A New Look at Freedom

 

Freedom is something you've got to keep fighting for every day.

Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, by Bob the Drag Queen, pg. 218. 

Last week I walked into Lakes Regional Library and spotted a book on the display I had seen on GoodReads and had determined that I wasn't interested. But then somehow, seeing the book right there in front of me, I felt this jolt: I had to read it. I picked it up, perused a bit, determined it was short enough and read easy enough I could probably read it all in one day.

And that is what I did with Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen.

Life has taken a turn since reading this book, which focused heavily on the idea of freedom: how you get it, what it really means, and how you can't be free unless you free others. It does this by having Harriet Tubman come back to our world because she wants to make a hip-hop album to tell her story. This is during a time when a lot of famous people are returning. It was an interesting premise, and one I bought into immediately. I mean, how cool is that?

I learned more about Harriet Tubman. It is pretty amazing how she found her freedom, then kept going back to get others, risking losing her freedom over and over again. Would I have done that? Seriously doubt it.

*

As usual, this event doesn't stand alone. Recently I had revisited a journal I kept in the summer of 2023 when I was doing a series of writing prompts by Natalie Goldberg. One was "write a farewell letter."  I found I had written to a colleague of mine I had worked closely with, but then years later she left our school. It was a good reflection of what we had gone through together teaching intensive readers.

This caused me to think I could start a notebook of farewell letters. So I did. I thought it would be a once in a while thing. Instead, every day I find something I want to say farewell to. And very quickly I found I also wanted to write welcome letters.

For clarification, here are the some of the opening salutation:

Dear Disorganized Pantry...

Dear Kind People at Publix...

Dear Thoughts Anything Could Have Been Done Differently...

Today I wrote a welcome letter.

I'm doing this for freedom's sake. I've had time to reflect on how the littlest thing can throw us off track, can trap us, make us feel unfree. This happens so much, we actually don't notice.

My farewell letters are about noticing. What do I need to let go of in this moment, in order to move freely through my day? Or in the case of the pantry, what is a new vision of what my surroundings could be? It helped me take control and move through the project. 

And thoughts! It is easy to fall back into thinking about the past and what could be changed...as if.  The letter helped set me straight on that one. It returned me to the perfection and Divine Order in all things.

My welcome letters are also about noticing, but it is more outwardly focused. What am I seeing that matters? This started when I went to Publix and witnessed several kind moments. 

Today it came after I read an essay by a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, Junot Diaz, and his tribute to Toni Morrison and her book Beloved. It got me thinking about published writers, and how much they have to offer us. I've been reading a book I never finished called Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process. I've recently read terrific essays by Sherman Alexie, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Stephen King. Reading one a day is a welcoming in of inspiration, so I can click back into the creative life I slipped out of with vacations and home improvement projects.

So today I start a slightly different kind of blog post. When I write a letter I want to share, I will be sharing it here as my creative piece. Today it is a welcome (and gratitude) letter to published writers. Where would be without them?  Unimaginable!!!

Outside Gramercy Books, Bexley Ohio

Dear Published Writers,

You are always there when I need a jolt of inspiration. You give rise to the writer in me. You help me get lost in the worlds you create or the facts you pull together into a beautiful thesis that changes my perception of the world.

I will add a huge thank you to all involved in the book industry: from the agents and editors, the manufacturers, the artists, and the booksellers. Without all of you, there would be no books for us to read.

My art and craft has always been writing. Let me open back up to that being an important part of my life, one in which I spend my precious energy and time.

Love and Peace,

Helen 🌻