Self Interrogation​

It was an important part of my spiritual growth to look deeply at myself and my social location. In seminary I was asked to look closely at the ideas I carry about myself in terms of body, sexuality, and gender.  In a culture steeped in white supremacy and its intense war on the bodies and lives of people of color, as a white person, I need to look honestly at where I fit into the system and how white western culture impacts not just the US but the global community.  I cannot be of use to folks fighting for racial justice if I have not done this.  And I cannot show up in real ways to myself either if I haven't done this work. Reading African American Theologians like Dr. Howard Thurman, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Black Womanist theologians like Kellie Brown Douglas, Emilie Townes and many others profoundly changed how I see the world.  I think it is essential for white people to provide honest experiences of learning and to share that with other white people in order to help make change.  The papers below are a sample of how my understanding not only about race but in al the areas mentioned has shifted with study in seminary.

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Body

Sexuality

Gender

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Race 1

Race 2

Race 3

Race 4

Race 5

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Presentation for Womanism and Earth Justice 

Thinking about what it means to center the voices of marginalized artists and their impact on my own art practice and work. 

Video: Underneath the white gaze

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Discussion: Underneath the white gaze 

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Social Analysis

As a part of making friends with what is real in my present experience, social analysis of the spaces that most directly impact my spiritual growth and community life are critical. These two papers take a look at power dynamics and diversity issues in Twelve Step Programs and of Shambhala.  Please just be aware that where I have a long relationship with Twelve Step, I am still very much a young student of Shambhala. Much of what I share here is with the understanding that I have a lot left to learn about Shambhala, its lineage, its theology and its structures.

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Looking at Twelve Step Programs 

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Structural and Power Analysis of Shambhala 

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