On Tuesday evening, I attended via Zoom my third of six Intro to Wake Up workshops. Our assignment for this session (there are 20 of us) was to read My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem. I made it only halfway through since the many exercises make it slower going than a regular book. The author, a therapist, puts forward the thesis that trauma, which exists both for victims and perpetrators, resides not only in the mind but also in the body and not only for those who experience it directly but also those who inherit it generationally. Therefore, in order to truly address our history and its effects on us, we need to focus on our bodies and their unconscious reactions to both direct and indirect or inherited trauma.
It was interesting to hear how this message played with people in the workshop. In my small group, it was clear that those individuals who had personally experienced trauma, not necessarily racial, were right on board with this concept. However, those of us who did not have a personal experience with trauma, though there might have been some in our family history, had a harder time relating. I’m aware that I’m a bit behind on this in that many who work with the body, whether through bodywork, yoga, or other modalities would say they’ve known this for a long time. But be that as it may, I still think it’s hard to really understand the concept of something residing in the body without our awareness. This detail from a totem pole on the University of Victoria campus makes me think that this fellow has some trauma in his body that could use addressing.
An additional reservation of mine regarding this theory is that if it is truly necessary to deal with trauma that resides unconsciously in the body in order to make progress fighting racism and other forms of bigotry and “othering” (a term I really like as it is so descriptive), it will be an uphill battle to get a significant portion of the population to do so. Despite this, I appreciate the mind (and body) expanding nature of this theory and the practices in the book to help readers become more aware and familiar with their own bodies.
Moving on from this difficult work, I have been charmed by the decorated telephone poles in the Fernwood neighborhood here in Victoria.
I decided to spend a couple hours photographing them and researching their history. One thing I know about myself is just how much the aesthetics of a place affect me. Some of my favorite things in the world are the personal touches that people offer generously to others such as a beautiful garden in the front of a home, not hidden by a fence, the tiny libraries that folks install and often decorate in front of their homes to offer books to anyone walking by, and public art projects whether installed by a municipality using tax dollars of citizens or the work of a group of artists or community members on their own, which was the case with the telephone pole project in Fernwood.
To me, these local or individual efforts to beautify a neighborhood or town showcase humanity at its best and build a sense of community and caring that belies the kinds of divisions that have become so toxic and prevalent in the US today.
The Fernwood “hydro pole” project started in 2008 when a local artist noticed that many poles in her neighborhood were starting to look bedraggled due to graffiti or general wear and tear.
She organized a pole painting event that fall which then became an annual event that lasted for 11-years, until last year at which time BC Hydro decided they didn’t want anyone painting their poles anymore.
Their reasons sound a bit weak to me (the paint might hide decay that needs fixing, people might get hurt while painting poles… whatever!). The artist vowed, in the article I read from last year, to come up with another art project that would unite the community in the way the pole painting had. I do hope she’s come up with something but I remain very sad that no more poles are getting painted.
I hate to end my blog on a down note so am adding this fab photo of a rather dashing fellow I saw looking out of his vehicle the other day. What a face, and an attitude!
