Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

These days I am seeing, not myself, not work, not my family, not my children and lord knows I love all four of them.

I am seeing instead a collective we. With insights that help to re-vision a future we.

When eyes finally see, it doesn’t float free pretending that “I” am alone in struggle.

“We” are all defined by the struggle.

So “we” write instead for all of us black, female and in academic spaces.

Try looking outside and see for yourself how trees rustle the air. See too how sages bloom together.

Notice how birds travel together in flocks. Even ants as low as they may seem, never walk alone.

Yet “I” alone insist on life forgetting that “we” bear witness not alone but together, not as “I,” but “we.”

We are beginning week 2 of STAR and I can’t help but reflect on all that made this week possible. The idea of a STAR program has never been for one person alone. It was and still is supposed to take a village. We fashioned the program for us and as led by us. One day we will speak of all the obstacles becoming STARS has been through and in the hands of those supposed to protect it. But I digress and embrace instead the freedom dreaming that such a program has provided for me these days. The story continues but for now, I use today to share that if you are black, female and in academic spaces, look for stars, reach for the light within. They exist and will nurture and nourish you when darkness comes. Don’t run from them though. Even darkness brings gifts. Embrace it all for your fight is our fight and we are all in this together.