values

*This page is a living document that is in progress

I'm someone who began waking up to the profound realities of racism and white supremacy within the last several years (and many more “-isms” such as ableism, heterosexism, classism, sizeism, healthism, etc.). It feels important to say that for transparency and also because looking into why that is and just how many things have to be in place throughout my lifetime for that to be the case exposes a lot about how racism and white supremacy and all of the harmful “isms” get passed down and how these systems continue to function.

A bit on my background and social identity:

I’m a second generation German/Sicilian-Italian, CIS, white, hetero, woman, raised upper middle class. My pronouns are she/her/hers.. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Art and currently live with my CIS male unmarried partner of 16 years on the unceded ancestral homelands of the Pomo, Wappo, and Miwok people in what is now called Santa Rosa, California. I do not have children. I’m a mid/large fat (read about this here). I’m able bodied and I have had mental serious health issues.

These identifications, of course, are merely one way to get a snapshot of who I am and where I come from. However, I recognize these identifications have greatly informed my worldview with much unnamed centrality and privilege in the cultural context of the United States.

I am committed to learning and working to dismantle the racist, classist, heterosexist, sizeist, ableist and other oppressive systemic -isms within myself and in the world around me and continue to become more aware of how superiority/inferiority culture and dominant cultural norms inform my ways of being. I am committed to centering fat people and fat people’s lived experience in my spaces.

Some of the teachers I have been privileged to learn from and highly recommend are:

Education for Racial Equity - Resmaa Menakem

Desiree Adaway - Freedom School

Dr. Giavanni Washington - The Black Goddess Within

Equity at Work with Desiree Adaway, Ericka Hines and Jessica Fish

Dr. Kimberly George - Feminism School

Nicole Lee and Laura Halpin - Inclusive Life

One of the ways I am participating in restorative work was catalyzed by Sonya Renee Taylor of The Body Is Not An Apology and her call to #buybackblackdebt on Instagram. Please learn more by going to her website Buy Back Black Debt and supporting Sonya’s work.

Please go to: www.toolsforthepeople.com to read more about the endeavor I’m involved in and to contribute toward the school loan repayment for Ancestral Healer/Teacher, Cultural Worker and Space Holder and creator of the Black Goddess Within Oracle deck, Dr. Giavanni Washington.