Reaching Deep, Reaching Out, and Betty Reid Soskin

Betty Reid Soskin is a 96-year-old, African-American woman who became a park ranger in her older years and still gives many talks a week at the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center today. She is calm, down to earth, and quietly amazing. I heard her last summer; she draws her listeners into her world as she speaks thoughtfully and matter of factly about her life. Since the talk I attended I've followed her blog, which touches me with every post. Her talk also inspired me to read To Place Our Deeds: The African American Community in Richmond, California, 1910-1963 (which I recommend). I was particularly interested in the WWII era because the history that is taught initially makes it seem as though all races worked together in harmony toward the building of the ships and participating in the war effort. If you read more carefully you see that black workers didn't get as good health care, there were separate black unions who had to pay dues but who had no votes, housing was built primarily for white workers, and the discriminatory list goes on.

All of this is important background and deserves volumes on its own. But one recent post that I feel I can comment on shone light on Betty Reid Soskin's creative spirit, a deepening that perhaps allowed/and allows her to continue moving forward. Her creativity is manifested in her talks, which are neither written nor rehearsed, but come from deep within herself. In her post, she shows how she needs time to situate herself, to respond to the people around her, and to gather her thoughts. A great teacher's work. 

I would say artist as well.

I've seen her only once. But I felt close to her as I read about her process: understanding the need for space, for quiet, for an opportunity to dive down into oneself in order to provide. Be it a talk, a book, a visual work, an experience. Each person has the potential to reach many others, even in daily acts; a calm tone and kindness in life and art can in ripple outward.

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More about Betty Reid Soskin
Betty's blog
Support Betty and her family and pre-order her new memoir, Sign My Name to Freedom here.

If you are nearby, I recommend that you go hear Betty Reid Soskin yourself. Check the calendar for dates and times.



From birds to Betty to the wider world. Here is a bit of process info: watching the osprey web camera and visiting the osprey nest, which is next to the Red Oak Victory ship, got me interested in WWII shipyards, which is what brought me to Betty and a better understanding of history.

Comments

Velma Bolyard said…
It's grand when we have such gifted elders in our communities. They are our treasures. I went over to the osprey nest, no one was in but the ocean and the (other) birds made me happy.
Alisa said…
HI Velma,
Yes, awesome elders!

The osprey nest is pretty at sunrise and sunset, but crows and a few house finches are minding it mostly, with an occasional sighting of RIchmond, who appears to be hanging around. The majority of ospreys migrate south (American ones to South America, Scottish ones to Africa). "Our" ospreys should be reunited back here in March! I miss them. If you want to see bird action up close in winter, one eaglet hatched at the NEFlorida Eagle cam site and the second one is due any day now. The eagles migrate north, eventually.

But yes, sometimes I like listening to the osprey cam anyway, for exactly that: the water and the other birds and the sound of waves. Meanwhile, I'm working on two more osprey-related quilts and will post them when they are completed.