Rebecca Pott Fitton's Blog

​The humanitarian immigration crisis that the Trump Administration has created is illegal, unconscionable, and reprehensible.  Our government has separated children from their families and relocated them across the United States.  The audiotapes of the children crying and the visual images of children caged are outrageous.  President Trump has tasked the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and Defense to incarcerate thousands of immigrants.  There is no end of resources for evil. 
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​The thought of comparing the United States of America with Nazi Germany is frightening, but the current similarities are real.  During a rally in Philadelphia this week, the protesters collected children’s shoes and piled them together much like those on display at Auschwitz in Poland. This is sickening.  Seeing the pictures of children who had been separated from their families being escorted down a dark street during the night is nothing short of forced relocation. This is our country. What are we going to do?
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“Yes, n’ how many times can a man turn his head
pretending that he just doesn’t see?”
Bob Dylan
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In 1787 “We the people of the United States…establish(ed) this Constitution for the United States of America.”  In 2018 we the people are responsible for upholding the values and moral authority of the United States of America.  So I ask that we speak and act from our hearts.  We have many options including contacting our Representatives and Senators in Congress and volunteering for and financially supporting organizations whose missions align with our values of civil and human rights.  And there is #RESIST. (I have my cap, do you?) Marches will be held across the country on June 3oth.  I have signed up to attend the march in Philadelphia.  If you are interested in showing up close to your home, at the border, or in Washington, D.C., go to www.familiesbelongtogether.org I’ll see you there.

​Rebecca Pott Fitton
June 21, 2018 

I chatted recently with a friend about decision making.  What is that process? Because women are socialized to be relational, we begin the process collecting the opinions of others, well-meaning others.  Depending on the question at hand the solicitation may include family, friends, professional colleagues or just anyone in the room.  The reiteration can be exhausting.  And how do we know we have collected all of the salient data?  
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​While the opinions of others are interesting information, they can fog the way to what we really want to do.  What is most beneficial for us?  Can we hear our hearts shouting?  Do we get so immersed in the confusion that we get stuck relying on our out-lived answers?  I have done a lot in my life, and only recently has my decision-making been an inside job. So “I have done a lot in my life” is rhetorical for “I have made many bad decisions.”  And those decisions that were not beneficial, I made from the outside in. Being on a journey to discover who we are is actually the first step toward making decisions from the inside out. What we are here to do is the mystical and mythical question.  As we search for answers in the mundane and divine, we breathe in our mystery and create our resonance.  It is from that deep well of wisdom that we need to make decisions from the inside out.

The juxtaposition of Donald Trump appointing John Bolton National Security Advisor to witnessing “The March For Our Lives” is overwhelming.  John Bolton calls for preemptive strikes against North Korea while children ask “please don’t shoot me in school.”  You can hardly imagine a reality which encompasses both, but we are holding that tension. 
 
Today was the day for marches around the world.  We are not the only
country which experiences gun violence; gun violence is simply an epidemic here. Today young people marched, spoke and will soon vote.  “The March For Our Lives” in Washington, D.C. concluded with lyrics and wisdom from the anti-Vietnam war movement.   Bob Dylan’s lyrics ring as true today as in 1963, “The Times They Are A-Changin.” And I say to all the young people on the streets, we have been waiting for you.  Welcome.
 
 Today’s moment is qualitatively different from the 1960’s.  This is a moment for truth.  The young people from Parkland, Florida have a voice because they are standing on the shoulders of the parents of children massacred in Sandy Hook, Connecticut; of their peers in Columbine High School, Colorado; and of the thousands of people slaughtered on the streets of Chicago and throughout the country.  Enough!
 
 Be courageous, tenacious, determined and let nothing deter you from your intention for safety and the end to gun violence. 

Kairos
​​I lived today in kairos time.  It felt like a day between the worlds.  When I woke this morning my first thought was “this is the feeling I have been waiting for.”  I feel happy, healthy and viscerally present.  The sun was peeking through the window blinds; ‘The Boyz’ were playing; and I was laughing in bed.  Throughout the day I moved slowly, deliberately and calmly.  I never hurried.  I just noticed every beautiful thing in front of me and sometimes even behind me.  I am not claiming to be Hecate; I just turned around a lot.
 
         Some years ago my astrologer told me that my best decade of life will be my seventh.  I moved to my new home six months ago just after my 69th birthday, the beginning of my seventh decade.  People here have been asking how I am adjusting, and I usually answer “still.”  Today I felt as if I had arrived with both feet planted firmly.  Today I experienced being one of the “Wild Women.”
​ ​Wild Women
 
Buttercups and Queen Anne’s lace line the path of a thousand years.
We walk back into our consciousness.
We walk back into the mystery and the mists.
We walk into our greatness and power.
 
Our hearts are open, expansive, deep and wise.
Our connection with the sacredness of the earth
whirls in the wind and sets us free.
The moon and the sun balance the energies of the ancient ones
with the possibilities of our future
 
We are spirals dancing toward the unimaginable
in grace, peace and centeredness.
We are today’s priestesses and tomorrow’s wise women.
We hold the mysteries, the star dust, and the rain.
We laugh from our bellies.
We dance from our innate sense of our feet being one with the earth.
 
We are wild women, noble and timeless.
  ​I am filled with gratitude to have experienced this one day, this one awesome day.  When I was leaving Longwood Gardens this afternoon, I noticed the moon in the east and the sun in the west balancing the energies.  I knew there was a poem that captured that image.  Originally the image was from the ancient Glastonbury Tor.  Perhaps today’s image is a glimpse into the possibilities of the future.
 
So, dear friends, this is what’s happenin’.  This is what grace feels like. 
  
Rebecca
 
 

​I wore my #RESIST cap to the grocery store this morning.  Here in Pennsylvania people seemed unhappy with my protest.  I felt empowered.  I had just spent a sleepless night in a fury about the budget bill which became law later today.  In Santa Fe the cap elicited, “Where did you get that?  I want one.”  I am not in Santa Fe any more. 
 
On returning home I read a commentary in “The Philadelphia Inquirer.”  Gloria Kury wrote an eloquent editorial entitled “Trump Ushers in a Versailles on Potomac.”  She compared the French monarchy to the residents of our White House.  And there was something about letting everyone eat cake.  The French monarchy ended rather badly for the royals during the Revolution in 1789.  I wonder what will happen to our royals.
 
For the years I lived in Santa Fe I was sanguine regarding my political representation.  My senators and representatives were Democrats in Washington and in the State House.  Here in Pennsylvania I have the opportunity to make a difference by my #RESISTance.  The Republican Party does not represent the values on which our country was founded nor the leadership our country has achieved over the last seventy years. 
 
Usually during this time I am optimistic about the coming year.  Last year I was dreading the inauguration of a President who promised so much to so few.  Not even a year later both the White House and Wall Street are gilded in gold.  It is time for us to stand up, speak out, organize and RESIST the monarchy.  Let us follow the lead of the Black women of Alabama.

Book Awards ​The 2017 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards announced that Wave Rider was a finalist in two categories, first book and cover design – non-fiction.  I was delighted to be a finalist. The awards dinner was scheduled for November 17th in Albuquerque.  I was not a winner, but I was surrounded by dearest friends during this enjoyable evening.  While the awards dinner was the impetus for my travels, my journey to the Land of Enchantment was magical.
Wave Rider available here!
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Friends The opportunities to connect deeply with my friends in Santa Fe were food for my heart.  Many of us met over meals which were food for my soul, and the weather was glorious and warm enough to eat outside in Santa Fe tradition.  I had come home, and I was happy.

Star dreaming
The universe also blessed the timing of my visit with the visit of Maori Elder Pauline Tangiora of New Zealand.  Grandmother Pauline was in route to Germany to receive the 2017 International Bremen Peace Award and wanted to visit with James Jereb of Stardreaming in Santa Fe. She and James have been friends for many years.  The highlight of the ceremony at Stardreaming was Grandmother Pauline blessing the recently completed Grandchildren Circle and the Pyramid of Light.  I felt so honored to witness this ceremony.
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The Santa Fe Girls School
​ This school for 6th, 7th and 8th grade girls fosters a unique, powerful and creative learning environment.  I have been a supporter of the school for a few years.  One of my friends whom I contacted when I knew that I would be traveling to Santa Fe is on the Board of Trustees.  She invited me to meet with the 8th grade poetry class.

Their poetry teacher is Joan Logghe, Poet in Residence at The Santa Fe Girls School and former Poet Laureate of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Joan challenged the girls to write poems based on the work Wave Rider.  Each girl chose a quote from a poem; then wrote her own poem.  Joan wrote “The girls responded deeply and beautifully to the quotes they chose.”  I was invited to listen as each of the girls read her poem.  Each girl spoke from her heart with wisdom and in alignment with themselves and each other.  I have never been so honored.
 
 I wrote in the Introduction to Wave Rider “In sharing these poems, I hope to provide some insight for others’ journeys and a reminder that none of us is alone.”  Listening to the girls read their own poems, I was overcome with gratitude for the moment and understood that I had profoundly underestimated the possibilities of Wave Rider’s impact.  Its audience is all of us.  We can each take a line and make it our own.  Wave Rider now belongs to the universe.

​ ​Rebecca Pott Fitton
November 2017

Entitlement to abuse is inherent in the paradigm of “power over.”  In our society white males assume theirs is a position of authority and power.  Therefore, women, children, former slaves and others of color are less than he is.  “The good ole’ boys” is a fraternity of power.  They rule political governments, business corporations, religious organizations, universities, and the military.  And traditionally men in the institutions of home and marriage were to be obeyed.  

“Top down” hierarchy of our social structures diminishes the value of women and children to the point of property.  This insidious cultural norm creates a “hot bed” of abuse by priests, coaches, bosses, celebrities, professors and presidents.  Until the leaders of our cultural institutions demand a new paradigm of respect, equality and value for women, the destruction of human potential will be abhorrently endless.

    And so I wrote in my first blog in July 2016…

And now in October 2017, entitlement to abuse, harassment and rape is flashing across the air waves and cyber space from Hollywood, New York, and London.  Is “this” one battle cry or a seismic shift?  Will anything change in behavior, corporate policies or laws?  Will the perpetrators and their silent, complicit colleagues ever confront their own sexism and misogyny?  Change begins with one person.  Who’s first?

I mapped my life journey in spirals…mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical.  My healing, grieving, seeking, celebrating filled the page.  The journey never ends; there is just a curve in the spiral or on the road.  But why did I land here?
 
When I left my hometown just a few miles away 45 years ago, I left because there was no reason to stay. I was uncomfortable in my skin, angry, and depressed.  Robert Frost wrote, “Home is the place, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”  I had been told to leave my home; so I set out to find my own home and myself.  Forty-five years is a long time in one lifetime; and I have come full circle back to a familiar place.
 
My work in Santa Fe was complete, and I finally listened to my body that had been sending that message.  Now my body is healthy; it just needed some air and water. Being in proximity to my sister and my cousin is a gift of love, and I am grateful.  This is a place of beauty, and I am appreciative.  And as soon my work shows up, I am ready.
 
My spirit soars with the wisdom that I am my essential self and that my home is within.  I don’t have to ask permission for my beingness.  I just am, and I am home.  At this time of the Equinox, I am feeling balanced and in synchronicity with the universal. I don’t know yet what my next work will be, but there is curve in the road just ahead.    
 
Rebecca Pott Fitton
September 19, 2017

 It has been a year since I wrote my first blog.  I was anticipating the publication of my book Wave Rider.  With diligent guidance from my publicists Mari and Art of Artotems Co, I wrote about my experiences and reflected on the events of the time.  Funny how some things change so little.
 
I came to Santa Fe because my spirit called.  My soul needed the earth, colors, beauty and wind of the west.  Now nine years later, I am leaving my family of friends.  We have been committed to each other in a circle that is changing the world.  Mostly we have changed ourselves.  Deep bonds of love and compassion hold us steady in this chaotic world.  Hugs, laughter, deep wisdom, tears and casual conversation about insignificance encircled us.  I cherish each and every one of you.
 
A new book of my life is beginning.  Now the winds blow east where the air is not quite so light and dry but heavy and moist.  Elevation is near sea level, and I can breathe deeply.  I look forward to the green and the rains.  I am moving to West Grove, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia to regain my deep breath and to be near family.  Santa Fe has been both beautiful and harsh, and I have completed a full circle here.  For me new friends and perhaps a new book await.  I will remember each of you.  Thank you for making my life meaningful, full and fun.
 
 

​I have been a proud card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) since 1991.  I don’t agree with all of their clients.  I do agree that everyone in this country is entitled to be a client of the ACLU if her/his civil liberties are denied.  That includes you.
 
The ACLU is a non-partisan organization and for 97 years has fought to defend the rights enshrined in the Constitution.  The ACLU is more than the primary litigator for civil liberties.  The ACLU is about social action.  The time is now.
 
ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said:
 
“In his first 100 days, Donald Trump has accomplished only one thing that is remarkable – he’s awoken American democracy like never before and reminded us all that it’s ‘We the People’ who truly govern.  …It is clear that resistance to his unconstitutional and un-American policies is everywhere.  It is broad, deep, intersectional, breaking barriers across class, gender, race, and even political party lines….
 
President Trump can indeed take credit in his first 100 days for fomenting a large-scale revolt against his unconstitutional policies in the streets, in the courts, and in legislatures across the United States.  America has not seen such broad-scale activism since the anti-Vietnam and civil rights demonstrations, and we have President Trump to thank for it.  If sustained, this golden era of citizen activism may indeed be one of President Trump’s greatest legacies – albeit unwittingly.”