
Hope, solstice, reading, more best book lists
Maud Newton’s year in reading. Ancestor Trouble’s best of 2022 mentions. The solstice and The Work of Hope.
Maud Newton’s year in reading. Ancestor Trouble’s best of 2022 mentions. The solstice and The Work of Hope.
If you are a writer struggling with the ethics of sharing your own history, remember that dragging these experiences out of hiding does not make you the harmful one.
The Guardian U.S. has published my argument for what I’ve called acknowledgment genealogy, the importance of reckoning with our individual families’ participation in slavery. “Amid a rise of laws forbidding discussions of racist histories, sharing our ancestors’ shameful wrongdoings is more urgent than ever” is the subhead. Acknowledgement is a crucial first baby step toward the repair we need. The illustration above was . . .
Anger to my mom is strength and unimpeachable truth, a companion to determination. I write about this a little bit in Ancestor Trouble, how the idea of identifying, much less acknowledging, difficult feelings such as fear or sadness fills her with rage.