👱♀️I had a dream last night that Giles a) was real b) was still in his 40s and most importantly, c) owned a really beautiful indie bookstore. I wanted to hang out there a lot. It was in this really beautiful little city center shopping district area. Later in the dream, I discovered the whole district - the whole town, really - was embedded in a Disney resort. And I had to decide if I still loved it now that I knew it wasn’t actually indie.
I acknowledge that I live and work on unceded Lumbee, Skaruhreh/Tuscarora, Cheraw, Catawba, Saponi, Occaneechi, and Shakori land. I give respect and reverence to those who came before me. I thank Holisticism for the text of this land acknowledgement.
We must acknowledge that much of what we know of this country today, including its culture, economic growth, and development throughout history and across time, has been made possible by the labor of enslaved Africans and their ascendants who suffered the horror of the transatlantic trafficking of their people, chattel slavery, and Jim Crow. We are indebted to their labor and their sacrifice, and we must acknowledge the tremors of that violence throughout the generations and the resulting impact that can still be felt and witnessed today. I thank Dr. Terah ‘TJ’ Stewart for the text of this labor acknowledgement.
