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Deep Waters and Deep Writing

Get ready folks, this is gonna be kind of a long one.

Also, for those who only prefer to read about my writing and not so much my political and spiritual life, scroll down.  I'll get there eventually.

So I've been thinking a lot about water lately.  My dreams have been full of it, I've been drinking a lot of it, and since it's January in Oregon, there's just a lot of it around.

Water has a lot of symbolism.

America's new President was sworn in earlier this week and as it was happening, it started to rain.  Many people thought it was a sign from God.  A positive thing.  Of course the reason behind this wasn't something divine.  It has to do with precipitation and clouds, I remember at least that much from public school science class (I also did an interpretive dance about the water cycle in Outdoor School when I was in 6th grade). But even so, the first thought I had was a divine one.  I thought about John 11:35:

"Jesus Wept."

Counter that with Saturday, where thousands of women, children, and men marched through the streets peacefully, but with purpose, and a helluva lot of power.

Much like water, which I imagine is why groups of people are often referred to as a "sea".

And yesterday, in church, the sermon was full of water too.  Our pastor, Christina said that you don't have to have lost someone to drowning to know that water, although life giving, can be dangerous too.

But sometimes, life calls us to traverse those deep waters.

Which brings me to writing.

I've never been an outwardly political person. I've never protested, I don't debate, I hardly like to talk politics, even with those who share similar views. I always just let my votes do the work.

But I need to do more.  And as a writer, the best way is for me to write.

I'm writing more than ever lately, and I'm not holding back. I'm not letting thoughts like "This may divide my audience" or "I may get hate mail for this" or "This may make my own family mad" have any effect. I'm writing from the heart for the first time in a long time.

Words are flowing.

Like water.

Writing is giving me purpose.  Even through fiction, writers can comment on the world around us, and show the harmful effects of corrupt people of power.  It can teach people how to be strong, how to fight back, and to give hope.

But even writing isn't enough.  Especially when I'm still working on my first draft and people won't be reading it for a while.

So in the meantime, I'll be doing what I always do as a library professional.

Fight for peoples rights to say what they want.

To write what they want.

And perhaps most importantly, to read what they want.

To fight for science, for facts, for journalism.

To encourage research.

And for people to feel free enough to relay that information, through speech, through writing, through reading.

It's a cycle.

But I think I'll pass on doing an interpretive dance about this one.

I think I'll get to work.

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