What We Sow

Fall 2020 Design Interns visiting Hawthorne Valley! From left to right: Jessica, Briana, Ava

Hello friends,

Recently, Place Corps reflected on the work we are tasked to do to find our way forward while repairing a deeply wounded past. We appreciate how scholar Saidiya Hartman describes this paradox:

“One of the things I think is true, which is a way of thinking about the afterlife of slavery in regard to how we inhabit historical time, is the sense of temporal entanglement, where the past, the present and the future, are not discreet and cut off from one another, but rather that we live the simultaneity of that entanglement.”

This temporal entanglement feels particularly tangled this week as we wait to know the context the next four years will be framed by and the reckoning that comes with the announcement. What we do know is that no matter the outcome, the world we want to live in will require imaginative heart work. The revolution is communal.

This week and the weeks to come require care with ourselves and those around us. How will we support those we love through this season of change and the unknown that awaits us tomorrow and weeks to come?  With the first snowfall came a deep gratitude that it will only be a few months until seeds are planted once more.  As we inhabit this moment with all its entanglements, we are dreaming now of the garden that we will plant to nourish ourselves and others to bring awareness and respect to the past, acknowledge where we are now, and grow the future together. Vote.

Warmly,

Dawn Breeze
Director

"My expertise is in knowing not to be an expert."
⁠
-Pablo Helguera