#HappyPride!
Today marks the close of June. A month I adore not only as an identified Gemini, but also as a self professed lover of summer months. The feeling of sweat trickling across my skin, due to temperature, not physical exertion, is a feeling I invite in. The overwhelming feeling of crowdedness at my local beach, while bodies pack in close to the polluted waters of Brooklyn. The crackle of fireworks startling me while I “Netflix and chill”. June July and August are so good to me.
I just wrapped up my summer reading list, a bit early, and this biomythography by Audre Lorde was the only “repeater” within the 4 book spread. Absolutely delicious. Audre is the only writer who I have seen quoted more often than James Baldwin in the signatures of fellow psychotherapist’s lol. I can babble about the content of this literary work but I’d prefer to leave that to the imagination, read this book if you haven’t already. Yet, I will share the thought that came to mind when deciding to pay homage to this Queen during this specific month…. Pride month. Had she lived during this era, how do you imagine Audre would have expressed herself concerning the relevance and presence of social media, as an activist writer lesbian poet mother lover Black ciswoman teacher feminist?
That brings to mind a meme sent by a close non-psychotherapist friend, who asked my advice after attempting to add her therapist on Instagram. The surprise of my homegirl, in her words, that she gave me permission to share; “I have 650K followers Shari and she declined my friend request! What’s the big deal, my account is public she told me she would prefer I put everything into words. How can she truly know me without seeing me on there?! You therapist can be really fucking uptight, what’s the big deal?!” We went and got Cold Stone ice cream that evening to quiet the temper tantrum as I explained that every therapist works differently. Similarly to writers, each has a vastly different way of communicating with their audience, some stay within a structure while others veer off the road. I then slapped her with an Audre Lorde quote:
“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences”
I highly doubt those words registered lol and on that note, here’s the meme:
