We Create our Dream World by Living it
Weaving the World with our Actions
Sometimes, this world is heartbreakingly beautiful. Sometimes it’s overwhelmingly daunting. Oftentimes, it’s both.
All week my heart has been with LA, witnessing fire take hold, communities facing the unfathomable. And now, my heart also turns to Gaza, as I learn of a temporary ceasefire in Gaza and witness the joy and heartache playing out simultaneously after 15 months of hemorrhaging lives.
My heart is in my body. My heart is in Gaza. My heart is in LA. My heart exists in my community. It exists in my adjacent communities under fire in LA. It exists in my dear friend’s community in Gaza.
My heart is here and everywhere.
It can feel so daunting when we sit with the injustices we witness during times of crisis: how incarcerated folks make up a third of the firefighters in LA. How Palestinians needed millions of us to witness their genocide for fifteen months to even begin to have their reality validated against the corporate media’s long-spun narrative. How news coverage differs for wealthy places on fire compared to predominantly Black neighborhoods on fire. How vulnerable our unhoused populations are in the face of upheaval, no matter where it strikes.
The injustice can be enraging. It can be overwhelming. It can make us feel so, so small. It can be such a stark reminder of how much is out of our control.
In this past week—after hearing of a former colleague’s home reduced to ashes— I’ve attempted to fathom what mothering through a wildfire like LA might be like, or today—when hearing one mother’s greatest hope after learning of ceasefire—I imagined sifting through the rubble to give my kids a proper burial with dignity, I’m reminded just how much our hearts can break, just how intertwined we all are, just how small this world is. The home of the mother in LA could be my home; the kids of the mother in Palestine could be my kids.
I am not separate from this hurting Earth or any of the hurting beings who inhabit it. We are all entangled together with this Earth that is in crisis.
As daunting as that is, something good happens when I turn my gaze to the helpers: when I think of the helpers weaving the future with every action, when I realize it is my responsibility to become a weaver too.
We may not control the winds that fan the flames in LA. We don’t yet control the policies dropping bombs on Palestinian children and families. But we sure as hell can control our response. And our response actively weaves our future into the world we so desperately need.
We respond with texts to friends or family in the area, making sure they’re okay, asking how we can help.
We read, we listen, we learn.
We pay attention to which voices we hear, but seek out the voices who are silenced. We ask questions and we search for answers about how to show up in solidarity.
We gather resources. We share them. We look to those who have been doing the work for a long time to organize and build robust systems of care. We listen to what they are telling us.
We check in with each other. We check in with our kids. We check in with ourselves. We get gentler. We get softer, we get kinder. We get clearer in our values.
We look around our own communities and ask: what we are actively weaving together to help each other, right here, but also there, and everywhere?
The world we dream of can feel so very far away sometimes, but we are actively shaping it with each thought, with each breath, with each action.
Let’s move through this world in crises with intention together, and weave it into the world we dream with every breath and every action we take.
Below I’ve listed some resources others have shared with me to show up for LA and Palestine. Please feel free to add in the comments other ways folks can show up. If you’re in LA please let us know how we can show up for you.
In living the world of our dreams into being,
Sara
Below is a list of resources gathered and shared my eldest’s school community, former teachers, and friends.
Local SF donations for LA: Manny’s in the mission is accepting drop-off donations until Friday (hygienic products, nonperishable items, kids toys and clothes. Not accepting adult clothing. Don’t donate anything you yourself wouldn’t use or wear!)
Mutual Aid for LA families:
Go Fund Me for Shanan and Parker
Talking with students about this disaster:
Ways to support & give:
Local: Motion Spaces: LA Fire Relief Donation Drive - Nosso Bar, 532 8th Street, Oakland, CA, 4 p.m. - 2 a.m.(Seeking face masks, clean clothes and blankets, shelf-stable food, baby formula/diapers, pet food, toysFire, Evacuation, Support other Schools and Resources)
Last week Garrett wrote this piece about LA and the mutual aid that laid the groundwork for this response to be possible, which you can read here and find the mutual aid groups in LA here.
Mutual aid for Palestine:
My friend Mo is still collecting donations for his uncle’s mutual aid efforts in Gaza—email me and I’ll connect you!
You can donate to MECA: Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance (we donated 10% of our zine profits to MECA in December)