C'est mon anniversaire!
It’s my birthday!
As I’m 42, I understand that according to Douglas Adams, I myself am the answer to life, the universe, and everything. (I am the one I’ve been waiting for all of my life.)
The person I wanted to be at 40 is the person I wanted to be at 41 is the person I want to be at 42:
- I want to be a loving and mostly gentle mother.
- I want to take care of my own body, including making clothes built to fit it.
- I want to keep trying new things and growing as a self-employed person.
- I want to be aware of my impact on the earth and do what I can to make it gentle.
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.
