Becoming a Disruptive Peace-Maker Thursday, March 28, 2024

Becoming a Disruptive Peacemaker has been a long time journey of mine. The interesting part of the Journey is that I didn’t realize how important it was to heal from the past, to help heal the future. As an educator, I have seen trauma, conflict and quick fixes really impact the world of education, supporting teachers and holding space to develop children and communities. Through art, my path has me focused on bringing new life to recycled material. This is reflective of my story, once adopted as infant, coming home to my Native tribe after 45 years of disconnect has my heart and soul feeling repurposed in so many ways. My desire to bring art as a catalyst for healing has also formed as a method of peaceful disruption. Activism in 2024 looks very different than what it did at the heels of George Floyd’s Murder. In those days, I was marching, posting and writing angrily at a system that had no chance of changing, because most individuals did not know that systematic racism was very active and alive today. Now, four years later, I follow the playbook of my heroes, Bob Marley, Audre Lorde, Dr. Angelou, bell Hooks, MLK Jr. Malcom X, They each were messengers of words that the world needed to hear, but they chose pathways of art, peace, nature and beauty to take up space as a form of resistance. My hope is that I can bring others in the community to peaceful, artistic pause with purpose. Say what you mean, in a way that matters, and creates pause for reflection rather than violence.