🫂 Grief, Hope, and a Big Shift

Community First

🔥 Tomorrow, on November 8th, my friend Kali is hosting a Menopause and Longevity workshop at her studio, Remedy PT.

Happy Friday, Friends,

There have been a number of folks in my orbit who have lost family members recently – some unexpectedly, some after a long illness.

If this is you, I’m so sorry. I’m unfortunately well-equipped to understand the weird, awful process of managing administrative tasks while crying and grieving, then laughing at a silly memory, and then trying to remember to eat something or take a walk.

Grief is not linear. It’s a thousand emotions arriving all at once – while the world keeps asking you to keep functioning.

Lately, it’s been hard not to notice how collective grief is showing up, too.

Like many of you, I’ve been watching and reading about kidnapped neighbors, traumatized families, and ICE drills at schools. It’s terrifying and awful, and it’s happening right here, in our city.

And yet, somehow, I also feel hope. I’m beginning to feel that the fierce resilience of the people of Chicago can overcome the terror and build something better in its wake.

🌆 I saw this hope start to build as a little inkling in 2014.
🔥 I saw it spark again in 2020.

And now, it’s lighting up the (mostly white!) North Side. Neighbors are standing on street corners with whistles and pamphlets, checking in on one another. At the No Kings rally earlier this month, I had the distinct feeling that white women were finally standing up.

In federal court, a judge quoted Carl Sagan, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and others during a hearing on the use of force by federal agents in Chicago, reminding everyone of our shared humanity and cosmic smallness.

And just this week, we saw Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York, show the whole country what’s possible when the masses join forces.

And I see it too when an alderperson goes live on Instagram with a caravan of regular people – neighbors, organizers, and parents – to drive around Rogers Park, honking at and recording the behaviors of people being paid our tax dollars to terrorize us.

Today, I want to leave you with this poem by Carl Sandburg called “Chicago.” I hope it helps you feel proud of this city and the important work we’re doing as a community.

With you from our home in Chicago, Illinois,
Dana