who we are,
how we embody + express
all of our identities —
namely, gender + culture —
and how we respect + support the wholeness of others in embodying + expressing their multitudes is an ongoing contemplation in our home.
Last month, we discovered Who Are You?: The Kid’s Guide to Gender Identity by Brook Pessin-Whedbee and discussed the gender spectrum and the many ways to be a “boy”/”girl”/”kid”…PERSON!
While my little person was still nesting in the womb, I held a blessing ceremony and invited all who were present to speak love, life and possibility over my child. my own prayer was for my soon-to-be human-baby-person to have a compassionate soul.
Parenting with a heart for justice, liberation and healing compels me to ensure that this compassionate soul cultivates a “liberating lexicon” rooted in the skillful understanding that we have the power to name ourselves and we will continue to resist the oppressive forces that tell us otherwise.
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °
📷 #2: kiddo’s self-understanding + expression:
i have a body that made adults guess “boy.”
i am a boy.
i like building, drawing, games.
📷 #3: mommy’s self-understanding + expression:
i have a body that made adults guess “girl.”
i am a girl.
i like reading.
📷 #4: two of the places we descend from…opening up the conversation around how we express culture and ethnicity. specifically, how does a brownskinned, black-identified, multi-cultured, multi-ethnic, multi-racial child express/embody their “white” part? (#howsway) my child’s answer was all levels of woke: he basically named a certain dangerous political character and his behaviors, indicating my son’s awareness of how toxic “white pride” is expressed.
dhamma for mama* 
Hi I think we’re related, Wesley Rhodes is my great grandfather. Please e-mail me.