← BACK TO BLOG

goodbye bess

i just read that the original bess from Porgy & Bess passed away. i have a deep relationship with this music, and the songs were written around the voice of this woman, soaring, soulful soprano. its not easy to express grief as a soprano. try and find her version of “My Man’s Gone Now”. she died in oslo, where she moved after hitting the race ceiling in the u.s.

this week i have been organizing and cleaning out parts of the ruckus office. we’ve been trying to find a way out of it for months, such a costly burden. and now that we’re leaving the nostalgia is big.

tonight i begin the journey to bermuda. it’s my first time there, and i am very excited! some beautiful people from there have been inviting me for over a year to come down and support them jumpstart some action organizing. i finally said yes and found some time, and now it’s really blowing my mind to be able to work this deeply with what is basically a whole nation. they are already thinking as a community, cross issue. all we have to do is drop in some core action skills with a sprinkle of targeting, scouting, and decisionmaking.

earlier today i got to tour the david brower center, which i was on the board of for 3 years. its amazing – the latest innovations for heat and light and cooling. building a building is a crazy thing to do, and it’s taken a while, but its an awesome structure.

i also got to pre-record an interview for KPFA on alternative ways to resource our work during this economic moment. got me all verklempt.

ok gotta finish packing, will try to blog from bermuda – should have time since it’s supposed to be raining while we’re there!