Personal Philosophy

Statement of Personal Philosophy

My personal philosophy is informed by my values of “inclusive welcome,” showing up for one another, sharing our truths, vulnerabilities and stories, and cultivating the power of vision and imagination to create change.

I believe that nurturing and investing in our connections with one another and investing in love and community are essential. As The U.S. Department of Art and Culture highlights, we must

Invest in belonging and cultural citizenship. Our chief cultural deficit is belonging. How many Americans feel deprived of full cultural citizenship on account of race, ethnicity, religion, social class, ability, orientation, or other categories that experience social exclusion? To sustain a functioning civil society that even aspires to this aim, the challenge of belonging and dis-belonging must be acknowledged and addressed. (http://usdac.us/platform)

I believe in deep collaboration, mutuality, compassion, and continually seeking to expand beyond polarization, imposed divisions and dichotomies. I believe that we are whole exactly as we are, and that there is no limit to wholeness, nor is there any pre-requisite or hierarchy or qualification. What it means to be whole cannot be commodified.

Non-binary thinking, whether in gender, mind/body/spirit, capacity, community, political ideology, or social change framework is “home” for me. I am for the “big tent”—if the tent is not big enough, it is a flaw of the tent and not with the people who do not fit. We must always be committed to challenging ourselves to make the tent bigger! Even when we do not “succeed” we must make the conscious choice to act.

I embrace looking at the difficult “untouchable” stuff: what I name as pain. Inherent in this commitment is regularly failing, coming up short, examining my own oppressive attitudes toward myself and others, and keeping at it! Even when, as it often does, it really, really hurts. I believe in examining, exploring, and challenging oppression from a multi-dimensional perspective, that we are all harmed by oppression. This includes addressing ableism, an active commitment to being anti-racist, not being complicit in religious persecution and prejudice, standing up against sexism and body shaming of all genders, and queer, transgender and intersex activism. I seek to be a champion of intersectional thinking and challenging (and changing!) the hurtful ways we are valued and judged.

I am queer, disabled, “non-binary,” gender-feisty, fat/body positive, feminist, Jewish, anti-racist, and a person in pain—these identities are where I draw my “heart food,” and where I find power, hope, family and radical soul community. In other words, this is where the magic is!