Tuesdays w/TJae: Fear

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Hey there, Reader, Happy-ish Tuesday!

We're afraid and trying not to let fear steal our joy. . .

As a 7th grader at Lanier Middle School, in Houston, TX, we had a student teacher who offered a lesson on the "pros and cons of slavery." I know that feels and sounds preposterous, but she was serious. That was likely the first time I remember using the Quiet Rebel energy to push back against an injustice on behalf of myself and my peers.

If you've had the opportunity to read The Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture - which I've started referring to as Dominant Culture Supremacy because they show up in all spaces of privilege - you will know that one of the tactics is FEAR.

If you don't mind, I would like to offer my own pros and cons list. Hopefully it won't offend or insult you like the 7th grade student-teacher.

Some reasons fear might be helpful:

• When it keeps us safe - Think about how quickly we snatch children back onto the sidewalk when they wander into the street.
• When it makes us work harder - A friend shared a story last week where she'd called the moms of some students ditching class and when she followed up with the students they said they were in class because their moms set them straight.
• When it pulls people together - In Houston, we face a lot of storms and when the storms are headed our way, we often find people we can be in community with.

Sometimes fear is helpful.

Sometimes, however, fear is not only not helpful, it's really, tragically, fkn harmful.

• When it's used as a means of control - There are unfortunately too many examples of this at our finger tips.
• When it causes us to hate people who are different - No one we know is exactly like us. Humans are as different as snowflakes and leaves. We've been conditioned to see difference as harmful or scary and we need a paradigm shift.
• When it stops us from trying something new - Experience the experience, y'all. Nothing new ever happens inside our comfort zones. And right now - we need to challenge our own discomfort.
• When it sucks up all your joy - I know it's hard to move forward when we feel afraid and that feeling fear is sometimes all consuming. I'm asking us - encouraging us - to push past the fear and reach for the joy. I don't want us to ignore the terrifying things happening around us, yet I implore us let our joy fuel our resistance.

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Fable-ish Fridays If you are looking for a gentle way to process the world, I encourage you to join us for Fable-ish Fridays - Fridays in February. (So much alliteration.) We'll use Alisa Magallon's book Fables Told in Rhyme to anchor our weekly conversation. Join Here!

Remember that subscribing to Patreon makes all of this year's Stories that Shape Us Conversations available to you at low, or no additional cost. In the spirit of co-operative economics - we're asking each participant to purchase a copy of Alisa's book. You'll be ordering directly from her, so we won't be directly adding to the Amazon coffers.

We hope you'll join us.

In case you're new to Tuesdays w/ TJae, you should know that you won't receive emails from me every Tuesday, or on any particular Tuesday - but always (well, normally) on a Tuesday. As a child, whenever we'd visit my Grandpa James, he'd end the visit by saying "See you Tuesday," no matter when we were scheduled to see him again. So this newsletter is part nod to James Rivers, and part nod to my love of alliteration.

See you Tuesday!
TJae