Category Archives: Framing Pain

Teaching Race? Consider the Poetry of John Beecher

Fire by Night When the burnt black bodies of the homeless   Were found in the embers of the Negro church   Into which they had crept to sleep on the floor   The wails of the people traveled down the cold wind   And reached the ears of the rich on the mountain  Continue reading “Teaching Race? Consider the Poetry of John Beecher”

Equity Training: “It was like being told I was naked and not being offered clothes.”

Part 1: The Problem The hardest thing I am finding is the pain of being misunderstood when people have not studied race and gender as much as advocates have. I remember when people would say something I did or said was racist or heterosexist and I positively knew that it wasn’t my intention and IContinue reading “Equity Training: “It was like being told I was naked and not being offered clothes.””

Restorative Justice: Pain is Our Teacher

Our pain teaches us. In the case of mental or physical illness, once a person is stabilized with medication and a therapeutic relationship, a patient can learn to rearrange their mental furniture in a way that greatly alleviates their suffering and their relationship to their suffering. If we are not allowed to feel our pain,Continue reading “Restorative Justice: Pain is Our Teacher”

Storytelling Brings Empathy: Humans are Storytellers and Meaning Makers

It was in watching the beauty of conversation in sign language that I realized that language is first and foremost a vehicle for story. It was a Sunday afternoon and the sun was setting in Roseville, California, when I walked into a packed and yet silent Starbucks. It was eerie to hear the rustle ofContinue reading “Storytelling Brings Empathy: Humans are Storytellers and Meaning Makers”