Taking the Long View in Uncertain Times

So much of the work that my clients do is difficult. They are working to end human rights abuses, put a stop to violent policing of black bodies, expand access to power, elevate quality of life for children, reduce gun violence, protect post-secondary educational options, and more. It is so easy to lose sight of the long view, and to question whether it's all worth it. Today I am sharing a few great reads that will help put these doubts to rest by offering inspiration, escape, and instruction:

1. Grey is the Color of Hope (Irena Ratushinskaya): The memoir of Russian poet Irina Ratushinskaya, who was sentenced to seven years in a labor camp when found guilty of "the dissemination of slanderous documentation in poetic form." You may think that this sounds like a heavy, depressing read, but it is surprisingly inspiring and, yes, hopeful. The title comes from the color of the dress she and her fellow political prisoners secretly fashion for Irena in anticipation of a rare visit from her husband, but the metaphor goes much bigger, into our environments and our spirits. You'll cheer their acts of defiance, solidarity, and survival, and I dare say you'll come away with #radicalhope.

2. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez): If you make the effort in the first few chapters of the book, you will be richly rewarded. The story follows generations of the Colombian Buendia family, and explores the tension between the human needs for both connection and solitude. It epitomizes the magical realism that sets many Latinx stories apart, and brings you fully into another world in which everday magical things are possible. Some people struggle with the pace and complexity of the story line, but I love. this. book.

3. The Story of Jane--The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service (Laura Kaplan): This book chronicles the true story of an underground network of revolutionary women in Chicago who took reproductive health into their own hands in the years before Roe v. Wade. There is so much to learn here about building and sharing power, organizing, and some of the best direct civil disobedience we've never heard much about.

4. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Anne Fadiman): As a baby organizer, my first work was in a neighborhood two-thirds of which was composed of first generation Hmong refugees and their children. A sheltered white girl in a town that was the home of Joe McCarthy (yep, that Joe McCarthy), and the John Birch Society (an extremist right wing "anti-communist" group), I knew next to nothing about the refugee experience, and even less about Hmong culture. If I had read this book at the beginning, I would have approached the work entirely differently, as it gives direct and deep insight into the clash between Hmong and white American culture. it follows the story of a Hmong toddler who had epilepsy, and the way the American health care system was wholly in conflict with the Hmong view of illness and healing. While some of the narrative in this story is white-centric and the treatment of this family is distressing, I learned so much by reading it.

5. Long Walk to Freedom (Nelson Mandela): This thick tome requires commitment, but it's worth it. Mandela's life is a study in the idea that to make social change, you never. stop. organizing--not even when you are a political prisoner in solitary confinement on an island with no realistic chance of escape. Mandela describes his relentless vision for dignity, equality, and freedom, leveraging everything from prison uniforms to solidarity through prison cell walls. If ever there was a story that gives hope in the face of what appear to be impossible odds, this man's life is it.

6. The Warmth of Other Suns--The Epic Story of America's Great Migration (Isabel Wilkerson): Follow the stories of Ida Mae Gladney, George Swanson Starling, and Robert Joseph Pershing Foster as they open our eyes to a fascinating period of the African American Diaspora after enslavement--families fleeing Jim Crow in the South and building new lives in the North and West. It's a part of American history that I, as a white girl living in a small east-central Wisconsin town, was never taught, and I'm grateful to have found this book.

I read each of these books at very different times in my life, and they've all held Do Not Give Away status on my bookshelf (prized real estate). If your library doesn't carry them, ask them to (specially The Story of Jane, which is not widely distributed for some strange reason, hmmmmm. #patriarchy)

Happy reading, and keep the faith--you'll get there. We'll get there.