A Deep Urge To Gather All the Lovers In the Fold...

 This very much resonates with me...

I went to New Mexico at the beginning of Feb to do remote retreats—no internet, no cell service. It was a surreal experience to be disconnected all at once, trading in immersion of one kind for another + then coming home to things being exponentially worse. The volume of thoughts + feelings, flooding me right now in contrast to my difficulty in finding the words to express any of it. Things are so bad + suffering is so intense, the only reasonable response it seems is an even more intense outpouring of grief + rage for which words + emotion feel woefully inadequate—while they absolutely must not be because that’s the fuel, that’s the impetus for action. There are a few things that put me in a tangle about this, I’ll make a list:

1. The ways I feel called to other parts of the world where people from the Global South are working as fast as they can to deepen work that supercharges mini cultures of solidarity, sharing + radical togetherness.

2. The ways I feel called to deep nature + facilitating shifts away from Empire as the only answer + “the way it has to be” in those guiding spaces

3. My own desire for “a good life”, to be happy, to let myself be present to the ways I’m being seen + held

4. The steady rise of white “feminist” voices like @daniellelaporte and @brenebrown laying out quiet strong cases for silence (or worse in BB’s case) and some sick form of non-violence/“peace” that can only add super fuel on the indifference + cruelty that keeps the genocide machine going—a clear signal to women of my generation that it’s more than fine to sit this one out, in fact it’s morally superior.

5. All the ways that I know that Gaza is just the beginning. And how much more organizing will be needed on every level in order to address what’s coming next.

6. The arguments gaining steam about the election + “democracy” + our continued willingness to preserve our comfort (those of us who still have it) at the expense of everyone else.

7. The deep urge I have to gather all the lovers in the fold, all the people on the edges who don’t want to think about any of this—because so many more of us will be needed.

8. Wanting to take better care of all my people.

— Jen Lemen