Drawing a circle

[swan_tower]

During the event I went to at a local mosque a few months ago, one of the visiting religious leaders recited a poem that, upon googling, I find attributed to Edwin Markham:

He drew a circle to shut me out,
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win
We made a circle that drew him in.

It’s a sentiment to keep in mind these days: solidarity, inclusiveness, answering condemnation with love.

This is our monthly tikkun olam post, a place to share your efforts to repair the world and take heart from the efforts of others. The usual principles apply: nothing is too small to share. Ongoing things are good, too; don’t feel like everything you say here has to be some new undertaking. If you’ve made donations of money or supplies, volunteered your time somewhere, helped out a neighbor, changed your life to be better for those around you, or otherwise done something to make the world a better place and counteract the forces pushing it in the other direction, share it here. It reminds you of the good you’ve done, gives you a chance to see the good of others, and may inspire you to new efforts you hadn’t thought of before.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[green_knight]

I donated $5 to Standing Rock, because I have to watch whom I support, and of all the injustices right now, this one makes me the most angry.

Sigh. I'm in the self-care stage of the cycle, which means I feel that I'm not doing anything.

[swan_tower]

I'm in the self-care stage of the cycle, which means I feel that I'm not doing anything.

Me too. I think a lot of us are.

[swan_tower]

For me, this has been the month in which I start to encounter the limits of my ability to engage. February is always the low point of the year for me, in terms of energy and optimism; for obvious reasons this year it's been especially hard. I went to a rally/march in support of Planned Parenthood (and got replies from several trolls when I tweeted about it -- whee?), but I missed the most recent Open Mosque night because of a scheduling conflict. I've continued with petitions and calling my representatives; I expanded the latter to include my state-level officials after the problems with the Oroville Dam, to tell them that it's sheer idiocy to keep deferring infrastructure maintenance in the name of "fiscal responsbility." I still would like to find a better way to keep abreast of the issues happening on a state level, so I can apply leverage more effectively there.

But I've also had to have days where I just say, you know what, I'm going to delete all the political emails in my inbox. The energy isn't infinite.

[ashnistrike]

Mostly hyper-local stuff this month. Volunteered to host, and did host, the Democracy subgroup (elections, state legislation, voting rights, etc.) of our neighborhood post-Women's-March meeting--cleaned house, fed everyone, and expressed strong opinions about which legislation we should support and oppose. Went to the Community Conversation on how our town can be more welcoming, which included a genderqueer activist who was able to share resources for a kid in our circle who just came out as non-binary. Watched the kids tonight while one of our co-parents represented the household at the Sanctuary City hearing.

Art counts, art counts, art counts. Finished drafting a novel about community building, aliens, and the value of cosmopolitanism. Went to AWP and expressed strong opinions about historical and current racism on the Lovecraft's Legacy panel.

[bookblather]

That sounds like a fabulous book, oh my gosh.

[ashnistrike]

Thank you! It's the sequel to Winter Tide, which is coming out April 4th and is about community building, aliens, the value of cultural preservation, and the importance of not summoning energy beings bigger than your head.

[bookblather]

Yelling at my congresscritters, every Tuesday. Putting up my brother and his people when they come up for a protest march in April-- not that that's a hardship, I miss my brother. Continuing to passive-aggressively emphasize immigration, ESL, and citizenship classes at work. We also had three separate Black History Month displays, and are actively trying to display and promote books by and about women, POC, disabled folks, queer folks, Muslims, Jews, and other targeted minorities.

[ashnistrike]

Pointed library displays for the win!

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I encountered that poem in a novel many years ago, though it wasn't attributed to him. I used to remember which novel ("The Hero From Otherwhere", perhaps?).

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I'm not certain of the attribution, to be honest.

[sovay]

a poem that, upon googling, I find attributed to Edwin Markham

I'd never heard that and I like it. Thank you.

The usual principles apply: nothing is too small to share.

I spent the majority of February flattened by bronchitis and a sprained knee, which was simultaneously boring and crazy-making (especially after I lost my voice for more than a week), but on either side of that I managed to attend a monthly vigil in support of Black Lives Matter (the next one is tomorrow night), a rally in celebration of my sanctuary city, and a rally in support of trans youth. I sent a letter to Mayor Curtatone of Somerville to thank him for his commitment to radical empathy and activism and a letter to Governor Baker of Massachusetts to thank him for acknowledging that the current travel ban is unconstitutional; I also called Baker's office to thank him for supporting Senator Warren, because I am trying my best with positive reinforcement. I wrote a political poem and saw it published. I feel like that's it.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I wrote to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to ask them to help the Planned Parenthood in Mountain View remain open. I also went to the Stand with Planned Parenthood rally in San Jose earlier this month.

I volunteered with a group of friends at Second Harvest Food Bank. We helped sort and pack carrots for delivery to food banks.

[landofnowhere]

The architecture of my hometown church is based on the poem. (Yes, that's me in the first photo, but scroll down further to get some pictures that show the shape of the buildng a well as the circles on the walls.) I hadn't heard the poem in a while, so thank you for reminding me!

On a similar theme, I really like the song Draw The Circle Wide.

[landofnowhere]

Also, I took this sign to the Boston march against the immigration ban:



(I still like blue tie-dye!)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

The architecture of my hometown church is based on the poem.

Oh, that's lovely.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

For me, this has been the month in which I start to encounter the limits of my ability to engage. February is always the low point of the year for me, in terms of energy and optimism; for obvious reasons this year it's been especially hard. I went to a rally/march in support of Planned Parenthood (and got replies from several trolls when I tweeted about it -- whee?), but I missed the most recent Open Mosque night because of a scheduling conflict. I've continued with petitions and calling my representatives; I expanded the latter to include my state-level officials after the problems with the Oroville Dam, to tell them that it's sheer idiocy to keep deferring infrastructure maintenance in the name of "fiscal responsbility." I still would like to find a better way to keep abreast of the issues happening on a state level, so I can apply leverage more effectively there.

But I've also had to have days where I just say, you know what, I'm going to delete all the political emails in my inbox. The energy isn't infinite.

[magegirl.livejournal.com]

I started the process to become a volunteer for WIC to Table, where I will help refugees learn how to use their WIC coupons correctly. I also continue to volunteer in my kids' school, helping second and fifth graders with their reading and critical thinking skills.

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

I went to one (very odd) anti-Trump rally (it was sponsored by the local Socialist group, but they hadn't bothered to tell anyone this, so everyone was very surprised when the organizer started ragging on the Democrats instead of Trump; also, there was a heavy anarchist presence; it was capped off by someone reading a very bad poem they'd written, after which I left). Saturday I'm volunteering at the local International Women's Day Festival.