Hi everyone! So grateful to have met @Erin Corine Johnson and be invited into this community she has cultivated. I am Alexandria and after 33 years (my entire life) of living in the U.S. I moved to Madrid Spain 6 months ago. I am a school psychologist by training, with a PhD in the making. My research interests/work traces the genealogy of racialized disablement, arguing that the overrepresentation of Black students in special education is a direct continuation of historical logics of economic exploitation and control of the Black body. When I am not thinking critically about the state of the world you can find me marveling at a sunset, dancing salsa on the weekends, enjoying a cup of coffee or glass of wine, and binge watching a show or movie. Thanks for having me!

Hi, collective! Just sliding in with a very quick note to let you all know that due to a family emergency, the US BHM Centennial Celebration webinars have been moved by one week to February 24-26. I got the call last week that my paternal grandmother’s health took a sharp decline, and it was looking to be definitive. After a few days of deliberation, I landed in Chicago yesterday to join my dad and his siblings to say goodbye. I wasn’t sure if I should make such a long trip for such a short time, but ultimately I’m glad I did. When I arrived, she was half conscious but awake. When I sat down at her bedside, her eyes opened wide and her face quivered into a fragile but visibly elated smile. I squeezed her frail hand, concentrating on one finger at a time. She nudged back almost every time, still seemingly in disbelief that I was in front of her having just called her from Barcelona. I played for her and sang to her one last time, alternating improv and a few of my favorite spirituals. After one or two more gentle squeezes to let me know she heard me, she slipped back into the “in between” and fell asleep shortly afterward. I made it just in time. She hasn’t opened her eyes again since. I’m glad she waited for me. 💛 This experience—a first for me this close up—has been a timely reminder that Black History is past, present AND future. It is in the books we read, the ground we walk on, and the pictures that remind us of the steps taken before us. It is as big as the historical figures whose names are known and celebrated, or as intimate as the family photo albums of everyday revolutionaries we have been so fortunate to share space and time with. Next week’s energy will be about so much more than sociopolitical milestones and famous names. It is a gathering to joyfully celebrate all the ways in which the Black community has persevered, survived, and even managed to thrive in spite of it all. I hope that with the extra week to prepare, you’ll continue spreading the word and block off that time to be in community with us. 💛

Hi all — just heard from @Erin Corine Johnson and due to unforeseen circumstances, the rescheduled eclipse circle today will need to be cancelled (everything is ok, something popped up last-minute). She will be posting later for us 🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔 Take care everyone!!

A welcome redirection of the energy around me today came when I logged on to Skool today and saw that my mentor, Arlan Hamilton (who you may have also seen at The Future of DEI Virtual Summit last May), had published my episode of her YouTube interview series titled, "The Assignment." You can follow Arlan on YouTube at youtube.com/@arlansyourfirstmillion. In the darkest of times and the lowest of moments, having your words reflected back to you can shift your entire perception. Flashes of a life built brick-by-brick out of the remnants of a childhood dream of life abroad, even when it was hard to be far away from home, remind you that no matter what you think of yourself in any given moment... Receipts are forever. I am who I am BECAUSE I decided to take that first step outside of the US, outside my current reality, almost 13 years ago—read: long before it was trendy. I am who I dared to look further for those missing pieces. To lean into my gifts. To embrace new skills. To (literally) find my voice. Then, I decided to transcribe that process of "becoming" into a blueprint that others on a similar path can use to get there a little faster—and DEFINITELY less alone—than I did. That is why the Changemaker's Haven—and the Identity & Belonging Lab—exist. Because in order to serve, you must first know who you are in service to. And in order to be in service to others, you must first be in service to yourself. And in order to be in service to yourself, you have to be given space to discover, question, and affirm who you are. Congruence is not a given in life. It's not something you can simply decide to be, or take someone's advice to save yourself the mistakes by trial, error, and repitition. Congruence is the result of a hard-fought process of discovering not only the skills you have spent your entire career cultivating and what makes you the most money. It's about which of all those skills brings out the best in you. It's about what makes you feel like the most complete version of yourself—and building in that direction.

Today, I am grieving the version of me that innocently and innocuously celebrated the 4th of July for the first 25 years of my life. That attended fireworks displays, staring up at the sky with wonder and awe at the explosive spectacle of light, sound and color. The United States of America was always painted to us as the pinnacle of freedom and democracy. A picture of progress and the embodiment of limitless opportunity. I grieve the little girl that thought slavery was a moment in time. A complicated history that was corrected and as such, justice was served. It was not corrected. It was covered. Buried. Hidden. Attempted to be rewritten. But there can be no reconciliation without repair. So as memories of rose-colored flag glasses, Old Navy t-shirts and firecrackers on the front porch fade into the distance of my memory, I come into consciousness. We are living in a world where suffering is so normalized, where partisan politics are so weaponized and white supremacy is so violent that dozens of white men can now, in broad daylight, unhooded and undeterred, vote against basic human dignity in at least seven different variatiants including but not limited to revoking healthcare, ending SNAP benefits, and violently detaining citizens and parents of citizens on the basis of race. And because we have normalized it, we can no longer control it. So if today you need to just let the tears fall, do that. If you need to write and write and scream and write until your fingers fall off, do that. If you need to cancel everything and sit in a dark room, do that. But if you feel the need to take up space today, do that too. You can start here. Write how you’re feeling below. Tell me what comes up for you. You don’t have to have a solution. You don’t have to find a bright side. It’s okay if it feels like there isn’t one. This is your community, and it is protected to the best of my ability so that you can say whatever is on your mind. Please use it if you need it.