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MERI Center Blog

November 25, 2020

As I ponder Thanksgiving this year, I am torn between the myth of Thanksgiving and the real history of Thanksgiving in the United States.  To choose to reappropriate Thanksgiving as a time of gratitude and reflection without acknowledging the violence and pain this day represents for Native Americans would be sweeping their history under the rug, ignoring it because it makes us feel uncomfortable.  And in this year, a year that has brought so many challenges, it seems particularly important to call out the pain and suffering the colonists inflicted upon the Native Americans throughout history. To learn more Oyate.org has a great list of Thanksgiving myths.

I am grateful, though, for this opportunity to reflect on this past year and to remember there are things I am thankful for.

  1. Anti-Racism and diversity are once again at the forefront of our minds

As a child of Asian American activists, discussions on racism were normal in our house and while I am disappointed that we have not more strides yest, I am heartened to see widespread discussions and efforts to fight racism and inequity. I am particularly grateful to co-chair our division’s Anti-racism task force.

  1. Being home with my children has deepened our relationship and not having to rush from one meeting to another has helped me feel less overwhelmed, less rushed, leaving with me more patience.  With less extracurricular activities, my kids have more time to work on the homework and spend time with family.  My daughter and I watch Korean dramas most nights, 1 episode a night, which has...
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November 2, 2020
Events

Among all the intense news of the world and the anxiety of our upcoming elections,  October brought with it the light and soft air of Autumn, two Full Moons, (including the Blue Moon which happened on the morning of Halloween) and the book launch of the writings of Merijane Block, in a new book entitled  “Everything Takes Longer Than You Think It Should or Thought it Would, Except for Life.”

 Merijane Block is the namesake of the MERI Center—Making Education Relevant and Integrated. On Thursday, Oct 29, the MERI Center hosted a Zoom book launch featuring  readings of Merijane’s eloquent and often difficult writings, by many of her close friends. Christopher DeLorenzo and Elizabeth Levitt, along with others, compassionately read through all of Merijane’s notebooks after her death in 2017 and put together an exquisite edition of her writings.  The book includes stories of her youth and freedom as a creative, artistic and curious woman of the 1960’s and 70’s, growing up on the East Coast  through her early life in San Francisco, walking everywhere on her strong “Legs” ( title of a piece in her book), exploring love and life in what came to be “her city,”  and continues through her introduction to her unexpected journey with metastatic breast cancer for 26 years. 

Meri tells us clearly in her poems, “Admonitions for the Uninitiated II” that she did NOT want to be seen as a “warrior,” a “fighter,” a woman embattled in her own bodily survival. She did not want to be called a “survivor.” She always insisted that she be seen as her...

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