I had an impromptu discussion with two of my favorite people, Jules and Kevin Redd, during a basketball game at my school about The Heno Project—a project promoting awareness and dialog regarding race in America and the church. They were kind enough to let me drag them away from watching for a few minutes to ask them a few questions. I love their heart for helping people have vital and challenging discussions. 

Sidenote: This is my first shot at a video interview. They look great despite my makeshift iPad setup in my classroom.

Check them out at https://www.henoproject.org/
Or find them on Facebook. Use icons below to connect.

What is the name of your creative endeavor?
 
I recently published a chapbook of my own original poetry called Invisible Hope: poetry for ragamuffins, and it’s available for purchase at Blurb.com.
 
What is the primary purpose of your work?
 
Poetry helps me explore things that are too wild to capture in essay form, either because they’re intensely personal, or because I’m still figuring out how I feel and what I want to say. Poetry is also the form of writing that I feel most free in, where I don’t have to build an argument, tell a complete story, or come to a formal conclusion. Instead I’m just trying to find the words and sounds that best communicate the emotions and experience I want to describe. I don’t write poems very often, so the twenty-three in this collection are the best of what I’ve accumulated over the past ten years. And, practically speaking, putting together this book was a relatively easy, low-risk way for me to try out self-publishing.
 
How do you hope your work helps your audience flourish?
 
I hope my words provide moments of hope, clarity, and communion to my readers—with Christ and with other saints like me.
 
What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your work thus far?
 
My biggest challenge in writing anything is believing that my voice matters. There are so many other writers who are more qualified, more educated, and smarter than me; and I have a hard time convincing myself that anyone would be interested in what I have to say.
 
What are you working on now that you hope to offer up soon?
 
I finished writing my first book last April. It's called Good Grief: A Pilgrimage Toward Hope. It’s a memoir about the value of grief in the life of a Christian. I spent much of last year looking for an agent or a publisher, but I haven’t found one yet, so I'm currently thinking about publishing it myself, like I did the poetry book. However, I’m still looking to work with an editor, so I don’t think it’ll be available until much later in 2020.
 
Where can those new to your work find you online?
 
New readers can visit my website: JannaBarber.com, or find me on Facebook

Lastly, Janna gave me (Rusty) permission to share a poem of my choosing from her collection. I'll share one which came to me on a day which I was feeling my mortality due to an injury. When I read it, it struck me in a certain kind of way. I'll share below:

Slow, Slow. Quick Quick. Fade.

Sometimes,

when I lay my head beside your sleeping face
my breath stops short
caught in the stillness of the moment
and the fear of everlasting: a night without you.

Time's turner flips my stomach--
violent and unrelenting.

How can we have loved so liong,
when it was only yesterday
that your hand first squeezed mine,
in the dark theater where two seats were too far apart?

How did those young ones end up where
in a house with three budding children
and a single name for us all?

I swear, I swear, I swear
I just blinked once
before we both began to gray.

Go purchase Invisible Hope: poetry for ragamuffins and enjoy some more of Janna's work!

My wife’s last words were almost “chickie nuggie.”

It happened two nights ago. We were vegging on the couch after a long first week back at school. We both teach so Friday nights after our kids get to bed we usually find ourselves on the couch zoning out for a few minutes before tuning back in to each other and our lives.

I plopped on the couch and fell down a rabbit hole of Baby Yoda memes. It started with a slight giggle as Baby Yoda asked the Mandalorian for “choccy miwky” to drink. A little funny, I guess, unless you’re a high school teacher who is delirious from a first week’s worth of teaching. Then it’s shoulder-shaking funny. The kind where you’re trying to keep it together because you’re tired wife is zoned out next to you on the couch and you don’t want to disturb her. Ss your shoulders shimmy up and down rapidly trying to hold in laughter.

But then I swiped to the next meme and there was tired Baby Yoda’s gaze reaching three fingers forward with caption “Reaching for the snoozey-snuz button” at which point I chortled. I like the snoozey-snuz buttong mroe than I should and on the Buffalo Wild Wings scale a laugh is Honey BBQ level. A chortle is something like Asian Zing. I lost it. At this point my wife began taking note. 

“What’s funny?” she said looking up from her own phone scrolling with slight annoyance at my delirium.

At this point I swiped to the showstopper. Baby Yoda giddy-gauzing at the Wheel of Fortune board with words “chicki nuggie” on the board as the solved puzzle. On a Friday night after kids are in bed on the first full week back at school—that is Mango Habanero level funny. 

I showed the meme to my wife. She Honey BBQ-level laughed and looked at a couple more memes knowing I was in a sort of tired-teacher-trance state of laughter.

It was nearing time for bed and we'd been taking a tablespoon of elderberry syrup before bed recently because that seems to be how adults adult themselves these days. I sillily gestured to my wife I’d give her a tablespoon like we do our kids and she accepts the offer. I extend the spoon and, just before elderberry entry, she says in a child’s voice…”chickie nuggie.” 

We both lose it. And it would’ve been a silly chortle fest except when we lose it my wife immediately engulfs the elderberry syrup into her lungs at which point they clinch up and close down. They have, after all, just received a foreign object into them. 

Rachel immediately begins to weeze and grasp for air while clutching her throat. 

I pause, uncertain what is happening for a moment, and then realize my wife is choking. She begins walking this way and that trying to gather herself and free her lungs for air. After a good minute, or was it an eternity, I say “Should I do the heimlich?!” 

And as I walk toward her she finally takes a good, slow, breath from the depths of her body as air begins re-entering her lungs. After a moment she emerges from her perilous state and explains to me what happened with the elderberry syrup. 

I was shaken because, in that moment, she had spiraled immediately to a state of peril. I looked with relief at her pale face as she recovered her breath. She was with us.

The next day I was recounting to our friends what happened the night before. It dawned on me what her last words would’ve been. So, of course, I made this meme.

​

What is the name of your creative endeavor?
Mapping Healthy Minds is the name of the podcast that I am producing under my group
practice, Compass Counseling. The tagline of this show is “we all have mental health,
how’s yours?”

What is the primary purpose of your work?
The primary purpose of this project is to normalize mental health by making a
comparison to the fact that we all have physical health to take care of so we should treat
our mental health the same way. This includes basic tips for improvement within the
context of one’s personal mental status and in relationships, the hope is also that this
show will remove some stigma from going to therapy. The format we use is interviews
conducted by me with other mental health professionals as guests. The podcast also
features professionals in other fields of which mental health overlaps. For example, an
episode was with a local physical trainer who owns a gym and highly values the
connection between mental and physical health.

How do you hope your work helps your audience flourish?
Generally, we want people to have a better sense of mental health. A specific way we
have worked towards that end is to provide a series on workplace wellness. Each of the
therapists at my office took a turn in the interview format talking about a speciality they
own and how it connects to having a positive experience on the job.

What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your work thus far?
Most challenges in any creative endeavor seem to be technical, it seems. The initial
setup of the podcast and over the internet interviews are the only type of barrier
experienced at this point. Developing an audience is also a challenge. As anyone who
creates knows, quality content is only half the battle. Otherwise it has run smooth. I have
experience with a different podcast which is helpful. And as a therapist talking to people
about meaningful topics comes naturally. It is a project that supporting guests have
gotten behind and been excited about being a part of.

What are you working on now you hope to offer up soon?
As of this writing, season three is in the works. The past seasons have consisted of 6
and 7 episodes. The upcoming season includes a couple different episodes on trauma.
One with a very personal disclosure. Also planned are episodes on work/life balance
with females and attachment.

Where can those new to your work find you online?
There are currently three ways to hear Mapping Healthy Minds. It is available on the
Compass Counseling website for streaming
(www.compasscounselingky.com/mapping-healthy-minds-podcast) and on either Spotify
or Apple Podcast. Also, Mapping Healthy Minds Podcast is on facebook and instagram
@mappinghealthymindspodcast.

Have you ever thought of all the people you know doing incredible work? Sometimes I think “How do I know people so talented and willing to share their talents the ways they do?” While their writing, songs, podcasts, or visual art may be so good it makes it looks easy, I suspect they’ve worked harder than anyone will ever know to birth something beneficial to this world.

I believe God wordsmiths this world every single moment. He spoke into chaos and it organized in Genesis. Jesus was known as the Word made flesh. God’s creative wordsmithing holds the world together. Each moment that is is a miracle in and of itself. The Word creates worlds.

For better or worse, our words fashion worlds for each other as well. Ms. Jean, my Middle School history teacher, told me I was smart and could use words. Her words fashioned me into a more confident, less self-doubt-ridden kid. With her words she created for me a world in which I have a place.

That said, I want to introduce ‘wordsmith wednesday’—a monthly-ish series. Some wordsmith through poems and others podcasts; some make videos and others bake cakes. 

Growing a platform—something I am trying to do—is tricky. You believe in your message but an artist’s market can be competitive—even cut throat. I want to write and publish and so do a lot of other folks. However, I don’t want to compete as much as collaborate. I want to make a network of amazing creators available to more people instead of focusing on making a name for myself. I don’t know if this is a good business model but hopefully it’s a strategy for you and I to have richer community.

So, below I’m copying exactly what I’m sending to my friends by whose work I’ve been blessed and think others may be as well as they share their work here on this site:

Purpose:
I want creative work to be collaborative, not competitive. So, I want to share with my audience the work of those whose creativity helps flourish communities—something humans are called to in the Genesis creation story. I want those whose work I share to consider sharing mine with their audience if they think the audience will find it useful. In this way, we lift up each other’s goals to speak life into communities via what we’re gifted to offer instead of push each other down to compete in the social market place. Our creative works can rise up together as we all reach more audience members through shared networks. Collaboration flourishes community by amplifying creativity!

Proponents:
Thus, I offer to you ‘wordsmith wednesday’.

At least one Wednesday each month, but perhaps more than one as time and material allow, I’d like to offer to my audience a 300-500 word essay from a wordsmith’er whose work I’d like to highlight. You are then welcome to share this write-up with your audience and are welcome to mention work I’m doing (currently on ‘exile’ as a lens for shame processing in faith communities).

‘wordsmith wednesday’ is not just for authors although it will hopefully include them. It is for anyone working on a creative endeavor which involves communicating goodness, hope, love, redemption, justice, or other concepts which helps communities flourish. This easily includes songwriters, podcasters, writers, counselors, visual artists, preachers and teachers, athletes, and a host of other things I’ve not yet even considered!

Next Wednesday we'll get started with 'wordsmith wednesday.' Can't wait to introduce you to some folks!

It is 2020! If this nice round number doesn't inspire you to chase that new goal then maybe you have a round number phobia—you should get that checked out.

Here's the thing. I'm 41 years old which means I'm midlife now. What?! Most folks still think my wife and I are in our early 30s which is nice some days but inaccurate all the days. And since we are in our early 40s negotiating time and goals means a lot more than it used to. 

In my late teens and early 20s I'd spend hours memorizing lines from whatever Adam Sandler movie was on loop. And while it's nice to be able to say with impeccable comedic timing "The price is wrong Bob" from Happy Gilmore, now that I'm midlife, hold down a job, and have a family that doesn't seem so significant. 

And significant is what I want to see a lot more from us humans this round-numbered year. In this year where the cheeseball "have a better vision for your life in 2020" slogans will abound let's be honest—cheeseballs are delicious and we should all have one of those giant plastic jugs of them in our kitchen. So let's run with that slogan for a minute.

But now come the rebuttals in your brain and mine.

"But I'm not ready to envision a marathon at this year even though I've wanted to since I was a kid. I can't run a half yet." 

"I don't know how to play like James Taylor so I better wait a until next month longer to pick up the guitar. I'll just keep watching YouTube tutorials on how to play."

I know. Me too. But how much longer will you rob yourself and your world of what you're capable of? And if you live until your grey haired do you want to sit in your rocking chair wondering about what could've been?

​Maybe we could be more like the God who created in Genesis who didn't make a perfect thing. 

Bear with me, I'm not heretic-ing here. Let me explain.

A perfect thing is complete and at its highest point of ability. In the Garden of Eden, that's not how the story goes. 

God makes a young Adam and Eve who still have so much to learn about themselves, each other, the garden that needs some upkeep and improvement, and their Creator. The earth isn't perfected. They aren't perfected. There is still so much to learn and do before they bite any forbidden fruit.

God called the place and the two people "good" but he didn't call them "perfect" because they weren't. And yet God got to work creating.

The fear of not being perfect has delayed too many good things from happening. I've wanted to write and have done so off and on for years. However, there are seasons where I let fear of imperfection overwhelm my ability to offer something good enough (or even "just okay") for the day.

So a few days ago I took my family to Jerry's Sno Cones, a delicious Memphis eatery, and my wife took pictures for my portfolio to start writing professionally and part-time. We didn't know how to do them perfectly but we did them and they are good enough for this season. Actually, she made them really fun and colorful and she's awesome. I put the photo below because I need you to see something where I can see all my flaws but am committing to God's words that "I'm good," that I have value and significance and gifts to offer, even when I'm so imperfect. 

And I bet you have that "good enough" gift to offer us as well. You certainly have worth and significance. So what imperfectly GOOD will you offer us all this nice round year? Crunch some cheeseballs. Envision it. Pick up that instrument, lace up those running shoes, register for that class, and get started!

I tried to get this out on Monday but life happens and blogs don't somedays. However, I've got to share Tanaya Winder. As I mentioned in my last blog I mentioned I'm taking a course on Native and Indigenous Communication Methods. It has been and will continue to be intensely altering to my understanding of the American experience. It has also led me to discover voices I never knew existed but am not the better for knowing. This is my small way of trying to place a bigger spotlight on people whose talent and perspectives have much to offer us.

Through the wonders of Twitter I discovered Tanaya Winders when I asked for recommendations for Native American and Indigenous poets I should seek out. This inquiry led me to Tanaya. I'm new to her work but I'm loving it. Tanaya has published books of poetry (her most recent being When Storms are Named After People But Bullets Remain Nameless). I know I usually post music, and Tanaya actually has some good music, but her poems I've read or seen her perform are just so good.

Two things of hers I found online to give you a taste of her art are as follows.

The first is a Ted Talk mix of narrative and poetry and a plea to live life fully in connection with others.

The second is a fantastically woven work of music I grew up on laced with love-discussions. Well done Tanaya!

I've been thinking about this for a bit and thought I'd share here for if its helpful. I'm taking a course at U of M for my PhD program called Seminar in Communication Research. In the course we are exploring communication methods native and indigenous peoples have utilized to claim dignity and reclaim a sense of culture amongst their own tribes--particularly in the realm of education but in other areas as well.

We are tasked not with writing a research paper to publish but keeping a Decolonization Journal. In this journal we wrestle with our understanding of our own Colonial heritage, how its disrupted (a polite term) native peoples' lives, and how we see things we have not seen before. 

I may share some from my journal in the coming months but, honestly, its more intense and challenging than a research paper. For now, I want to use some posts to share with you some native and indigenous musicians, poets, and writers I think will serve us all well to hear. It may be because they just have great music (which they do) or because they have insights from which we may all benefit. If nothing else, I'd like to give a platform as best I can to voices and tribes Eurocentric folk in previous years attempted to exploit or erase in various ways. So, to actively de-erase a culture in some way, I'll shine a little spotlight on on some big voices in the coming weeks.

To begin: the multitalented Kalyn Fay.

I don't know how my research led me across her music but I'm so glad it did. She is Cherokee and has musical roots in Tulsa, OK. Her Bible Belt album is all I could ask of an Americana album. Honest, robust, story-whisked and stirred. I don't want to say much about her as just offer a favorite song with which to start and then you can take it from there. 

From Bible Belt I hear someone who may be processing from whence she came, perhaps a relatable sentiment for us all, with a full awareness of white and Cherokee cultures fully at the table. Its a song that'll transport us all into reflection and dang it sounds pretty.

Bible Belt is from her most recent full length album. However, she has another album called Good Company coming out very soon.

Lastly, Here's a video I just stumbled upon of her discussing her art and navigating identity. It's worth a gander.

As I give myself to writing again I've decided to write about what already is happening in my life. Its a busy season so there is not time to go seeking new ventures about which to write. And since there are books, songs, events, and whatnot I fall in love with every mundane minute I will occasionally share about them--particularly if I don't think enough know about those things. 

Chris Slaten's stage name is Son of Laughter. He wraps stories in musical notes and offer these gifts to willing appreciators. I first heard his newest album "No Story is Over" over a year ago while driving from Memphis to Middle Tennessee--a four or five hour drive. I downloaded it before accelerating toward the wedding I'd attend later that day. I pressed play and listened all the way through. Got gas--listened through again. Ate lunch--gave it another spin the last leg of the trip. 

There is so much to say about so many of the songs but I will keep it short today and nudge you to listen to the first song which I'll link here. The song is called Voting Day. It has all the Paul Simon you could wish for with all the relevance our current political and religious climate necessitates. It manages to avoid  preachy-ness but definitely preaches well. It weds gospel and folk--two musical forms historically suited to addressing injustice which it meets with tangible hope.

This song manages the impossible call to pledge allegiances wisely while invoking foot tappin' fun. It is subversive all-the-while folk-pop joy. AND, it does all this in 2 minutes 10 seconds. Well done Chris. Our world needs such a song in such a time as this. 

Give it a listen.

Jesus, the person many pledge our allegiance to, as an infant found himself and his family slipping out the back door of their homeland due to a tyrant king's violent threats. They made their way down to Egypt where they dwelt until it was safe to return to the vicinity of home. They settled on Nazareth instead of Bethlehem to be on the safe side. I wonder what would've happened to their family in our current climate if they sought refuge here.

Moses, a son of Abraham who found himself taken in by the oppressive powers that be, was separated from his mom to keep him safe from those powers. I wonder how that might have played out in our current climate.

Father Abraham and his wife— before the many sons part of the story—felt the danger of wandering as strangers seeking a land, stability, and a promise fulfilled by their God. They were so scared they lied about their relationship status. He claimed Sarai was his sister—and was thus separated from her for a season—due to the danger of openly expressing to the powers that be during their wanderings they were indeed married. I wonder what would have happened to them in our current climate.

At a certain point an Israelite, maybe even Moses, penned a certain ancient holy text with the exodus story in particular in mind. It reads:

“33 “‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 34:9

I wonder what the ancient Israelite who penned those words might think of our current climate.

But perhaps more at the core of our faith, in our very 10 Commandments, an ancient Israelite, maybe even Moses, wrote:

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.”

I wonder what the Israelites, along with the foreigners residing in their towns, would think of our current climate.

I wonder what Mary would think as she hears of children living in facilities separated from the mom’s and dad’s who love them.

I wonder what Jesus would think of the politicians who say the Bible says to keep the law when so much of what Jesus did defied the norms and at times the laws to display the spirit of the law. Or would he just point out this current practice is neither law nor order.

I don’t know all the answers to what their thoughts would be but I do wonder—enough to write it down and ask others to wonder as well. Not really to answer on my post—just ponder it in your heart. I don’t expect someone who does not claim any loyalty to the Torah or Jesus to have to ponder these questions. But I see them sensibly asking why don’t folks who do claim loyalty to the Torah and Jesus appear to be considering these things.

So I hold the questions out for us to ponder. This is not one on which I really solicit thoughts or comments (of which those of a disrespectful tone will be deleted)--just imagination work for those who claim Abraham as a father and Jesus as Lord. Imagine sitting across the table Joseph or Jesus himself built—perhaps with carpentry tools Joseph brought back from Egypt while in hiding—as Mary the Israelite requests of you, “Tell me about those foreign families in your land.”