SCT RECOMMENDS: THINGS TO DO AND READ THIS NOVEMBER

Welcome to SCT Recommends, where we are sharing what members from the SCT community are enjoying, watching, reading, or listening to during this time! Johamy Morales, SCT's Director of Education is also enjoying some fun things which you can learn about below, along with her recommendations on how to keep creativity alive in your home.

The Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery

A couple of weeks ago I stopped by an art gallery called The Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery, a multi-use accessible cultural arts gallery located on the border of West Seattle and the White Center neighborhood. They host monthly art exhibitions focused on marginalized communities and communities of color, while offering an ever growing gift shop with unique collection of apparel, jewelry, handmade gifts, and amazing works of art by local and national artists. We are located at 9414 Delridge Way SW Seattle WA 98106.

Nepantla is a Nahuatl (Aztec language) term which describes being in the middle or the space in the middle. The term was popularized by Chicana writer/scholar Gloria Anzaldua. Most often the term references endangered communities, cultures or gender who due to colonialism/marginalization or historical trauma, that engage in resistance strategies of survival. Nepantla becomes the alternative space in which to live, heal, function, and create.
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I invite you and your family to explore and support this local gallery as they prepare for a new exhibit this thanksgiving holiday season. ​

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How We Show Up by Mia Songbird
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This past month I read How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community and I was left moved and inspired by Mia Songbird's words of wisdom. After almost every presentation activist and writer Mia Songbird gives to executive, think tanks, and policy makers, one of those leaders quietly confesses how much they long for the profound community she describes. They have family, friends, and colleagues, yet they still feel like they’re standing alone. They’re “winning” at the American Dream, but they’re lonely, disconnected, and unsatisfied. Through research, interviews, and stories of lived experiences, How We Show Up returns us to our inherent connectedness where we find strength, safety, and support in vulnerability and generosity, in asking for help, and in being accountable, while leading us to liberation.

Lately I have been reflecting on the amount of stress and challenges that our parents, caregivers, and educators are navigating in this time. Give some self-care to yourself! Carve a little time to read a book. Our children look to us, the adults, in these unprecedented times and it is important for self-care in order to care for those we love.

It takes a village to care for our youth!