This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us

Clifton, Lucille. The Book of Light. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 1993.

Baldwin, James. Notes of a Native Son. New York: Penguin Books, 2017.

Author bell hooks said, “Women’s liberationists, white and black, will always be at odds with one another as long as our idea of liberation is based on having the power white men have. For that power denies unity, denies common connections, and is inherently divisive.”

In Beloved, Toni Morrison famously writes, “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

Many of us end up surrendering a spirituality that allows us to be curious and uncertain and free so that we can maintain some semblance of belonging, even if that means we adhere to a way of life that doesn’t leave room for the truth of us.

This is the life of a human, particularly a human with any concern for belonging or survival—we are dragged with such a force in so many disparate directions that our souls, disoriented, are unable to find their way back to center. And for most of us, the journey back is costly.

come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed. —Lucille Clifton

What is the worth of a woman plagued by sadness?

Years later, I would be diagnosed with depression and anxiety, which to me didn’t mean much, because the only self I’ve known has been laced with sadness and fear. To name it was not a revelation, but I did feel seen.