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writing the journey

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  • #WakingUpWhite
  • Events
  • Comment Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me
  • Books and Other Works

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  • musings

    Great Expectations

    June 4, 2019 /

    Goodness, there is great wisdom here about how to be. via Great Expectations (image: kingstown, st. vincent by reynolds beal)

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    Man sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper

    What I’ve Learned in 2023

    December 31, 2023
    Leaf floating on water

    When You Fall

    September 21, 2019

    Hope

    March 6, 2019
  • Six people participate in a close group hug.
    #WakingUpWhite,  American Exceptionalism,  challenges,  faith,  history,  justice,  Life Recovery Skills,  work

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 25: Belonging

    May 14, 2019 /

    This chapter is about the tendency of white folks to feel like they belong everywhere. Ms. Irving focuses on the school environment, because she was a volunteer or participant at so many levels, including being on committees to help bring about and embrace “diversity.”

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    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 5: Within the Walls

    February 4, 2019
    Mug of coffee on a square of burlap. A journal and pencil lay next to it. There are coffee beans scattered around the cup and on top of the journal.

    The Confidence of Ignorance

    July 25, 2020

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 7: The GI Bill

    February 11, 2019
  • #WakingUpWhite,  education,  history,  justice,  racism

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 24: Everyone Is Different; Everyone Belongs

    May 6, 2019 /

    We need to do the right things when we can, but it is critically important that we continually reevaluate whether we're really doing the right things. We might not be able to wait until we have all the data before we try to make changes, but we absolutely must be willing to reexamine our efforts and even our understandings.

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    Mug of coffee on a square of burlap. A journal and pencil lay next to it. There are coffee beans scattered around the cup and on top of the journal.

    The Confidence of Ignorance

    July 25, 2020
    A man is checking a map to see where he goes next

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 38: The Rugged Individual

    December 20, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 20: My Robin Hood Syndrome

    April 9, 2019
  • #WakingUpWhite,  history,  justice,  Life Recovery Skills,  racism

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 23: Diversity Training

    April 30, 2019 /

    More than having a map, a method, and motive, grasping what race and racialism in America will involve something deeper than just a way to work things out.

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    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 22: Why Do I Always End Up with White People?

    April 29, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 5: Within the Walls

    February 4, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 10: The Melting Pot

    February 22, 2019
  • musings

    Your Good Intentions Don’t Make Things Not Racist

    April 30, 2019 /

    Some good thoughts about intentions vs. impact. via Your Good Intentions Don’t Make Things Not Racist

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    It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way

    February 6, 2019
    graffito silhouette of girl reaching for red heart on a string

    Words of Apology

    May 9, 2020

    Hope

    March 6, 2019
  • #WakingUpWhite,  challenges,  history,  justice,  racism

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 22: Why Do I Always End Up with White People?

    April 29, 2019 /

    Ever wonder why it is that even when good people want to fix things, nothing really gets fixed but a lot of talk passes by? I grew up in the fabulous 50s and 60s, and I remember the talk on how we were well on on way to fixing racism. “Just a little while longer,” I heard, “and we’ll get this discrimination eliminated. Just a few years more and all God’s children will be playing together.” Spoiler: It didn’t happen that way. The effort needed to make change happen is much, much great than the effort needed to think about making change happen. We can wish all we want. We…

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    Runners' track waiting for the race

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 39: Equality Starts with Equity

    January 18, 2020

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 1: What Wasn’t Said

    January 27, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 16: Logos and Stereotypes

    March 19, 2019
  • musings

    Six Freedoms Black People Do Not Have Under a White Supremacy

    April 29, 2019 /

    via Six Freedoms Black People Do Not Have Under a White Supremacy I highly recommend you take a look at this article.

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    A Black woman and a white woman look down at an unseen fire. One is holding a stick with a marshmallow on it.

    REVIEW: The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

    May 20, 2021

    My Dear White People

    November 10, 2019

    It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way

    February 6, 2019
  • American Exceptionalism,  history,  justice

    The Charlottesville Declaration

    April 27, 2019 /

    From the founding of this nation until the present hour, the idolatry of whiteness has been a pro-death spirit within our republic. I did not see this earlier, but I think it’s important to proclaim—loudly, confidently—that the gospel in America is the eternal gospel of God, of recognition and repentance and restoration.

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    nine glass windows, from black to white

    White Jesus, Bible Jesus: Pick One

    November 14, 2019

    The Purpose-Driven Lie

    October 23, 2019
    Red pipe going up and over an obstacle

    When We Don’t Want to Know

    September 28, 2019
  • #WakingUpWhite,  history,  justice

    #Waking Up White Chapter 21: Straddling Two Worlds

    April 13, 2019 /

    This chapter is unbelievably relevant, especially in light of the post I put up not six hours ago about my past (“News and Updates”) as well as my essay on Medium (“My Journey into Blackness”). While I was in process of rethinking my thoughts and recalibrating my actions according to my values, I was using the online persona “Between Two Worlds.” My own feelings were much like what Ms. Irving relates in this chapter, and I can say I experienced many of the same things she did in the struggle to find who I was and where I belong. “Having my new friends ridicule my old world confused me. I…

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    A child stands at the bottom of stone steps, considering how to overcome a seemingly impossible challenge.

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 41: From Bystander to Ally

    February 21, 2020
    White Doors of Opportunity

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 19: My Good Luck

    April 1, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 8: Racial Categories

    February 14, 2019
  • American Exceptionalism,  challenges,  faith,  history,  justice,  Life Recovery Skills,  racism,  writing

    News and Updates

    April 13, 2019 /

    So here’s what’s going down… Some of you might know that I’ve been thinking about and writing about issues of race and equality for a long time. I’ve been vocal about my beliefs and vocal about my insistence that we all must repent and change. A few months ago an online publication, Our Human Family, reached out to me to begin writing for them. They had been reading my work and were interested in what I was saying, and they considered my work to be helpful and healing for the conciliation of us all. As they put it in their mission statement, “OUR HUMAN FAMILY exists as a safe digital…

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    Several Haitian schoolchildren line up for a picture.

    Sometimes our brains tell the truth while our emotions lie

    May 3, 2023
    A suburb showing about 100 houses on winding streets.

    From Levittown to Black Lives Matter

    June 26, 2020
    Brass key sitting on fallen leaves

    Hard Questions, Hard Answers

    June 20, 2021
  • #WakingUpWhite,  American Exceptionalism,  education,  history,  justice,  Life Recovery Skills

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 20: My Robin Hood Syndrome

    April 9, 2019 /

    “You know, we’re trying to focus on programs that serve Boston’s inner-city youth. If you could develop a vision that includes that population, we’d be more interested in supporting you.” This is an intriguing chapter, and one that is perhaps the turning point from comfort into awareness. The author is given great power and influence, and then is tasked to “go do something good for people.” Intriguing because the attempt was made, but here, at the beginning, perhaps the attempt went wrong when there wasn’t an inquiry into what is needed and how versus what do I think is needed and how can I help? Us white people “doing good”…

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    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 7: The GI Bill

    February 11, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 15: The Whole Story

    March 14, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 9: White Superiority

    February 19, 2019
  • White Doors of Opportunity
    #WakingUpWhite,  family,  history

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 19: My Good Luck

    April 1, 2019 /

    “… I returned … with my childhood ideas about a level playing field, a world teeming with opportunity, and myself as a good person fully intact.” I thought this chapter was interesting about the smooth ride that being both rich and white can make of life. I wasn’t “rich” by Ms. Irving’s standards, of course, but I was never in want. Travel to other lands when I was in my teens and twenties helped me see a bit more about the differences in lifestyles, but I don’t think seeing the destitution in the poor in Mexico, for example, elicited anything more in me than curiosity. And travel to Europe was…

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    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 6: From Confusion to Shock

    February 8, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 20: My Robin Hood Syndrome

    April 9, 2019

    #Waking Up White Chapter 13: Invisibility

    March 7, 2019
  • faith,  history,  justice,  racism

    There Are No Racists

    March 27, 2019 /

    I’m involved in a group that’s digging into American white racism, and I gotta say, there are times when I feel so discouraged that I feel like giving up. It’s too hard, it’s too much to deal with, it’s so overwhelming—and no one’s really a racist, anyway, except for maybe some white people in the South with CBFs on their pickup trucks. Or something. What I saw was some white people saying “Is it really helpful to call anyone a ‘racist,’ when that could just push them away from wanting to change? Calling someone ‘racist’ isn’t going to get us anywhere, and besides, you might be tempted to call me…

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    A Non-Traditional Blessing

    August 20, 2019

    Sliding Away from Relevancy

    September 24, 2019

    Real but Imaginary Threats

    June 19, 2021
  • musings

    US and our empty gestures — The Won Percent

    March 26, 2019 /

    This blog post is so powerful, and speaks so deeply into my heart, and is just so much where I am right now that I wanted to reblog it here. Many, many thanks to the blog The Won Percent for this dive into the human soul. Take the time to go visit the original post. https://youtube.com/watch?v=yTbOhsvA4WE%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26fs%3D1%26autohide%3D2%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26wmode%3Dtransparent “We’re Americans” Hands Across America fell far short of its $50 million goal.Somehow, singing, “Divided we fall, United we stand, Hands across America,” didn’t put an end to our homeless epidemic. Go figure. Did they end hunger in America? Of course not. But did they call attention to the problem, and get some volunteers…

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    It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way

    February 6, 2019

    I’m Just Here to Dance

    February 16, 2019

    The Voices Are Coming from Inside the House

    July 12, 2019
  • #WakingUpWhite,  history,  justice,  racism

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 18: Color-blind

    March 24, 2019 /

    We talk about the things that are important to us, or we talk about the things that are completely unimportant to us in order to avoid talking about the important things that threaten us. Intimacy threatens us. Empathy scares us. Accountability scares us. Responsibility and connected-ness provoke us. In our heart of hearts, with our bosom friends, we may, if we are very, very fortunate, have a brush with intimacy or reality. Race in America scares us white people. Scares the bejesus from us. I see things we do to ameliorate the pain and the fear. We talk over it. We deny it. We claim it’s not us. We say…

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    Four toddlers forming a circle of friendship

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 44: Listening

    March 28, 2020

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 27: Living into Expectations

    June 18, 2019

    #Waking Up White Chapter 13: Invisibility

    March 7, 2019
  • #WakingUpWhite,  American Exceptionalism,  faith,  history,  justice,  racism

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 17: My Good People

    March 20, 2019 /

    “How it was possible that I was both a ‘good person’ and utterly clueless.” It’s possible because being “good” does not mean “also smart” or “also educated” or even “also aware.” I’m good. I do good things. I have good intentions. Even when I was actively participating in conservative politics that were leading to the destruction of the oppressed, I was good because I had good thoughts and good intentions. Being good isn’t anything unless it’s coupled with intelligent action, and intelligent action isn’t good if it sets a priority upon intention rather than impact. Hand to God, I am ashamed and embarrassed by my words and actions to people…

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    If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see

    January 26, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 35: If Only You’d Be More Like Me

    November 15, 2019
    Man sitting on subway

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 30: Feelings and the Culture of Niceness

    September 10, 2019
  • #WakingUpWhite,  American Exceptionalism,  faith,  history,  Life Recovery Skills,  racism

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 16: Logos and Stereotypes

    March 19, 2019 /

    “The monumental cognitive task of processing the millions of pieces of information that flood us daily requires that we sort and categorize.” I agree here that this is a survival skill and, on the face of it, neutral. The problem is that we then use the sorting/categorization not just as identity but as threat-analysis. White people are our friends; people of color are likely antagonistic and unwilling to compromise with us like white people do. The identity is not only what they look like, but what they represent, even though that representation is largely imagined. “One way people differ from animals, however, is the way we use symbols to make…

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    If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see

    January 26, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 12: Icebergs

    March 2, 2019

    #Waking Up White Chapter 21: Straddling Two Worlds

    April 13, 2019
  • faith,  family

    A Reminder: Welcome to Our Muslim Neighbors

    March 16, 2019 /

    Note: I first wrote this when I was asked to give the community welcome to the Muslim community in our town. There were certain comments made by local residents as well as our state legislator, Jay Rodne (R-05), that were inflammatory and ill-informed. The Muslims set up an open house and invited the community to hear their stories and to let us tell ours.  Here are my remarks, first posted in an article on this site from three years ago. I extend my thanks to Mujeeb Mohammed, President of the Muslim Association of Snoqualmie Ridge, along with the Board of Directors, and the Board of Governors, for asking me to…

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    Of Course I’m Racist

    September 16, 2019
    white man with gray hair faces away from camera, sitting in empty stone church.

    Making the Past the Past

    August 1, 2020

    The Cross and the Gun

    December 3, 2021
  • justice,  work

    The Whisper of the Wind Without Words

    March 16, 2019 /

    My goodness, how deeply this spoke to me this morning: “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if…

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    When They See Us—Buffalo Edition

    May 16, 2022
    Two women, one white, one Black, are having a conversation with each other. They're seated facing each other at a table next to a large window overlooking an urban setting.

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 45: Normalizing Race Talk

    May 9, 2020

    If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see

    January 26, 2019
  • faith,  justice,  racism

    Enough

    March 15, 2019 /

    If you don’t know by know I’m a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, then I’ve done a damned poor job of making my faith explicit, and for that I’m sorry. I believe in Jesus the son of God, true God of true God, born, lived, died, and risen. But with that said, I stand with my brothers and sisters in the Muslim Ummah right now as we all are reeling in shock from the latest atrocities of white supremacist terrorism that’s being done in the name of Jesus Christ and for the followers of Jesus Christ. It is an abomination. Full stop. If your church is teaching that whiteness…

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    Community and Acceptance

    What Is the Home That Shuts Its Doors to You?

    September 23, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 6: From Confusion to Shock

    February 8, 2019

    Feats of Clay

    December 31, 2018
  • #WakingUpWhite,  American Exceptionalism,  faith,  history

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 15: The Whole Story

    March 14, 2019 /

    “One of the most powerful tools of racism is stories.” More broadly, all history is stories, sometimes told in a Domesday Book, sometimes told in a slide deck. We have to pick and choose what we think matters in history—the world every instant is crammed full of events and meaning, of people and actions. No one thing at an instant is “the one thing” of the instant. History is shaped by what we want to remember. That my mother was expelled from Ukraine in 1933 is just as much a matter of history that Hitler came to power in Germany, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco started construction, and…

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    three women with laptops conversing

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 43: From Tolerance to Engagement

    March 18, 2020

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 6: From Confusion to Shock

    February 8, 2019
    Mug of coffee on a square of burlap. A journal and pencil lay next to it. There are coffee beans scattered around the cup and on top of the journal.

    The Confidence of Ignorance

    July 25, 2020
  • American Exceptionalism,  challenges,  gardening,  justice

    When the Past Tries to Reclaim the Present

    March 13, 2019 /

    Last night the hemlock tried to nail the house again. This time it failed. We live in an area that is mixed rural and forest. Just down the street is the river, and across the river is an escarpment that’s the outlier of the Cascades. Western Hemlock, Douglas Fir, and Big Leaf Maple are the most common big trees here, with scattered alder and cottonwood in the understory, especially of disturbed land. The trees used to grow big here—we started as a logging and milling town until we ran out of trees, then switched to agriculture—hops and dairy as the most common. Now we still have some dairy farms, but…

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    Green Books, Black Lives, and White History

    February 28, 2019

    When They See Us—Buffalo Edition

    May 16, 2022
    American flag, backlighted so that a white cross appears on the blue canton with white stars

    The Devil Is a Christian Nationalist

    May 23, 2021
  • #WakingUpWhite,  American Exceptionalism,  history,  justice,  Life Recovery Skills

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 14: ZAP!

    March 10, 2019 /

    The fact that the playing field is not level means that life experiences are not merely different, but unequal and unfair. This is a hard concept to hold on to. Theoretically I understand it, but essentially I ignore it. And yet, every so often I hear the stories and hear the pain. I take for granted that everyone has a life like mine—you simply do the work required and you are rewarded. This is extremely not so. I’ve made it a point to not bring up personal stories from now on that involve people without their permission, and as a result I’ve removed about half of my blog entries. (The…

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    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 10: The Melting Pot

    February 22, 2019
    Man sitting on subway

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 30: Feelings and the Culture of Niceness

    September 10, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 20: My Robin Hood Syndrome

    April 9, 2019
  • musings

    Lenten Lament 4 #Lent2019

    March 9, 2019 /

    A reminder that toxicity and destruction are directed against many of the beloved. A reminder that we all must continue in the pursuit of justice and peace. via Lenten Lament 4 #Lent2019

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    Hope

    March 6, 2019

    Great Expectations

    June 4, 2019

    The Voices Are Coming from Inside the House

    July 12, 2019
  • housekeeping

    Housekeeping and Security

    March 8, 2019 /

    Something new has happened… I know I’m late to the game, but the site is now protected by SSL—you can now (and should) use “https://” to connect to this site. The http:// connection still works, and there really isn’t panic that you shouldn’t use that protocol, because if you use the old URL and protocol (that is, “http://stephenmatlock.com”), you’ll just be forwarded to the new protocol (that is, “https://stephenmatlock.com”). One thing this does for the site is to make logins more secure. Your password is always encrypted (I can’t see it, ever, by the design of WordPress), but this means that now your communications with the site, such as posting…

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    A woman yells through a megaphone

    Which Way?

    October 9, 2021
  • #WakingUpWhite,  faith,  Life Recovery Skills,  racism

    #Waking Up White Chapter 13: Invisibility

    March 7, 2019 /

    “We were pushed hard to be cognizant of what we did and did not notice. And most importantly, why?” This is the hardest—the why of our actions and our inattention. Why do I feel that white people around me are just worth my time, and yet black people are somehow safe to exclude? That came from somewhere, and I picked it up, but why do I think this and act this way—that is the part of me that still has mysterious roots. Did I really choose to be racist? Based upon what I’m reading and thinking about, it seems more and more likely that yes, I did choose this. “I…

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    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 16: Logos and Stereotypes

    March 19, 2019
    A white coffee mug with coffee in it. It has the word "BEGIN" on it, and sits on a wooden table.

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 46: Whole Again

    May 25, 2020
    A man is checking a map to see where he goes next

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 38: The Rugged Individual

    December 20, 2019
  • faith,  Life Recovery Skills,  musings

    Hope

    March 6, 2019 /

    “Hope always breaks my heart. And yet hope always restores my soul.” One of the difficulties of any endeavor is that there is just no guarantee of success. A journey is not like a recipe, where, if you put in the right ingredients at the right time, mix it in the right way, and bake it for the right amount of time, you’ll get, barring any spectacular issues, the thing that you expected. A cake recipe makes a cake, a pie recipe makes a pie, a cashew chicken recipe makes a decent plate of food for a dinner, a dinner that I’m eating right now. The journey, tho? No guarantees…

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    What Would You Do If You Could Bring Conciliation?

    January 17, 2019

    When They See Us—Buffalo Edition

    May 16, 2022

    News and Updates

    April 13, 2019
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