Reader,

1. I’ve been reflecting on the fact that my prescheduled emails told you I was in deep rest mode, and now I’m questioning that. I think the news — and the pace and volume of it — really took a toll on me, and I’m still recovering from it. I don’t think I achieved deep rest.
   That is okay in the sense that this is useful information: more is happening ⇒ systems are escalating ⇒ it’s harder to return to any kind of baseline ⇒ this informs me about what may also be happening for the clinicians I work with and the therapy seekers I support (who are expected to stay regulated and “functional” inside conditions that are anything but.)
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2. I also know that it’s not “the news” that gave me panic attacks. It’s the state of the world. More specifically, it’s living under systems of oppression that are no longer pretending to be subtle. Harm is overt. Violence is policy. And people with marginalized identities are bearing the brunt of it — as they always have. People with privileged identities are feeling it too (when they use their privilege in service of justice.)
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3. Needless to say, if your friends of color — particularly your Black and Native friends — don’t seem “as shocked,” it’s because none of this is new. This is not a rupture; it’s more blatant continuity.
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4. It’s okay to be a mess right now. There is nothing pathological about struggling in the middle of systemic harm.
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5. About the books I shared: someone told me about the controversy around Lindo Bacon (one of their books appeared in a previous newsletter here. I appreciated the feedback — being called in, not out. Accountability is part of liberatory practice. Now I know more, and that matters.
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6. During my break I asked you about the books you are reading, and I’m sharing what you suggested — many of them naming oppression, survival, and resistance in ways we don’t hear enough:
   - Across Many Mountains: A Tibetan Family’s Epic Journey from Oppression to Freedom by Yangzom Brauen
   - Unseen: How I Lost My Vision But Found My Voice by Molly Burke
   - Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington
   - Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Giuffre (described as “intense but important”)
   - Fire in Every Direction by Tareq Baconi

In community,

Silvana

​Liberatory Letters | The Practice of Liberation | Decolonize Your Practice​

PS. You can read previous Liberatory Letters here.

PPS. The POL goes out net week!

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