THE PODCAST: FEB. 19 /19

EXAMINING YESTERDAY’S ACTIONS TO UNDERSTAND TODAY’S REALITY

In episode twelve, Tim and Tuesday talk about how we honour and interpret our ancestors’ actions, roles, and impacts — think reverberations of colonialism and class — to grasp the underpinnings of our current world.

Together, Tim Merry and Tuesday Ryan-Hart are THE OUTSIDE—systems change and equity facilitators who bring the fresh air necessary to organize movements, organizations, and collaborators forward for progress, surfacing new mindsets for greater participation and shared impact.

1.12 —— SHOW NOTES

Tim: I’ve been doing a lot of work around what it means to have been raised and educated within my class. I realized the need to own the impacts of my ancestry on me and my life, my brother, my sister, parents and friends. This provided a new invitation to see it and take it in—not only how I’m often approached which is colonizer-based.
Tues: We are talking about ancestors on two levels: our direct ancestors and their impact on our families and ancestors at large (our people and their impacts). That’s not always a straight line.
Tim: We are already ancestors by virtue of being alive. We need to begin to think of ourselves as ancestors.
Tues: For me it’s the whole view that says, ‘can I soften my heart to let in that whole view; while very much holding that right now our pasts, our presents and our future is absolutely impacted by our positioning related to that colonialism.’
Tim: This is about analyzing our own society with the same rigor we apply to other areas of our society. What is the emotional and psychological state of the people in senior leadership positions? How is that playing out?
Tues: The systems aren’t broken. They are doing what they were designed to do.
Tim: This ends with how I raise my own children. The power to change is in my house. And something else also starts here, which is what so much of our work and friendship is—the ability to be in whatever happens next and knowing what has come before.
POEM: ‘The Boxer’ by Tim Merry
The boxer
They abandoned me
They should have been there
I was left
Bereft
Alone
Curled up under a duvet cover from home
Wishing to not be seen
Heart beating, scared
“Why did you leave me here?”
Fear
Pulsing
Red, jagged and spiralling
From solar plexus out
Running frantic energy through my body
All the way to my fingers and toes
But nowhere to run, nobody I know
To run to
“Where were you?”
This was meant to be grand adventure
Not trauma
Not weeping at 43
Only feeling me
When the tears flow
Hand on heart
We never should have been apart
Our family
You and me
In the empty space
Stepped the boxer, braced
For any attack
Come one, come all
I am ready, poised, watchful
Weaving
Fists up, back to the wall, there is no leaving
Sadness turned to anger
Reading to explode
Unload
When things get beyond control
Protecting my soul
When you did not
I surrounded myself with a team of defenders
Boxer
Charmer
Actor
Fixer
Worker
Joker
Lover
Anger
Server
Connector
All to keep the world at bay
Because it was not safe
To come out and play
Now slowly I am peeping out
My blurry eyed head
Over parapet walls
There is me
Looking in
To the place I protected
Where I am not longer connected
Meeting eye to eye
Starting to cry
More tears to flow
More of myself to know
If I dare go slow
With the flow
Of what the wisdom of my psyche
Is unveiling to me now
At 43
I am coming back home, to me

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