Ep 31: Transition, Trajectory, and Trellises

April and Tracie explore the ways the messiness of spring contributes to its beauty and potential. The also notice how structure--whether the practice of counting the Omer, a vine's trellis or their online course Awareness Accelerator--can support the important and messy work of growth.

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director and Tracie is a senior partner: https://joyousjustice.com/
Read more of Tracie's thoughts at bmoreincremental.com

Resources mentioned:
Read more about the mystical practices associated with the Omer.

Mycelium were mentioned in S2E1: Tu B'shvat and the Wisdom of Trees. You can find a list of highlights and discussion questions for that episode on our blog.

Learn more about Awareness Accelerator. 

Transcript

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- [Tracie] The arrival of spring and the period known as the Omer between Passover and Shavuot have us thinking about the messiness of growth and the usefulness of having a trajectory or a trellis as you grow.- [April] This is Jews Talk Racial Justice with April and Tracie.- [Tracie] A weekly show, hosted by April Baskin and Tracie Guy Decker.- [April] In a complex world, change takes courage.- [Tracie] Wholehearted relationships can keep us accountable. So April, right now we are in the period that is known as the Omer, which is-- The Omer.- The Omer, which is the seven weeks between Passover-- Liberation.- And Shavuot.- Revelation.- Liberation, and revelation. And so, as we know, seven is a special number in Judaism, and this is seven weeks of seven days. So it's double. You know, it's whatever. And so-- Exponentially.- Right.- Heavenly seven.- So many sevens. And so this period, this time between redemption and revelation has traditionally been an important time, since biblical time when it had, like, a cultic agricultural thing. But today it's really seen as an opportunity for some reflection and self work, which is really ... Feels really resonant to me, for the work that we do together at Joyous Justice. So it feels like an extra special time for us.- Yes. Yes. And then to add to that, like the way that the Omer is marked by those who observe in a variety of ways, is each week and each specific day of the week, so it's kind of like a grid that you could see. We can include that in our show notes, if you want to check it out, is attributed to a different Jewish mystical trait. The Sefirot, the seven Sefirot, the seven mystical attributes that include, like, wisdom and strength and beauty and knowledge and each day. So there's two that come together, and there are all kinds of resources that give people food for thought on a daily basis. And so there's a few different things that Tracie and I are excited to talk about in this episode. But building off of our last episode, about thinking of different Passover-related sources of inspiration for how we can move to liberation, move closer to liberation, I think this journey between Passover and Shavuot is so sacred and informative, and I think is a very helpful model for how we can think about and strategize and receive inspiration around what do we do, as narrow places ... As we start to leave narrow places? As we as individuals cross lines of race? So as white people, as well as people of a global majority, from all sorts of racial and ethnic backgrounds, what do we do once our blinders start to be removed? When we begin to learn more deeply about just how bad racism is, whether we are learning, often as white people, about in fact how much worse it is than we realize today, that it's not just a past thing, it's a now thing. And for people of color, at times, it can be starting to notice how much of that racism has been internalized in messages and beliefs within us and within our families. And that we need to rid ourselves of these awful standards and awful beliefs that just serve to create toxicity in our lives, and also impair our ability to thrive, to ask for what we need, to stand up for ourselves. Internalized racism can serve sort of like a pair of reins or restraints on us that we don't speak our truth, that we don't say, "I didn't steal that thing," or that, "I didn't steal this bike. It's mine." If somebody takes ... I remember the story once, that a teacher taught me, where a kid she knows was walking around with this bike, and a white woman in this black neighborhood walked up and took it from him and said to a police officer, "This is my bike." And in that moment ... Maybe it was an adult, actually. I think the person was an adult. An adult black person. I don't remember their gender. And what my teacher taught is that this person in that moment didn't say anything, and let this woman take their bike, because of their internalized racism. They didn't think that they would be believed, even though it was literally their bike. This woman, arguably ... This woman could have just been a bad woman, and she argued ... If I'm assuming the best, her bike was stolen. But there was likely bias involved ... Anyway, but the point is when these ... So when these negative moments happen, and I don't want to gloss over that, because that's an awful experience, and I remember being very upset when I heard that. So my love to everyone as you hear that story, but whether it's that moment or being ... Having someone say something to you that's inaccurate in a meeting, what the blinders being removed for Black and Asian heritage and LatinX and Indigenous heritage folks is barriers that have been instilled within us. And to be clear, white people also have internalized oppression too. In the context of race, they have internalized oppressor material, but also depending upon your gender, or things that all people, for internal barriers, that many of us received as children, when we experienced age-based bias, or adultism as children, right? So internalized oppression, but specifically racialized internal oppression shows up as different barriers where we, at times as people of color, or people of the global majority won't advocate for ourselves, even when we're certain we're right, because we don't want to be perceived as angry. That's a form of racial ... Internalized racial oppression, or we don't want to be seen as dishonest or any number of different things. So all of that to say, when we experience some form of the Passover experience, meaning departing from some narrowness, departing from some constriction, similar to the Israelites, there's a journey that we're about to embark on. It's not just like,(April clicks fingers)"Done, blinders removed. I can now see all this oppression, and now I know precisely how to deal with it and deal with potential guilt, or complicated feelings I have." Or as a person of color,"Now I see all these different ..." Or some of these ... Maybe not all there's a lot,"But some of these horrific forms of oppression that are internalized with me." Similar to this process of the Omer or this arc between Passover and Shavuot of revelation, of, "Actually, now I have a clear sense of what to do with this. I feel connected with the divine, and reconnected with my own power." There is a journey that might be 49 days. Probably won't be five days. Could be years. It could be months, weeks, or years of time, to go through, to begin the process of healing. Because once we have the shackles removed, we need to remove some of the narrowness that we've internalized, and do things to help us grow. And what I love about the Omer, that I think is also modeled in some of ... In a variety, actually, of the programs that we offer here at Joyous Justice, is this idea that we, as humans, as people, have immense capacity for evolution and growth and exponential success. And that is actually, really only possible when we get some of the support we need. None of us is an island and we need support. And I think also when we were thinking through what we might talk about, Tracie, you had a really great metaphor from the natural world. But I think, to build on what we were talking about in our last session, and to talk about what is seasonally appropriate right now as we're in the midst of counting the Omer, and in between these two holidays, is this idea of we've gained some, or maybe even all of our freedom, and yet the work still isn't done for us to fully actualize. And it's actually okay, and can be quite exciting and wonderful to get support along the way.- Yeah. I think that's right. I think it's ... I keep thinking about one of our teammates, Daniel, recently talked about the messiness of spring.- Yes. Please talk about this. It's so good. Shout out to Daniel Bahner.- It just ... It really has stuck with me, when he talked about how, like, spring is the moment of promise, but it's really messy.- It's beautiful from the outside, if you think about it. Like we often think of flowers and sunshine and tadpoles, and baby frogs and all this newness, but actually, in the day-to-day, as Tracie was saying, it's actually quite messy. I keep talking. I didn't mean to cut you off.- No, no, you didn't. It's great. No, yeah. It's really messy. And so, you know, we were talking about the fact that there's-- Can we talk about this a little bit more?- Yeah, yeah.- Oh, okay. I didn't mean to ... I didn't want to cut you off. Please remember where you were going to go. And so I want to be really clear that it's muddy, and that even weather-wise, it's not like-- Wet.- Often, like, it can rain, at times there might be random hail or snow after it's been a sunny, sunshiny day, and the plants are growing, the actually ... Similar to our own human development. This thing, this season we think of as ... It's a number of people's favorite season. It's one of mine. I love the transitional seasons. Is both beautiful, but if it were a human living in our society today, it might be really hard on itself and have anxiety because it's like,"Oh, it's muddy and messy and drippy, and the pollen is all over the place."- Spring is betwixt and between.- Chaotic.- It is-- It's what? It's betwixt? What was that?- Betwixt and between.- Yeah.- It is chaotic. You think about the moment of transition, when a seed sprouts. A seed is beautiful, that smooth skin. Like, it's just like ... It's contained, there's very little chaos in a seed. And then it sprouts, right? Or a tadpole. Like a tadpole-- And it sprouts.- And then it starts to grow legs-- And it sprouts by breaking open.- Exactly.- It's not some elegant thing. It cracks. There's a break. There's a rupture.- And the frog, too. The tadpole's little buds rupture. It's ... Yes. There's something that is ... Chaos is a good word. And just messy, and in-between. I mean, that is what transition is.- And within the ... Within the blooming, and all of those things lead to the blooms that we see, and the fragrance and all of those pieces, and as it gets closer to summer, and everything is alive, but there is this intensely messy middle, right?- Right. And so, one of the things that we talked about in this messy middle is that there's no blueprint for it. It is not ... The metaphor of building a house is not actually apt.- That's not how spring works.- Right, right.- It's not how growth works.- There's no clear ... It's not a clear, linear projection or linear growth. But there is a trajectory, a direction. There is, you know, sort of ... There can be-- A process.- For instance, a trellis, right? You can have a structure to support the growth, that can help the vine grow higher and taller faster. And there are structures that the tree puts in place, that take it from acorn to sprout, to sapling, to full tree. There's something really instructive, I think, about that notion of growth in a direction, but not with a set kind of rigid structure.- Mhmm.- And that's what I think may be the Omer, is helping us to ... Even the counting of the Omer. So, it's a tradition to actually count each day as it goes ... Each of the 49 days as they go by. And, the things that April was talking about, in terms of the mystical connection, it's a structure. It's not a linear sort of,"And then you say these words." It's an invitation to grow into the container, that those ... That the counting-- Grow through learning and exploration and reflection. Not this, "This is done. Exhibit A." It's more like these are two different ... These are taking two Sefirot. These two mystical values, and thinking through different questions that these prompt, looking over our lives, watching and checking in and noticing, and being present. I think that's another key part, right? Is that all of these things help to enhance and enliven and enrich our present moment, by strengthening and extending our capacity to notice, and be aware of what is sacred within the mundane. And this spiritual concept, I think, is incredibly useful as we think about our ongoing racial justice, developing our ongoing racial justice analysis and leadership capacity, and awareness is how can we support ourselves? Lovingly support ourselves in getting the resources we need and have safe spaces and opportunities, where we can be in a muddy, transitional state, or in an opening seed, right? Like most of these seeds grow in soil, so it's messy, but it's protected and private, and it has some privacy to grow and to take root and to receive water before it's hitting sunlight, before it's getting exposed to the elements. There's some protection, and I think that this is a really beautiful metaphor, for this program that we've launched, that Tracie largely created, and I helped a little bit with the refinement, but it's largely her baby and it's gorgeous. A program we created called Awareness Accelerator.- Yeah. So, our first cohort is underway. Shout out to all of you, who are-- We're so glad you're in the program.- Who are taking this journey with us. It's pretty exciting.- And we're excited. Oh, were you? Go ahead.- I was just going to say, we hope to launch a second cohort coming up.- A second, a third, a 12th, a 20th. I am very excited about this program. So this is part of this ... This is a little bit of a microcosm of the reason or part of the reason, although some of it's divine and mysterious, around my professional social justice love affair with Tracie is that she has created this program, that from my vantage point, as a long-time racial justice and diversity equity and inclusion educator, this really speaks to and meets the needs that many individuals ... Individual folks who are just ... Who have a regular, secular day job and may be involved in their synagogue, to Jewish communal professionals, to people who are really interested and committed to becoming more deeply informed in their racial justice leadership. I think this program speaks to a continuum of different developmental levels. And what it does is, in a matter of just six weeks, really helped to strengthen the awareness and analysis. And to me, what analysis means specifically in this context is I like how professor Barbara Love describes it, that it's not only having awareness, but understanding a concept at a more deeply ... And more deeply, in a way that the understanding becomes your own. That when someone asks you, you have enough understanding to be able to think about it and talk about it, how it has meaning in your life. And that is what we are looking for in this work. I think at times, particularly cynical people, but also some other well-meaning folks too think that, with racial justice, that people just are expected to learn things rote, and just do what other people want. And that is not, to me, what racial justice is about. I want us all ideally, or as many of us as possible, who have other values that are aligned, for us to be aligned in our analysis, but for each of us to have our own individualized understanding that's resonant for us, so that we are each individually equipped to show up in communal and collective efforts as powerfully as we can. And so, I am very excited to continue to get Awareness Accelerator out to as many people and many organizations as possible, because I think it's a very thorough, welcoming, comprehensive introduction and/or deepening if you've been in this area, but you haven't read up on some of the materials in a relatively short amount of time, with an amount each week that's doable with your existing busy schedule, for you to become substantially more informed, and kind of move up a few different levels developmentally in this conversation. So, I think, because I'm sort of a little bit more of an outsider on it, I can sing its praises. But we wanted to talk about this, because we just rolled this out and it's new for a lot of people and we wanted to spread the word. So, if you are listening to this ... Again, a number of our listeners signed up, so thank you. We're so glad that you're in the program. And specifically, this is one of those programs where I love it so much and I'm so clear about its value, that I don't have my normal reticence about selling about it, because I'm just like, this is ... If someone else were offering this, I would be singing this program's praises. It is really great. So I want all of you to know that, for those of you who weren't informed to be aware that this is an offering that is sort of like a trellis or like, you know ... And I think everybody ... But in case, with language liberation, if someone's listening and English isn't their first language, a trellis is the fence that tomato plants grow upward. Tomatoes grow on vines, and they need to grow upward, and a trellis is the fence. Often the metal, or it can be wood fence, that's often circular, that goes around the plant to help it support and grow and thrive. And, to me, Awareness Accelerator provides that structure, and also as Tracie spoke to ... Actually, like I said, but it was Tracie's idea, also serves as Miracle-Gro for your racial justice tomato plants. So it's both watering and providing nutrients, and giving some structure to support the development of your own analysis about these important issues affecting all of us. So all of this to say we really want you to ... If you're so inspired, to help us spread the word. So if you're working in an organization or congregation or community, or you have a circle of friends, we have discounts for groups of people who sign up for 10 ... For groups of 10 or more. You don't have to be an organization. You can just be a group of people from your friendship circle to your shul or synagogue. And I'm really encouraging you to explore the program. You can find it. If you go to joyousjustice.com/awareness-accelerator, or if you go to joyous justice.com and click the learn button at the top, you'll see the large button that's for Awareness Accelerator, and you can read more about the program, see the overview of the six weeks, and sign up and click the link to sign up, to be informed of the ... When the next next cohort is coming about. So it's going to be offered. So, as you can hear, I'll stop talking about it now, but I am just genuinely excited about the caliber of this program, and what kinds of possibilities it's going to help foster for our communities and our community collectively, when more of us have a more robust, stronger analysis.- Thank you, April. The awareness accelerator is my baby, and so I probably would not have gone on so long, because I would have been embarrassed, but I would just add, for those of you listening, just very quickly, this program came about because I wish that I had it when I started on this journey six years ago. So I was very intentional about it, because I did go on a journey from racial obliviousness to greater awareness, and I want to help others get there faster. So it's no more than 30 minutes of work a day, unless you choose to do multiple assignments in a single day. So, just-- Which you can do, because there's that kind of flexibility with the program.- It is self-directed.- So, to bring us back full circle-- Oh, that's what I actually ... Thank you. Full circle. I'm sorry to interrupt.- Go ahead, please. Let's roll with your inspiration.- The thing that I wanted to ... While you were talking, that I wanted to add for folks is that one of the things that is important to me when I was developing this, is that what I think happens is that we expect people ... People expect of themselves, or they expect others to instantly be an oak tree, when in fact they're a sapling, or an acorn or somewhere along the continuum, and I definitely did some beating myself up because I wasn't a fully-formed oak tree in the early part of this journey. And I'm trying to learn from that mistake, because that didn't help me get there faster. It just made me feel bad about myself. And I don't want to do that to folks. I think that that doesn't help us get closer to collective liberation, to sort of ... You know, if you're a froglet, to wish you had fully-formed legs. Wishing doesn't make it happen.- And trying to force it doesn't either.- Right. And so those are the ... That was just something that I wanted to add, that kind of comes back to the idea of the full 49 days of the Omer. The fullness and the messiness of spring.- The journey, that we haven't arrived when we have a revelation, or when we exit narrowness. There's actually a journey that we need to go on.- Right.- And how much better that journey is, if we're able to go in community and with support, having guides who have been on this journey, and who have been helping other people along this journey for years and have prepared a knapsack for you each of the six weeks, that gives you the nourishment and knowledge to better understand the terrain, and better understand what you're navigating, and help you build, like literally, biologically, if you've had those blinders on, help to begin to build your peripheral vision. And if you've had those barriers inside, getting them removed and allowing your energy ... Having some time to starting to allow your energy to flow internally, and have access to your full internal power, rather than having things that are in knots or locked up, and starting to free those things and allow your circulation, right? That there's actually, biologically ... And, this program is ... We have in our more advanced programs, we actually start to talk about some of those somatic implications, but that's a whole other thread. But I actually think it matters to talk about, because it's also worth naming that it's a somatic experience too, as we start to learn these things and start to release what can literally feel like invisible shackles on us in different ways, and start to have concepts that have felt aggressive or violent, or have been used with violence with us before, actually be explained and leveraged in a peaceful and loving and compassionate way that gives us an invitation to grow, and to transition from a sapling into whatever a baby tree is called. What's a baby tree called?- I don't know.- A treelet. There's some word, one of my eco friends will send ... One of our eco friends will-- I'm sure someone will let us know. I'm sure someone will-- Maybe my brother will. Right?- Also that when you are that treelet, or whatever the correct word is, to rather than sort of look up and think,"Oh, I have so far to go."- "I'm not an oak, I'm nowhere near an oak tree."- Right? But rather to look back and see like,"Wow, I was an acorn."- "Look how far I've come." And look, I'm not alone. Actually, there are all these little oak treelets. All these teenage oak trees around me, right? And through the mycelium, to reference a prior episode, we're able to actually start to communicate to each other through this online forum, and start to share ideas and make this our own. And also start to notice, yes, these oaks are mighty, and we're going to be in community with them. And we actually get to figure out our full grown version is going to look like, because our nutrient circumstances are a bit different, and we get to own this. And the only way we can own this is through support. So, I want to encourage you, this Omer. It has already started, but it's never too late to hop in. You can always hop in. There are a variety of online free as well as paid ... Free just resources, as well as free and, for a small fee, or maybe a bigger fee, I don't know, different Omer programs. And we're going to be offering more iterations of the Awareness Accelerator. But what I'm trying to say is that whether you do our program or another program, or leverage a different community, I invite you to give yourself the chance to move as far toward, and as deeply and meaningfully toward revelation and collective liberation as possible, by not doing this alone and by resourcing yourself, and making the space and time for that to connect with other folks, to connect with teachers who are loving and who are prepared to help you develop. And it can shift this spring time, of your budding and ongoing growth and development. It's another thing I like about the Jewish cycle and circle, that is true in other spaces. It's like a spiral. We are a spiral, and there's constantly ... We're learning similar lessons, and ideally we're elevating, and often I find, for me, as someone who's a rigorous student of this stuff, does rigorous healing work, is it's both a little disheartening, and also exciting, ultimately. I often come back to the same lesson and just learning it even more deeply.- Yeah. Amen to that. Amen to that.- Right? And so, that is my wish for you, is that you continue to advance toward personal and collective liberation, and always remember that you do not have to do this alone. There are all kinds of resources that are out there, that taking any step in the right direction is good. And that you just get to take a little bit more time, like the song, which I probably already sung on the show, the song inch by inch, row by row, going to make this garden grow. Just take it a step at a time. And Tracie and I are here for you. If you have specific questions about this episode, or you want to engage with us, feel free to reach out to us. You can go to joyousjustice.com and click the listen button at the top and see how to contact us for the podcast. And I'm excited that we get to be in this together. I'm excited and grateful and appreciative of our listeners who reach out to us and send us emails. I need to get better about responding. I'm trying to figure out how to navigate this deluge I get on a daily and weekly basis for Joyous Justice and my leadership, but I receive all of them, and they are deeply felt, and I appreciate you being a part of my trellis, and I'm just excited. I'm excited about what's possible. Oh, that's where I wanted to go. That was the nice, pretty ending I wanted, is to say that, yeah, it's spring time, and it's messy, but with the supports in place, and the connections we need, we can lean more into its beauty and its courage and its possibility. And so, may you reach and may you find the types of resources and support you need. And I'm excited that we get to be on this journey together. Thanks for tuning in. Our show's theme music was composed by Elliot Hammer. You can find this track and other beats on Instagram at Elliotthammer. If this episode resonated with you, please share it and subscribe. To join the conversation, visit jewstalkracialjustice.com, where you can send us a question or suggestion, access our show notes, and learn more about our team. Take care until next time, and stay humble and keep going.