This powerful thingThat connects billionsAnd divides them fromBillions of others,This thing that allows some of usTo walk thoughtlessly through the worldAssuming it was built with us in mind,And yet this same thingReminds so many others of usThat they need to hurry up and ‘upgrade’ themselvesIf they want to belong.English unites and divides usIt opens up […]
Read more "English"Is tricky business.Because it takes a whileTo recognize the thingsThat you always considered ‘normal’To really just be white.Unlearning a strange form of self-policingThat finds many of the non-whiteThings about yourselfSomehow problematic.And doing all thisWithout hating yourselfOr your white neighbour,Because loving bothIsn’t always easy.Unbuckling whitenessIs not about resentmentOr censureBut about coming to rest comfortablyIn a non-white […]
Read more "Unbuckling whiteness"Are not synonymous.But they are are related. It takes a compassionate eyeTo see through the self-effacing habitsOf the quiet brilliant ones among us.Not everyone who holds silenceHas nothing to say,And many of those who fill up spaceDo so in service of themselves. When it comes to a language thatOne may not be confident in speaking,Those […]
Read more "Confidence and competence"There is a certain kind of flexibility required For those of us who navigate the world in more than one language, Particularly if your mother tongue Is not as widely celebrated as your acquired language(s). There’s a process of having to make sense of the world Through a lens that not everyone may fully appreciate, […]
Read more "Lingual Gymnastics"
heartinscriber 