Since sunsetting Empowered Together, I've been working on what comes next. Come behind the scenes with me to see what's cooking. As Empowered Together's marketplace failed to gain traction, I wondered if I had moved too far away from my personal experience as a caregiver. Whatever came next, I wanted to be operating from a place of confidence around needs and possible supports. Going all the way back to June, I heard about a friend who was working on a journal for folks in his community. I teared up as Justus read his poetry about food insecurity and shared how journaling could support people in the place he calls home. He and I daydreamed together about building ecosystems locally, he in Chicago and me in Connecticut. While grinding away on the marketplace, I slowed down to pay attention to what was happening around me. Caregivers kept reaching out, wanting support for themselves and their kids. I facilitated a couple sessions for moms at the library and another session at...
Let me introduce you to Etty Hillesum, in case you haven't made her acquaintance. I happened upon her writing a couple years ago and just finished reading An Interrupted Life , The Diaries of Etty Hillesum. This image of Etty captures some of her bohemian, intense personality. Hers was an examined life, scrutinized in close detail over the course of the two years that she wrote. Her reflections trace her evolution and, should you ever pick up the book, I encourage you to persevere through her early romantic ramblings in order to fully appreciate the person who emerges. Etty wrote during her final years in Amsterdam (1941-1943), before electing to accompany her parents and brother to a transit camp in the Netherlands. She was forcibly deported to Auschwitz where she died. What resonated most deeply with me were the inner struggles Etty faced head-on. A couple quotes give you a sense of this capacious woman: "Sometimes I had the certain if rather undefined feeling that I woul...