The language of love is a liminal space. I heard that somewhere, but I don’t remember where (memory is liminal too). Language itself is liminal. A threshold to the next thing, always changing as it is employed as the vehicle to meaning. We humans use it tons and make it new as we go, as we connect with others, as we define the things we are ever creating. Therefore it belongs here in the first quarter space, along with dreams, and nighttime, and owl.
Along that vein, whale is the record keeper, carrying the history of Mother Earth within its baleen. It was said to have once walked on land, a mammal that returned to the sea. Whale stays in touch with the motherland, Mu, which has sunk under the ocean, and its song tells the story of turtle island. Whale uses her sounds at both high and low frequencies to heal us all.
I read a Letters from an American a while back, or perhaps it was in the interview she did with Rebecca Solnit, where Heather Cox Richardson refers to herself as the record keeper, that what she tries to do is imagine what the historians of the future will be looking back at when they are making sense of this period in American history and the changes that are happening now.
Yuval Noah Harari is another historian I admire. Particularly for his acknowledgement of the fictions we agree to as a culture at large. He advocates and urges us to find a collaborative story to carry us forward. He wrote the book Sapiens: a brief history of Humankind which has been a big perspective shifter here in this household, along with some of his other books. Harari begins his interview with Ari Melber on MSNBC with the idea that history is the study of change. “History is not about remembering the past,” he says, “but liberating ourselves from it.” It’s a great interview that Josh and I watched together one lovely Sunday morning in its entirety. See an excerpt below.
In a recent letter, Heather Cox Richardson made a distinction between what historians do versus what journalists do. She says journalists are sharing the stories of what is happening in real time — telling them clearly so citizens can stay informed. While, on the other hand, historians study how and why societies change. They look for patterns in the archival materials — including the news journalists report.
Combining this information with Richardson’s characterization of her letters as a record for future historians, her work in these letters is more as an archivalist rather than a historian. She gathers together the news that journalists are reporting and at times putting them in context of American history as that is her area of expertise.
That provides so much value, especially when you view history as a liberation from our past. An opportunity to revisit our American Karma and make it right. Past karma, in reality, is blameless, it is just a reverberation of history and beyond our current, in the moment, control. And yet, every moment offers choices and the opportunity to do the very best that we can.
This is where forgiveness comes in. As I have been known to say, and repeat, forgiveness is not for others, it is for ourselves, it doesn’t absolve sins, it absolves the tensions of holding on.
I have a history of being the record keeper. As a writer I have always taken the role of note taking in the meetings I have attended, of which there were so many, and have done it for Chavurah, Family Camp, Writing Groups, PTSO, and so on. When I did it at Southwest High School, Nicole, the communications director when I was there, categorized it as, “Tina’s capture,” and that wording has stuck with me. Like a camera lens, I capture what I see. As the record keeper, you have a lot of control over what is remembered, and how. That is what my good friend Ronda has always said to me, with a wink, as I took the notes for our Family Camp meetings.
The note taking benefits the people I work for. It’s hard to hold yourself and others accountable if you don’t have a record of what has happened and what has been said and agreed to. I hope that my record keeping benefits you, dear reader. It’s a job, but one I can relish.
So this year we are going into an election year and I am ready, willing, and compelled to do this work. Do you have any trepidations? Do you trust me to capture what’s important? How would you like to influence the things my lens captures? Please let me know and I will listen.
And, because it is related, I am adding this NPR story where Grover’s (yes, you know Grover as the muppet from Sesame Street) announcement that he is a reporter, elicited a lament for the survival of journalists and journalism.
Finally, why is the ‘New Right’ turning on conservative traditions? I made this TikTok in honor of beginning the process. Harari on what he believes the role of conservatives and liberals has been historically and how that structure has been falling apart.
Listen to the sound of the Motherland:
Tina, I love how you captured this - "I have been known to say, and repeat, forgiveness is not for others, it is for ourselves, it doesn’t absolve sins, it absolves the tensions of holding on."