty, of awe and reverence, each time we choose to think a positive thought, light the wick of our candled souls, we are bringing peace to earth. May your heart crack open in wonder and love. May all beings shine forth their light! May your year be filled with whatever delights your soul and brings you joy!

What do you need but the will to move 

through the wilderness of your mistakes

until you recognize each step is a candle

each breath is a prayer

When you melt in the heat of your heart's

desire what will remain? Ash?

Surely not. Surely only flame

Surely only love

Love to you and many blessings, with joyful gratitude, 

Wendy