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I write a lot about hope here because, quite honestly, I struggle with it. Cynicism comes more easily, especially for those of us who are choosing to expose ourselves to the unsettling truths of our current existence and reckon with our complicity.

This week especially I’m grieving the destruction in Maui and grappling with my place in it….how I have had the “privilege” of traveling to the island and participated in the extractive tourism that is wreaking havoc on the ecosystem and it's people. Acknowledging the violence and destruction of the systems we are a part of, that we uphold makes me vulnerable to despair and cynicism. Which is why practicing active hope is so essential. Nick Cave teaches us that:

“Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position either. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like… keeps the devil down in the hole. It says the world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in. In time, we come to find that it is so.”

And so despite everything that terrifying and heartbreaking in the world right now, hope is how we get through. It’s how we remember that we matter to each other. Its how we build the capacity to “sit with the shit”. And it’s how we discover what is possible beyond the limitations of our imagination. Hope reminds us that there is more.

Kerri (she/her)

Art: to love is to expect by Corita Kent

NTK (need to know)

1. Ahead of an abortion-rights referendum in November, Ohio voters declined to raise the bar for amending their state constitution. How direct democracy—and abortion rights are a winning strategy.

2. There are zero states where minimum wage workers working full time can afford a two bedroom apartment in the U.S. The high cost of housing is out of reach for most of us.

3. Does Barbie’s existential crisis disrupt her brand or simply consolidate it?

   @lsjamison writes on why Barbie is emblematic of the same toxic structures that bankrolled the venture in the first place.

4. US executives are “out of touch” when it comes to race in the workplace and issues of racial justice, even as their employees increasingly want and expect to see more action taken to address racial issues (says new report).

5. Instead of “I think therefore I am”, the next frontier might be “I hope, therefore we are” — hope is the poetics of conscious inter-being, transforming the other from object to subject and reminds us of our interdependence.

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Solidarity

What is happening in Maui is heart breaking and has me reflecting not only on how grateful I am for what I have received and experienced on that land, but also how I have been a part of the problem - the legacy of colonization, extractive capitalism, over-tourism and more. The islands are so overpopulated that the natural resources and infrastructure cannot sustain itself. It is the inevitable outcome of colonialism and capitalism. Really grateful for @anuheanihipalii wisdom around this:

MAUI IS BURNING. WITH AN INCREASING AMOUNT OF CATASTROPHIC WEATHER CONDITIONS DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND A SEVERE ALTERATION OF OUR LANDSCAPE DUE TO OVER-TOURISM, TRAGEDIES LIKE THIS ARE NOT GOING AWAY AND INDIGENOUS HAWAIIANS ARE GOING TO SUFFER FIRST. WE SAW THE TREATMENT HAWAII GOT FROM YOU DURING COVID AND WE NEED YOU TO STEP IT UP NOW! YOU CANT KEEP CALLING US YOUR PARADISE AND THEN NOT SHOWING UP WHEN WE NEED IT MOST. IT IS SO HEARTBREAKING TO SEE AND FEEL HELPLESS TO STOP THESE THINGS BUT YOU CAN DO SOMETHING!! I URGE ALL MILLIONARES AND BILLIONARES WHO OWN LAND IN HAWAII TO DONATE AS WELL: @oprah @zuck

LISTEN TO: Local indigenous Hawaiians who are on the front lines of this fire and other impacts of climate change and over-tourism. Here’s an emerging guide for collective action and mutual aid.

DONATE TO:

• ‘Āina Momona

• Council of Native Hawaiian Advancement, Alaka'ina and
  Kako'o Haleakala

• Hawaii Community Foundation Maui Strong Disaster Relief

• Maui Food Bank

• Maui Humane Society

• Maui Mutual Aid

• Punanaleo o Lahaina Supply and Donation Drive

REFLECT ON: Whether and how you have vacationed in Hawaii and the cost of over-tourism on the eco-system and its people and what repair looks like.

Source: The Slow Factory and anuheanihipalii

Practicing Justice

I’m currently taking a course called FACING HUMANS WRONGS at University of Victoria and our professor (and author of Hospicing Modernity) asks:

“How do we expand our capacity? To sit with what’s difficult, without feeling immobilised, overwhelmed, or demanding quick fixes, or to be rescued from the discomfort,”

It’s not enough to rage against the machine, we need to turn inward and feel into our discomfort, reckon with our complicity, allow for the grief of what has been lost and what is coming. We must “sit with the proverbial shit” (as Vanessa describes) so that we can learn to tolerate the stench of this mess we have made. Only then can we begin to compost old wounds and allow for new growth and possibility.

In these times of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, what are you doing to build your capacities to weather storms, to stay with the trouble, to stay with the struggle?

Art: shop sundae

We-ness

Wellbeing is big enough to hold ALL of us.

Thanks for subscribing to WELLREAD. For the last six years we’ve been providing folks with the need to know (NTK) news, calls to actions and resources for how to stay engaged and resourced along the way. But now, we’ve added an option to “upgrade to paid” to help sustain our work. While we will never put our content behind a pay wall, we depend on the support of our community to keep us going. 💛

Upgrade to paid

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