The Justice Walk Travelog - October Strolling 2023

Leadership support rooted in equity and justice

This Month's Walking...This sign appears over Interstate 91 North as you're heading out of New Haven, CT, and across a tidal marsh that is often foggy.Fog has another meaning for me. My coach uses "FOG" as an acronym that stands for "F'ing Opportunities for Growth."

It's been a FOG-gy season lately.

• Being a solo-preneur is challenging.

• Surfing the ebb-and-flow uncertainty of self-employment is challenging.

• Challenging systems and the status quo is...challenging.

When it's FOG-gy, we're on high alert, our senses heightened, our heads on a swivel as we move through the world uncertain of what is just beyond our 6-foot field of vision.

Being in the FOG requires us to move differently than we do in other times or spaces - more cautiously, more slowly, sometimes turning on special lights.Moving through the FOG also requires more effort and intention to travel a much shorter distance than that same amount of time and effort would usually produce.I often face FOG with Frustration, Over-emotionality, and a Gag reflex. (See what I did there?)And yet, I'm grateful for the FOG. (Usually only once the FOG is receding in my rear-view mirror.)There's a lot of talk about "getting comfortable with the discomfort" in equity, justice, and belonging work.Honestly, I don't anticipate welcoming FOG with a Fearless, Outstanding, and Grateful attitude anytime soon.That isn't even really my goal.What I'd like is to more quickly recognize the FOG for what it is and then be intentional about making more time and space for myself to rest and recharge than I need when everything around me is clear.What about you?How do you experience the FOG?What are your go-to tools for navigating through FOG?I'd love to hear your tips and tricks!One step in front of the other,Abby

Folks, I love spending time in cemeteries. The older the better.I appreciate the quiet. I appreciate being surrounding by so much history. Headstones, with so few words, can tell fascinating, devastating stories.All that to say, I couldn't pick this book up fast enough.I had no idea that it was a "work-related" book.Once I thought about it, though, of course the way our society handles death mirrors the same prejudices, and systems of oppression that impact us when we are alive.How many buildings, parks, municipal services, etc. have been/are being developed on land that was sacred to Indigenous People, often covering their burial grounds?How many burial grounds of both enslaved and free Black people were/are erased?How deeply does wealth inequity determine who is remembered after they are dead, and in what manner?It may sound like a heavy, depressing book. On the contrary, the book is a series of relatively short, delightfully written essays about particular cemeteries. (I was particularly taken by the author's clever word play and puns.)If you read it, let me know and we can discuss!P.S. Friendly reminder that if you're going to purchase this book, a simple way to put equity ideals into practice is to buy from a Black-owned bookstore. Search to find one near you, or order through

Kindred Thoughts

, the Black-owned bookstore here in Bridgeport.

I first saw this picture a month ago.I'm still struggling to express exactly why it affects me so profoundly.I know it's got something to do with joy, beauty, and who the ability to appreciate and marvel at beauty belongs to.What I see in this image is my niece holding up her Black baby doll as if to make sure she can get a closer look at the painting.My niece has European, African, Latin American, Catholic, and Jewish ancestry. She's learning to speak Spanish and English simultaneously. During her life, some spaces will not be open or welcoming to her.This picture makes me joyful. I revel in the beauty of the "now," as well as all of the hope and possibility of who my niece can choose to be.I also recognize the tinge of sadness and fear in my reaction. How and when may my niece's belief that the beauty in the world is meant for her to enjoy, that she deserves full access to everything wondrous, be dimmed? Who might try to tell her that she is "less than"?I think this image may be a visual representation of my "why."Look at this child's wonder. Notice her surety that she belongs in the space she's taking up in that moment, as does her Black baby doll.I want to live in a world where she's never proven wrong.

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