To remain human, we must confront.
I am learning that growth requires participation — a willingness to remain present to the truth and to extend oneself for the purpose of nourishing one's own or another’s spiritual well-being.
To the mamas: Generation produced the planted seed that eventually became you and me. The journey continues, as the incredible women and their families allowed me to be part of their birth journeys. Thank you for your trust and your willingness to support me as a birthworker. I remain in constant awe of what you all were and still are capable of. Physically, of course, bringing your babies earthside, but also spiritually and mentally. I got the opportunity to support, hold, and witness your full self, the multiple versions of you that show up as daughters, sisters, friends, and partners. Y’all did it all! You taught me the true definition of mothering. Thank you to all the Rooted Clients (list all) and the countless women at Bronx Care, Brookdale, and Jacobi. Gratitude to the babies I literally caught into this world, I prayed over each you as you came out. And to the babies that did not make it and needed to return home, you taught me the most valuable lesson about life. Life is a cycle, and “the place where you conceive is not always the place you will deliver.”
Family and Friends: Thank you for holding me, listening to me, for honoring the overachieving, stay reading a book, stay wanting to analyze the meaning of life version of myself and then telling her “it ain’t that deep.” But also letting me know that we got a doctor in the family. Period. Gratitude to an old friend from the Chi who is a constant reminder of self-determination in practice. Indebtedness to a sister, our bloodlines run deep, we are Rooted. Thank you to all the people who fed me (first and foremost), studied with me, offered moments of relief and so much more. You litterally kept me standing. Without out you I would not be ble to confront the uncomfortable yet most transformation knowing that my gifts and talents outside of the world of academia, and that who I am is more than enough.
Vanessa: A true healer. The most poppin therapist. My greatest mirror. I am because of you.
What’s next?
Engage in and cultivate a reproductive justice framework in which Black bodily autonomy is realized.
Catch babies and care for wombs
