April 2021 Newsletter

In This Issue:

• From the Leadership Team
• Featuring Erin Joy Seibert
• April Classes
• Andrea’s Column in the Daily Hampshire Gazette

From the Leadership Team

Truth School Forecast: Flurries

Hopefully the snow flurries of the winter are about over here in Massachusetts, but at the Truth School we look forward to many more flurries – Flurries of new and old friends who take our classes; flurries of trainers from near and far who want to teach for the School; flurries of class evaluations with important feedback, praise, and suggestions; and flurries of donations that we receive from class participants. In my role on the Truth School Leadership Team as one of the people who reaches out to our donors, I am always so moved by the generosity of people taking the classes, from the $5 to $100+ donations that come in the day after the class. We couldn’t do this work without you and we are all deeply grateful.

Now we are exactly halfway through our Spring session of over 50 incredible and inspiring classes, taught by a flurry of brilliant and talented trainers. We have “Call[ed] in the Call Out Culture” with Loretta Ross, looked at “Community Control Over Police” with Netfa Freeman, focused on “Israel, Palestine and the Changing Middle East” with Sut Jhally and Michael Klare, had a conversation about “Barriers to Reproductive Justice” with Shanique Spalding and Carrie Baker, gained deeper understanding of the “Climate Emergency” with Ernesto Cruz and Marty Nathan, and looked at “Reparations and Reconciliation” with Amihan Matias and Marcia Gomes, and that’s just a tiny glimpse of the big picture! Our classes span so many topics, too numerous to mention here. We strongly urge you to check out the flurry of upcoming classes for the rest of this session – don’t miss these wonderful opportunities!

I am struck by the fact that the Truth School has become a community, an expanding network of people with many shared values, growing and learning together during challenging times that otherwise could be even more isolating. Together we are able to move forward, to learn and grow to nurture our activism, and to work toward greater peace, equity and justice in the world. Bring on the flurries!

With gratitude,
Renee Moss
TS Leadership Team and Board Member

Erin Joy Seibert is a poet, artivist, and licensed social worker of mixed descent. EJ is a trainer for the Truth School and a founding (now former) member of our Board of Directors. EJ’s work is guided by interest in the intersections of collective healing, transformative education, and contemplative practice. This winter, she gave a workshop for the Truth School on Decolonizing Mental Health, focusing on incorporating decolonization into anti-racism practices for mental health care. We recently held a brief interview with EJ about her work, progressive activism, and her perspective on the School.

TS: Your class Decolonizing Mental Health stirred up considerable interest, had a large registration, and was very well attended. How do you explain the surge of interest in the topic of decolonizing mental health?

EJS: Collectively, we are all in the process of waking up and learning to heal the many rifts in our world and on our planet. There are two main things that I believe sparked such interest in the topic right now. (1) The first is increasing public awareness over time: especially since the action at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline a few years ago, more people have become conscious of the issues that have long impacted Indigenous communities here and worldwide. At the same time, as we know, public attention has also been gained with regard to racial violence and the harm that has long been caused by White Supremacy Culture in general. (2) The second thing is that during a time when the pandemic has disconnected our face-to-face relationships, and impacted mental health for many people, Indigenous practices source from a place of relatedness and are grounded in connection to land and each other. I think that both of these things – increased awareness and a hunger for connectedness and wellness that is both individual and communal – are part of what sparked so much interest in the topic.

TS: What, from your background and perspective, are the biggest challenges activists face when we think about moving our progressive agenda forward in 2021?

EJS: One of the biggest challenges I can see is our continued need to be more loving with ourselves and with each other – I don’t mean soft, I mean loving, which can be soft but is sometimes necessarily ferocious. To be kind and strong. To be able to hold complexity, to move from either/or thinking to both/and thinking. To know when to be urgent because survival depends on it, but also when to slow down because survival depends on it. So many times we accidentally cause harm while we are trying to prevent or address harm. Systems of oppression have taught us to split apart from each other, and it is real work to come together and acknowledge where we each need to grow in order to make ourselves and our movements more effective and more in line with one another. It takes a lifetime of unlearning and relearning and we can all get better at being with those processes in ways that hold deep wisdom and care.

TS: As a founding Truth School Board Member – part of the team that shaped the School right from the start – do you see the School changing in the coming years? Any predictions about where the School may be five years from now?

EJS: Absolutely. The school has transformed so many times already, and thank goodness – keeping creative and vibrant and growing with forward motion are so essential. Wrestling with feedback and truths and making needed changes is all part of the work. I don’t know where the school will be in five years, but I can say I very much look forward to finding out!