kinship community

January 25, 2026

/ HJ / Leave a comment

if you follow the dancing sheet of snow
as it leaps up from its tree branch
and swirls down below
each individual snowflake
becomes part of something
larger
and more whole

and as it settles on the ground
it joins a community there as well
some staying
some picking up and dancing more
elsewhere
and on and on and on it goes
one flake
one wind
many options
infinite paths
but always
somehow
together
with others
when needed

the metaphor for community is there
it needs some refining
some shaping and sculpting
[like most communities do, i’d wager],
but it’s hard to see any independent entity
once you realize
what community truly means
to the survival
of anyone
or anything.

February 23, 2025

/ HJ / Leave a comment

make me an omelette
and i’ll bake you some chocolate chip cookies
and we can have some tea and coffee
provided by either of us
and talk about the world around us
and how it’s hard to let go of the idea
that one of us could be the one person
to bring peace
but we are not accidental billionaires
with good hearts
or the messiah come back
with the power of god
we’re just two human beings
who want to leave the world
a bit better than we found it
and the only way we can do that
is on a smaller scale
than originally anticipated

so let’s partake in this breakfast
and dessert
and the community we create
and leave our part of the world
and the people we meet and care for
much better than we found them

February 21, 2023

/ HJ / Leave a comment

the concept of community scares me

and i know the ancestors of this land
would balk
at that self-assessment

but i bet white supremacy would smile

feeling/being only beholden to oneself
makes for
either
one great bootstraps story
or
one of many that the upper-crust doesn’t have to deal with
other than as
stepping stones

but i was born and raised in this society
that values individuality above all else
and insists that, even within social standing
that place is precarious at best
(imagine entire books/movies/tv episodes
about a whole friend group
turning against you
for no reason other than
they can)
so to be solidly a part of a posse
you should be the one holding
all the power

that isn’t sustainable
that isn’t healthy
that isn’t the way humanity should be

but

i’ve lived it

multiple times

so please, caretakers of turtle island
i feel whispering in my flailing mind
from time to time,
forgive me as i resist the concept of community
and rely on only myself
and my spouse
for literally everything–
i’m only doing what i was taught
for the first 30 or so years of my life
and experienced from others
taught the same way…

my heart is vulnerable
but quite willing
to learn