Ep 11: Intentionally Infusing Joy into Justice Work

April and Tracie continue their conversation about bringing more joy into everyday life and into the work for justice. From dance and music (and a little bit of singing!) to relationship to celebration, the two friends share strategies and examples of intentional, mindful, joyful practices.

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about April’s work at Joyous Justice: https://joyousjustice.com/
Learn about Tracie at TracieGuyDecker.com and read more of her thoughts at bmoreincremental.com

Resources mentioned:
Sonia Choquette
The Buddha said "I am awake"

Transcript

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- [April] This is Jews Talk Racial Justice with April and Tracie.- [Tracie] A weekly show hosted by April Baskin and Tracie Guy-Decker.- [April] In a complex world, change takes courage.- [Tracie] Wholehearted relationships can keep us accountable.- So, I think we're both in alignment that we really enjoyed recording our last episode, and that it would be great to continue that robust, energized, uplifting energy into this next episode and continue this theme around joy, and specifically pair it more intentionally and explicitly with how we do our work to advance racial justice. Sound good?- Yeah.- Absolutely.- You in it to win it with me?- Let's talk about joy.- Yay, yeah. As a continuation, to our last episode, I thought it'd be really cool if we talk about some applications more practically around what joy can look like in our work, and I thought we could just run through some different ideas and ways that we can weave joy into what we're doing. Oh yes, that is what I wanted to make sure to also add as a part of the intro, that we will now be just two weeks out from a very draining, intense electoral cycle, and a number of us are still in the throes, and feeling the pangs of longing and unmet needs from the COVID-19 pandemic. I know that it's starting to hit me more profoundly in my being as Thanksgiving approaches, which, side note, I have a very complicated(chuckles) relationship with or just a solidly unpleasant relationship with. But that was the last time I was with my parents in person. And so it's been a long time, and as that approaches, oof! And so all the more so that it could be useful to take some time to think about, what are the ways, really pragmatically, that we can bring more joy into our lives, simultaneously bring joy and racial justice into our lives? Ooh, ah (giggles).- Yeah, and this conversation felt important, this continuation of our conversation felt important to me, April, because I think in our last conversation we talked about joy almost reactively, like to counter rage, or to counter negative emotions, and when you suggested we talk about this, I really like it, because you're actually talking about being more proactive about cultivating joy, as opposed to pushing away or processing and then moving on.- Proactive joy.- So, lay it on me, what's your first piece of advice? Lay it on me.- Okay. Is dance. Is incorporating...- More dance?- Yes! Jazz hands. Is incorporating more movement, fun movement, into our racial justice work. I think a really great example of this recently, where some of the videos coming out from Philly of activists who were working to advocate and support democracy, and ensuring that all of the mail-in ballots were counted, and that everyone's vote counted, and there were counter protesters that seemed like they were quite formidable and loud, and this group of Jews chose to show up fully and joyously as themselves, so I don't think everyone was necessarily wearing talitot, or talits, but I think I recognized a couple of my friends who are clergy, right? So, they were in their Jewish attire that has meaning for them, which to me that in and of itself can be a joyous thing of donning elements of our identity, and I think this was recorded on Friday, and possibly also on Shabbat. So, the ways in which they chose to show up fully as themselves, and also likely engage in ritual, and the video clip that I saw that brought me a lot of joy was to see Jews joyously partnering with other folks, carrying signs that said"Jews Against Fascism," and dancing to James Brown, and being fully embodied, and for me, especially as a multiracial Jew, I loved that, to see different elements of the various cultures and identities that make up who I am being present in this moment of advocacy that they were engaged in. So, dancing, I incorporate it also at times in trainings, or in group gatherings that I do. That's optional for people, I invite them to just groove a certain part of their body, or fully get up and dance so that there's a range of opportunities. But I think it's a joyful one just because dance can be fun. And also I get us out of fully being in our heads and can help us to be more present in real time. What's another idea that you have Tracie?- Well, I wanna talk about dancing very, very quickly.- Two things- Please! are coming up for me. One is that as a Reform Jew, it's not always comfortable because I think our German heritage tells us to be very decorous, and decorum is so important, but it is decidedly Jewish to dance, right? I'm imagining King David dancing with joy before the Lord. And so those are the two sort of warring factions in my head. There's the, like my German ancestors who are saying,"No, you must be decorous in synagogue!" But then there's King David saying,"No, we dance before the Lord!" That is how...- Let's get down!- Yeah, we use the body God gave us to show our joy.- Yes, Shabbat shabooty- And so, anyway those were two things that came up for me.(Tracie chuckling)- Yes!- Yeah, yeah.- Right, so...- And just music in general, I guess I would add.- Music and song.- Music, yes! Not just dancing, but singing as well, that I think we don't do enough of in our lives in general. We should be singing more.- Yeah, we should, and it's...- It's right there, it's right there!- It's right here. It's so helpful in the context of movements. One of my spiritual teachers from whom I've learned, Sonia Choquette, she talks a lot about, in one of the courses I've taken from her, about engaging spirit, that song is one of the best ways to engage our spirits. Music gets us out of, again, that very cerebral place that is both elements of Jewish as a part of a Jewish experience in terms of study, but also is very much a part of white supremacy culture, and often a total ignoring and numbing of access to our other knowing and sensing centers such as emotion, and spirit, and our body, and physical experience. So, when I'm looking to raise my spirits in addition to smiling, that's one thing that's a personal April-internal trait,(chuckling) is that in the morning at times while I'm journaling, I'll remember like, oh yeah, if I just smile for 10 minutes, that's literally going to release chemicals and hormones that are going to make me happier throughout the rest of the morning. So, typically when nobody's watching at times, if I can remember, when I'm in my higher functioning state, at times I'll just proactively smile, and another thing that I can do is sing songs. I like singing Billy Joel's,"I Am the Entertainer," I love singing Jewish summer camp songs. I am the entertainer and I know just where I stand anyway so, fun song to sing. I also occasionally like singing songs like... oh my gosh, not De La Soul, April, Tribe Called Quest, a Tribe Called Quest's song, "Electric Relaxation," and I like to sing it as if it's a show tune. Like I love to sing this hip hop song like though it's a show tune. Like, When you check it out she got me mesmerized When she Anyway, I can't sing that with those lyrics (laughs). Anyway so, Street poetry is my everyday But yo I gotta stop when you trot my way Anyway, so.- Love it. If I was working at the club You would not pay Hey yo my man Phife Diggy he got something to say I like them brown yellow Puero Rican or Haitian Name is Phife Dawg from the Zulu Nation Anyway, so there's that, you see what I mean?- Yeah, I love it.- I have to, I have two things. One, I think I've told you this before offline that my friends at the Open Church of Maryland shout out to Open Church of Maryland, like to say that...- Whoop whoop!- And they say it's an African saying That "Where there is no music,"the spirit cannot dwell." And so that really like speaks to what you're talking about in terms of connecting with spirit, the internal and external. And then the other thing is the power of song to access all emotions, right? Not just joyful.- Yes!- But all emotions. There's a lot of comfort in song as well. I do this thing. I told myself this story, that if President Obama had been the president, when Tree of Life happened, that he would have gone to Pittsburgh, and he would have learned the words to "Oseh Shalom" and he would have sung "Oseh Shalom", and like, I imagine him singing "Amazing Grace." And, I dunno, and I can very clearly hear his voice singing Oseh Shalom, and sometimes when things get really bad in the world, I like come back to this imaginary song (chuckles), Barack Obama singing, Oseh Shalom, and it just brings me comfort. And that like, talk about the power of song. Like I'm, it never happened to my knowledge, at least not in my hearing that he sang that song, but just imagining him singing it...- Right, and he totally could, its totally within the realm of possibility, yes.- It just brings me so much comfort. And so sometimes like every once in a while, if you catch me, like just singing Oseh Shalom to myself, I'm actually singing along with Barack Obama (chuckles) because I need some comfort.- Oseh shalom bimormav Yeah, I could playing in my... And what I love about that is it's both song and solidarity, right? So, now you're combining music also with multi-racial collaboration and how comforting that would be and how much safer one would feel so and also mindset work. I love that, like that's the kind of work that I do in different ways around creating scenarios in my mind that create the conditions for me to be best poised, to do the powerful work I want to do, which is a joyous practice in and of itself as well. So, yay, dance.- The relationship, the relationship, too(audio crackles) is what. I'm sorry I cut you off.- No, you're fine.- No, we're building on each other please.- But that's exactly, and that's the other piece of it, right? I don't, so... I don't know Barack Obama, I wish I did, but that relationship and that solidarity is part of the joy and like the relationship I have with you and with my colleagues and comrades and with my family, all of those things also bring joy, the relationship.- Yeah.- Which brings us to our next..- Exactly.- Yes, please. That's what I was trying to...- Yeah, so that's another one of our points, right? No, exactly, it's to segue. So you're segueing beautifully and actually like filling it out really beautifully, right? Like another way of engaging with joy is through relationships that it's not just a thing, that's the right thing to do and is incredibly strategic, and I think at times people can get overwhelmed by the challenges that come with it and they lose sight of like how awesome and life-affirming relationships are, especially when they're across lines of difference. So, please, sorry, please continue.- No, no, that's exactly it. Across lines of difference or forged through common and, or, both/and forged through common values and common cause and some of the...- Yeah, and sacred affinity relationships.- And the relationships that I've made in this work are some of them. I know it's amazing, it is, it's joyful, that's the whole point because some of these relationships that I've made in doing this work are among the most important and joyful in my life.- Totally, totally. And I love what you said though. Like how you highlighted that, because I think it's important to really emphasize meaningful and transformative and accountable and accomplice-ish, accomplice-ness, I don't know what the word is though, But the made up word I'm looking for is accomplisized relationships across lines of difference, but also relationships with people with whom you share identity, you have another seamless segue, or should I bring up one or two more things?- Yeah, go for it.- So another one is celebration, and I think, you know I think it's its own thing. Oh, I won't combine it with another one is celebration. And, I think there is both the expected part of celebration, like celebrating there's the obvious points that in general, in our society and in common culture is, common slash oppressive culture, is commonly accepted around key lifecycle moments and rites of passage around graduations. But there can be so much more celebration around progress around hitting key milestones, around progress toward milestones. There can be celebration like even just the shehecheyanu of blessing a new moment or reaching a certain point that that is like any time we do something for the first time, or not only that, but also choose, make a courageous choice. Even if we haven't gotten the desired outcome we want of justice, or the positive reinforcement, that we can create some of our own positive reinforcement by internally or with friends or on teams saying we don't know what the outcome of this new program launch is going to be, but wow. Did we put a lot into that and work so well together. And that is so worth celebrating and honoring.- Yeah, it's two things, two things are coming up for me. One is acknowledging accomplishment, which is what you're saying, which I don't think we do enough in American culture in general, we don't acknowledge- Nope. accomplishment, and the other is being mindfully present to what's happening, whether it's accomplishments or other things. I had a, one of my best friends in graduate school. I was at the university of Chicago and my friend, Leah, Hey, Leah, Leah's from LA originally, and so we're there, we're like 25 and it's our first winter in Chicago, and it starts snowing and she's never seen snow before. And she like knelt down, like to feel the snow and said shehecheyanu. And it was such a model for me to like, truly feel the newness, that not just because snow wasn't new to me, like whatever, but I don't know that there's anything in my life that at that point in my life, I would have had the wherewithal to just be that present and that celebratory of the new experience. And so that really stayed with me'cause we're talking about 20 years ago now. So, it was a long time ago, but I have this very vivid memory of Leah, like touching the snow and like trying to catch it on her tongue and saying shehecheyanu, and I was like, "she's crazy." She's not crazy, she's smart. She's present, she's, really mindful. And so, and it shouldn't just be about the first snow. It should also be about, as you say, like the first program or the first time I'm trying a new thing, or the first time I'm playing with a new idea in my mind, or reading a new thinker or whatever it might be.- And getting curious about this new thing.- Exactly, exactly.- Choosing to remain present with a question and not avoid it but actually say like, I'm gonna start wondering, and I'm gonna celebrate that that's a new step for me.- And to a point that you have made offline. But I think repeatedly, like in that moment of like,"oh, wow, that's that idea's a little uncomfortable for me,"but I'm not gonna push it aside."I'm gonna get curious about it," celebrate that, like let's actually acknowledge that that is a small step, but it's an essential one. So, let's celebrate it, I love it.- Yeah, and, like huge, exponential progress and growth comes from consistent micro implementation, and the more we can honor each of those bricks we're laying to form this big structure, how much more love and intentionality and appreciation can go into something that's worth celebrating but to celebrate it along the way since so much of our time is spent in the journey, not the destination I think the more joy we can bring into and make our joy less conditional on that one fixed time, but like to speak of something that happened 20 years ago, like my woman who's like an aunt to me, Aunt Carol was our cantorial soloist for our synagogue, she talked to me about my bat mitzvah experiences, as it was leading up to it, and she said it would be like a stop sign on the road, or like an exit, a sign out in the road that it would seem like it was so far away and I was taking forever, and then like, it would just be gone in an instant, like as you get closer and closer and closer, it's coming, and then it's there, and then its not there. And I just think that people deserve to have their experience of joy not be those one-off milestone events. Like what does it look like to be more joyful throughout campaign experience of making sure that you're eating snacks and savoring like and celebrating that this group of people are coming together day in and day out, and that in part, like I'm gonna make a case here for that actually being the most holy elements of our work. And if we can mirror that insight that we have around Shabbat about Shabbat being the most sacred holiday, because it is the one that happens the most frequently, that is most in our lives. Then what are the elements of our justice work? And specifically in the context of this podcast, our racial justice work, that are regular and every day and mundane and can be made more Holy through presence as, as you named, which to me is another, which should be the third component, or not the third, but the third, in this now next series outside of the music and dance and relationships, we can round it out with celebration and presence, is another way to access joy that's also a through way to joy is that at times we're not able to access joy because we're not in the present moment. We're hanging on to things from the past, or terrified about the enormity of the future, but we just gotta like going back to that brick metaphor, like lay that one brick and be present with it and listen to great music, like be listening to Chaka Khan or Stevie Wonder or Barbra Streisand, like whatever, whoever is doing it for you to be like groovin' while mindfully being present and noticing the sacred divinity in the mundane, in the clothes we're wearing, in the bodywash our... although with the pandemic... but like just the scents that people have. Like often I notice that it's a weird thing that I do at times. I'll hug someone to be like, you smell nice,- I do that, too.- 'cause I don't wear a lot of, I don't wear a lot of stuff because I'm honestly sensitive and a lot, but when people, I should ask them what they wear'cause like, that I like, that I could, that is a very, and often it's just their detergent, but I'm like..- Right, they just smell clean, I do that too. You smell so good. It's Tide.- Like I notice savoring. and to me, so part of the presence, the present piece is also, another way of saying that is to saver the sacred mundane in the present, to savor people's attention, to savor how many people showed up to something, to savor us remaining present, even though, in some parts of us would prefer not to, like the scared part of us would prefer not to, but we're letting the more courageous, more sage, more wise element of our being, rule the day and say, yes, this is hard, but this is worth it, and this person has something to teach me and it's hard to listen, but I'm going to remain present. And...- I love it. I love that. There's this old, there's this saying about, a story about the Buddha, which I don't, I actually don't know where it was written originally, but it's come down to me as a story where the Buddha ran into someone on the street, on the road, just walking, and the person was like, "Who are you?"What, are you a god?" And he was like, "No, no, I'm not.""And are you touched by like, what's special about you?" And he kept asking the Buddha, like,"What is it that's different, I see that you're different."How are you different?" And finally, the answer was "I'm awake." And I think that that answer is like, it's about the presence, being present in this moment, for exactly what you just talked about, not focused on the past or the fear of the future, but just being fully present to the present moment. It's an awakeness that I strive for and I rarely achieve, but it's definitely something that I'm working on and that story in particular is coming up for me, when you were talking about just the Buddha sort of saying, like, "I'm awake."- And you know what that reminds me of a story that is in large part inspired, but not exclusively by Buddhism. I was taking a class that was led by a Jewish man, who'd been trained by Thich Nhat Hanh, I forget the exact name, if he was ordained or he's a disciple, I forget the precise language, and now he's since gone to rabbinical school, and I believe he might also be either a physician or like he has a doctorate, like a physician or a psychiatrist, very learned, lovely man, who's now recently gone to rabbinical school in his later years, and he taught a multicultural class. I forget what it was called. A lot of people took it as a cush class, but then they were transformed by it, and I took it like, I'm really into this, like I'm doing meditation. So, I'm excited to have a class that pulls from different faiths, the mystical elements of different faith traditions around mindfulness and presence, and toward the end of the class, he had a bag of little statements, like, may you be mindful, may you be different things and was having the people take it out, and when it got to mine, which it felt so memorable and meaningful, but at the time I was like, so disappointed and miffed. I pulled mine out and it said, "may you be..." And I looked at it and I mean, he was like, yes,"may you be." Right? And I didn't like it, I was initially disappointed. And then the profundity of that has continued to hit me in waves in the hours and days and years that followed the part of presence is about just being and noticing. And that it's not about having to be a particular way. Like I think that it is useful and helpful to have practices that help you cultivate in being in a more elevated state, but that is all predicated, and based upon the fact that fundamentally you are okay with being wherever you are at the moment and have a sense of how to be, may you just be, and my partner likes to be a loud West African Senegalese man. So, oh, and actually I think my mother-in-law just came in so we should probably wrap this up soon because West African and Senegalese Muslim family time is about to ensue (laughing).- Joyfully, joyfully.- Very, very joyfully. Okay, so, and then the last piece that I think is important to round us out that aligns with other things that we've talked about is appreciation, which is really aligned with a lot of the celebration of different things is to engage in the practice of rather than critiquing, like there's a place for observing something and saying, here's what we wanna do better next time. But it's also so important to appreciate and see what's good and sacred and acknowledge all the goodness that's there, because at times people, I think over prioritize critical feedback over acknowledging (audio crackles) any situation what went well that we want to grow and build on to make further progress. Like it's not just as a soft, gushy feel good fluff, no, it's actually really strategic and pragmatic strategy.- Yeah, there's a reason that our tradition gives us the phrase,"May you move from strength to strength" It's not soft. It's not a soft ball. It is actually a very smart way of improving what works. Yeah, I hear that. From strength to strength. Appreciation.- Yeah, and to me that also is just a more divine and strong and wise way of approaching things of valuing the goodness that is present and to build on that, as you're saying, from strength to strength and to water the seeds that we want to flourish. So, all right (sighing). Alright, I think this is good. And I feel like there's so much more we can say about this and I'm hoping that we get feedback from folks, because I think that there's ways that we could give more examples or do a deeper dive or make a list that's twice as long. But I feel like we have satisfied (laughing).- Yeah, hopefully...- A well rounded episode for yeah, yes, exactly. So, I hope you beloved listener, friend got some really great value out of this, and as usual, please feel free to shoot us a question, or a suggestion if you were like, oh my gosh, I've recently started doing this work, or I've been doing it for years. And there's this core thing that brings me so much joy that y'all totally missed. Let us know.- Yeah please.- And also try on, please, like both absorb this. I know when I find a podcast that's really juicy, and gives me things that challenge me at times I will re listen to it again, feel free to do that if it's helpful and also try it on and let us know how it's going for you. And with that, I wish you a joyful day, and a joyful set of weeks ahead of us as we move toward 2021 and further into 5781.- 81.- (laughing) 81. Thanks for tuning in. Our show's theme music was composed by Elliot Hammer. You can find this track and other beats on Instagram@Elliothammer. If this episode resonated with you, please share it and subscribe. To join conversation, visit Jewstalkracialjustice.com, where you can send us a question or suggestion, access our show notes and learn more about our team. Take care until next time and stay humble and keep going.