TODAY'S THE DAY!

Living Resistance is OUT in the world!!!

Friends,

I can’t believe I’m typing these words:

Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day is OUT IN THE WORLD. It’s here! It’s time!

It’s taken so long to get to this point. Last night from my hotel here in Florida at the Aspen Climate conference, I read through the introduction to the book again, to remember, to let it sink in, why I wrote this book.

I needed this book. And I’m hoping that when you read it, you’ll feel that need, the need to explore resistance in all its glory and challenges. I wanted to find a way with words to explore care for ourselves, one another and Mother Earth, and I hope I’ve succeeded at least a little bit.

We are at that point now where I’ll continue to share my work and words, and all the readers out there will carry them along with me. So, a few things:

1. If you haven’t ordered the book, please grab a copy!

2. Once you’ve read the book, please review it online. Like pre-orders, reviews really help authors as we share our books with an ever-aggressive market.

3. Attend one of my Instagram Live events today! I’m meeting with Marcie Alvis Walker of @blackcoffeewithwhitefriends, Arielle Estoria who is also releasing a book today, and Jacqui Lewis of Middle Church! Check out my Instagram page to learn more.

4. Head to my website to check out my other in-person speaking events, including a book signing at Booked, Chestnut Hill in Philly on Sunday, March 12th!

   

5. Share fun photos of yourself with the book, or the book out in nature—who doesn’t love a good book photo next to a houseplant or beloved pet? Please tag me, use #livingresistance, and for those interested, I’ve written up some alt text for image descriptions and you can copy and past it from below:

Living Resistance is a tan-colored book, with a dark yellow sun at the top and a white moon at the bottom. Revolving in a circular way around the sun and moon there are flowers, strawberries, blue birds, and two beautiful brown hands with red fingernails reaching down toward the birds. In the center of the book there is a 3-circle Venn diagram. The top circle is deep red, the left circle is brown, the third circle to the right is blue, and the center is a deep yellow-orange color. This design in the middle references the realms of resistance cyclical framework found in the book. It is an earthy, tender cover meant to gently pull the reader into the work of resistance in a sustainable way, with Indigenous wisdom guiding us along the way.

I’ll leave you with this excerpt from the book. Thank you for celebrating my writing alongside me every day, but especially today. It really means so much to me.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 6, about our children:

I am not raising my children to be evangelical Christians.

At least not the kind of Christian I became as a child. I re- member standing in my living room one day, looking out a win- dow, wrestling with myself, because the Christian faith I was sur- rounded by told me that I was a disgusting sinner until I prayed a prayer that saved me. So there I was, wondering which parts of me were disgusting before age seven, when I prayed about Jesus coming into my heart. Which parts of me were not worthy of love by God when I was six years old, five years old, two years old? Which parts of me were deemed too lost to be redeemed, and which parts of me would forever be stained by those sins I had supposedly committed when I didn’t even know what a sin was?

Our home doesn’t have conversations about personal sins, nor do we talk much about conversion experiences or the fear of hell or reward of heaven. We practice the Seven Grandfather Teachings (based on ideas of humility, honesty, wisdom, bravery, truth, love, and respect), and we talk about kinship with the creatures of the earth and respect for others’ religions and cultures. We take seri- ously the responsibility of living as communal people and showing up with our gifts when they are needed, and we work to ground ourselves in that wide, expansive love so we never forget that webelongtooneanotherandtothosearoundus.Wemakemistakes as parents, and we process through how to make amends, heal, and do better. It’s a constant process of becoming.

In 2020, Interfaith Philadelphia launched its first youth pro- gram, called Walking the Walk, in which teenagers were given “experiences, skills and resources necessary to live in a diverse world.” Young people had access to other cultures, religions, and spiritual ideas, so that they were more equipped to value the lives of others as they prepared to enter the adult world. Our children are brilliant, wise, and nurturing, and if we don’t ruin that for them, they have the chance to become the leaders of a new genera- tion, one that is diverse in every way and has a better connection to the earth than we ever did. I hope we give them the tools they need to get there.

The Seven Generations (or Fires) Prophecy, an important and central piece of our Anishinaabe culture, tells of a time when the seventh generation will have to choose between knowing who we are and forsaking who we are. Will we honor Mother Earth or continue to abuse her? Will we resist the status quo of hate or live into it, perpetuating cycles of harm?

Resistance in the care of our children isn’t just about raising them with the right moral or spiritual compass but is also about giving them the space to be curious about the world outside their front door, about how Kche Mnedo, Great Spirit, moves and breathes in all things. Care for our child selves, care for the children around us, is about embracing that curiosity and re- membering that it is never too late to ask the silly questions that open wide our imaginations and help us dream of a better world.

This, too, is resistance.