Just over a month ago, twenty-two Northfield poets, along with dozens of other neighbors, gathered at the Grand Event Center to share poems. Now, these poems, along with the eloquent opening remarks by Lindsey Ness, co-owner of the Grand, have been gathered together in a chapbook. I feel priveleged to be part of a community that stands up for all people, and I feel honored to have one of my own poems included in this historic collection.
If you would like a chance to read these words for yourself, copies are available through Content Bookstore. Profits go to our valient Community Action Center which serves all of our neighbors, especially those with acute needs.
I know very little about Chinese Lunar Symbols, but when my photographer sister, Karla, greeted me this morning with a text noting this shift–from the Year of the Wood Snake to the Year of the Fire Horse–I thought I would share this image, taken in our garden last Sunday. It seems to me that the Fire Horse is galloping quite naturally out of the Wood Snake!
May your own year ahead be filled exuberance and forward motion toward wherever your deepest knowing drives you! Onward!
Friday the 13th has always been a day of good luck for me. This year is no exception, because today I have had the honor of a poem published by a journal I admire.
Passages North, founded in 1979, now resides at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michign. I was introduced to the journal by a friend, Laura Soldner, who was on the faculty for many years–thank you, Laura! Passages North offers both an annual print issue each spring, and regular “bonus” content online. To learn more about this excellent journal, click HERE.
To find the most recent bonus supplement–my own poem!–click HERE.
The stunning first image in this post is by my sister, Karla, who shared it with us this year as a Valentine’s Day card. The rest are ones that I have taken over the years in our neighborhood.
Since Alex Pretti’s murder in Minneapolis, on January 24, 2026, Tim and I have been inspired by the vigils held by others to keep our own watch each evening on our front porch. We go out at 7:00 p.m. with a lit candle (one handmade by Tim from the wax of Rice County bees) and a silver bell. As the nearby bells of the Carleton College Chapel chime the hour, we add our tiny bit of light and sound, offering our witness and our wishes for peace and freedom for all. It helps to be ringing a bell instead of silently wringing my hands. Doing this keeps our hearts open on our regular basis, and it helps us, if no one else.
In this time of distress and disbelief and dismay, we have been consistently inspired by the many responses of other Minnesotans and others all over the world. We have been struck over and over by the many moving and creative responses, individual and collective, that make up non-violent resistance to oppression. Each voice, each gesture, is added to every other and creates a true symphony of community.
Today, I would like to share some of the recent expressions of solidarity that have others have shared with me, that move and inspire me, and give me hope.
If you just have two minutes, please listen to the way that Minnsotans are joining in song, creating a new chapter in the venerable tradition of the protest song.
As you probably know, none other than Bruce Springsteen has added his voice–and a new song, “The Streets of Minneapolis,”–to this chapter. Earlier chapters are helping me, too. Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem” and John and Yoko’s “Give Peace a Chance” and Minnesotan Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” (which I first heard, with shivers, in Sunday school. Dylan deserved his Nobel!)
Recently, a friend who lives far away sent me this article on recent non-violent resistance to the horrors perpetrated by ICE in my state. It is an opinion piece in Religion News Service titled “The ‘theology of showing up’ is making Minneapolis a holy place” by Sunita Viswanath. I found it very uplifting, and I wanted to share it with you.
Another friend, who also lives in another state, shared this image of Minneapolis street art with me. Truly an image can be worth a thousand words. If you don’t believe this, seek out the coverage of hundreds of Minnesotans gathering on the frozen surface of Lake Bde Maka Ska (White Earth Lake–formerly known as Lake Calhoun) to spell out
S O S.
Facts are important. We need them to create durable, shared truth. But, imagination is even more important. (So said Albert Einstein, someone who added to our understanding of facts.) Our creative visions together–our energy and imagination–can build upon facts to improve our shared reality, to secure and safeguard our hardwon, shared liberty.
Another friend, artist Lea Goode-Harris, responded to something I passed on. I am including her email and images here (with her permission) because I am so taken with the quiet and eloquent brillance of her meditative gesture.
Dear Leslie, I am sitting in a quiet coffee shop in the center of my quiet city… where my not so quiet heart beats in response to Minnesota and the rest of the country and world where the unbelievable is unfolding in very real and horrifying ways. This was an incredible article and very uplifting and appreciated. I will be passing it along to others who are bearing witness to what you are all experiencing.
Every night… I place a cube of ice in a dish on my altar. I set it there to melt in the dark of the night and in the morning light, I offer the water to the Earth.
Metaphorical Spring will come. It is the law of nature. But this Winter of our humanity often defies this hope. This prayer. And so we bravely follow the beat of our hearts. Together.
