photo courtesy Pexels
Reflections from throughout the year on our core values:
“…in allowing ourselves to speak, to share our anger and our pain, we allow ourselves the opportunity to find acceptance, understanding, and belonging. In learning—or learning again—to love and trust, we can heal.” –Claire Bien (Cohort 6), Resilience, Recovery, and Hope
“‘Lady Justice’ is a statue of a woman with a blindfold, holding a balancing scale. But how can you be blind and find justice? You’ve got to be able to see what’s going on to know if the scale is truly balanced. Let’s take the blindfold off and let’s be intentional about erasing racism, injustice, and inequality, and truly become united in the United States of America.” –David Burden (Cohort 29), Forgiveness: The Personal & The Policy (Part 2)
“In the past couple of months in particular, I have one that’s more aspirational: grace… I want to try to be more adaptive and flexible, and to recognize what’s going on in the world rather than just trying to overcome it.” –Kia Honhongva (Cohort 29) Interview
“I find the call to leadership one of love: love of other, love of service, love of mission, love of community, love of opportunity, and more. Whenever I have a challenging conversation or something in my work (or life) that invites fear, I remind myself to lead with love as well as humility.” –Julie Greenwood (Cohort 9) Interview
“Silently I hoped they’d all done well. It wasn’t that I had any particular interest in their individual performances, but more that I’m personally aware of the biting sting of failure at a young age; I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.” –Mercedes MacAlpine (Cohort 29), Make It or Break It
“I worked hard – really hard – to not stifle their grief. I failed. I practiced sitting with it. I tried to stop trying to make things better… so many memories of me as a youth trying to stop any family dynamics that included pain.” –Alice Forrester (Cohort 4), On Grief and Family and Feeling
“…I can say what I feel I need to say about whatever’s happening around me. In a time where there’s so much hate going on in the world, and a lot of influencing in person and on social media, it feels like integrity is still my top value.” –Miriam Johnson (Cohort 29) Interview
“When we are put in positions of influence, it is our duty to help those behind us. We have an obligation to give back, especially when we find ourselves in spaces that provide us with the influence to do so.” –Goldie Adele (Cohort 28), Holding Space Through Education
“I keep saying it’s brave to grow older, but it is. Because it’s the time when you’re confronting everything you’ve ever done and passing judgement, and hoping you come out on the plus side.” –Maria Mojica (Cohort 3), A Mindful Life While Aging
“It was emotionally moving to pose… I do not recall any significant or iconic Asian art piece that focused or featured the Asian nude male or female figure in an ideal manner…” –Sylvester Salcedo (Cohort 23), La Consapevolezza: An Invitation
“…when I think of indigenous rights, black, African lineage, ancestral and indigenous people all over the globe, there is a bond with nature. With all of creation, all of life force. That has been made into commodities, separating us from land. Land being stolen from us, us being stolen from land. Reconnecting ourselves to that sacred bond to nature, knowing physically – mind, body, spirit – we belong on this earth, this is home. If we treat it as such, how would it look differently?” –Caprice Taylor Mendez (Cohort 14), The Dark Night of the Soul & Liberation
“Part of my mission in life is to spread love and build community… spaces where you have all the different generations, so that they can learn from each other and be with each other. I think that’s the only way we can really build community, pass on culture, and so on.” –Gamaliel Gammy Moses (Cohort 16) Interview
“Just like we are seeing again today, none of these advances happened without struggle, a serious fight, and demand for change to create a just society.” –Esther Armand (Cohort 4), The Unbroken Line of Disenfranchisement (Part 1)
“I had also substituted work for more important personal relationships and spiritual peace… Even though work can provide purpose, I was blind to the fact that it is only one piece of a balanced and meaningful life.” –Joshua Borenstein (Cohort 14), A Call for a Fuller Life
“If love is the verb, then the adjective, in terms of my presence and how I want to be, is peace…” –Onyeka Obiocha (Cohort 21) Interview
“I yearn for the time in which we honestly confront our past so that we can understand what is needed to achieve healthy communities… Will we boldly walk from an ordinary to an extraordinary collective and inclusive future? I will continue to tend to the soil, seeds, and plants.” –Esther Armmand (Cohort 4), The Unbroken Line of Disenfranchisement (Part 2)
“For me, Voice includes both spoken and written words. Voice also means using means using mine to help others, when I can.” –Laura Noe (Cohort 31), The Power of Community and Collective Care (Part 1)
“…most importantly, I’ve rekindled a childlike fearlessness of the natural environment – in turn, strengthening my connection to Source and rejuvenating my spiritual walk.” –Deloris Vaughn (Cohort 11), Tending Mind, Spirit, and Fire
“Margi always found calm. In her own writing she said, ‘Having cancer has taught me about patience and lack of control, and how to spend as much time as I can with those I love.’” –JoAnne Wilcox (Cohort 18), Living the Life Ahead of Us
“We are responsible for one another, we belong to each other, and we heal in connection. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, one of my favorite writers and activists, writes, ‘strong communities are born out of individuals being their best selves.’” –Laura Noe (Cohort 31), The Power of Community and Collective Care (Part 2)
“…there are so many ways in which we all have to constrain our freedoms, to allow for the most freedom that we can collectively have as society. That is a balancing act.” –Erwin Li (Cohort 28) Interview
“I love work in early intervention; it offers dignity, respect and love to young people and families. It offers an understanding of the strength that each person brings to this world… everybody’s got a journey, we’re all working through it.” –Elisabeth Teller (Cohort 23), Special Needs – My Story and Passion
“…a hope swelled in me that we would learn something invaluable, unforgettable, transformational, and universal… that we would become better because of what we had endured in our isolation and stillness.” –Genevive Walker (Cohort 11), What If We Were Still
“I will make adjustments, not excuses. I will sit in my creativity and blossom. I will sit and type.” –Maria Solomon (Cohort 31), Becoming a Poet
Curated by The Circle’s creative director & editor, Lara Herscovitch. To reach Lara directly: thecircle@clpnewhaven.org or Lara@LaraHerscovitch.com