March 8: Building Beloved Community

I didn't even KNOW my friend Lisa 2 years ago. She has become my sister-friend, my journeyer, my partner in work & in celebration. So here's a poem in her honor about being PTO leaders together (yep... PTO leaders) and our commitment to building beloved community in OUR community.


Lisa. And Lisa.
White. Black.
Black. White.
But the same four letters make up our name. And sharing that name connected us.

“Let’s plan this meeting!”
A document opens, ideas start flying. We catch one, and tease it out. “If we do less of this and more of that, I think we’ve got a plan.”
We remind ourselves that meetings need connecting, need comfort with discomfort, if we want to do important work. And why meet, if you’re not doing important work, right?
Ten new possibilities sit on our post-its, ready for next month.
Agendas are printed, snacks are ready, and folks continue to join us, month in, month out.

“Let’s organize this activity!”
We start HUGE. Then scale way back. Then find the just-right balance of changing the whole big world and just changing our bit of it. “Building beloved community” we say, feeling humbled by Martin’s words and embracing the idea that we should and we must and we can do this work.
Sleeves roll. Committees form.
“What were we thinking?” we take turns saying. And “We’ve got this, we’ve got this,,” we take turns replying.
Plans made, revised, finalized. And beloved community fills our school, making
a day off
a day on
for love.

“Let’s do more.”
I think she is
CRAY
zeeeee.
But it’s the chance to show others that
two Lisas
one black
one white
can be partners.
“If not us, who?” we whisper over tea. And then our whispers become
CRAYzeeeee
yelps of “yes, yes, YES!” and before we know it,

beloved community grows.

Comments

  1. This is so sweet! Sometimes it is so hard to find the sweet spot with our collaborative partners - but what a sense of flow when it works!

    CRAYzeeeee!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is so sweet! Sometimes it is so hard to find the sweet spot with our collaborative partners - but what a sense of flow when it works!

    CRAYzeeeee!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this glimpse of the committee work of the two Lisas. And this insight: "...meetings need connecting, need comfort with discomfort, if we want to do important work." And those words might explain why your beloved community made a day off a day on for love. You might need to write another slice about this event!

    ReplyDelete

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