Woke: as a political term of African-American origin refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It is derived from the African-American Vernacular English expression “stay woke“, whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues. (source: Wikipedia).
Even if you know what “woke” means, you may still wonder if YOU are woke. And with current events, you may be feeling guilty and confused and wanting to be woke, and not sure how to make it happen.
Deep breath.
The beauty of this idea is the part where it is a “continuing awareness.”
When my library announced online book clubs, I was all in. Our library has a number of online offerings, which they’ve increased since the beginning of the pandemic, and there are now quite a few book clubs up and running and I’m signed up for most of them.
My 11-year-old daughter brought me Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker, by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Christian Robinson. She read it, then told me she wanted us to read it as a group for school.
This kid in particular has a pretty good track record of bringing me books that will supplement our school curriculum.
My mom sent me this title sight unseen as part of a book care package during quarantine, and I’m excited to share it with you for a few reasons. (Also, if you are separated from loved ones as a result of quarantine and want to say “I love you” without having to use Zoom, a book care package is a fantastic idea).
It Began With A Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way, by Kyo Mclear and Julie Morstad has all the ingredients of a good kids’ book.
This past Sunday we celebrated Pentecost at church.
As a church worker, the Chaplain was familiar with the calendar and knew which week it was, so he would always wear the traditional red.
I would show up to Mass, flustered and with our pack of kids, and see a sea of red around me and feel angry because if I’d known, I’d have worn red, too. I love that sort of thing.
Why didn’t the Chaplain ever tell me, I wanted to know. Or even, just send me a link to the church calendar so I could find the information myself?
Newly Catholic, I know there are weeks we wear different colors to symbolize different things, but I don’t always know when, or even how to find the information.
This year, that running argument, our equivalent of who left the toothpaste cap off, was a complete non-issue.
