Tori

“we long to be known, not just for our wins or talents or the good we do in the world, not just for how we overcome hardship, but for our pain and struggle while we are suffering, for our failures and shortcomings. We want to be known so we can be accepted and loved just because we are here. We all want to be enough.”
― Mia Birdsong, How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community

“Then, there's the gift of queerness. As poet Brandon Wint wrote in a much quote social media post several years ago, "Not queer like gay. Queer like escaping definition. Queer like some sort of fluidity and limitless all at once. Queer like a freedom too strange to be conquered. Queer like the fearlessness to imagine what love can look like, and to pursue it.”
― Mia Birdsong, How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community

“We exist, not as wholly singular, autonomous beings, nor completely merged, but in a fluctuating space in between. This idea was expressed beautifully in Desmond Tutu's explanation of the South African concept of Ubuntu. He said, "It is to say, my humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours. We belong in a bundle of life. It is not I think therefore I am. It says rather: I am human because I belong, I participate, and I share.”
― Mia Birdsong, How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community

“Perhaps most damaging, it includes a toxic individualism that creates barriers to deep connection and intimacy. When we are oriented toward doing it ourselves and getting ours, we cut ourselves off from the kinds of relationships that can only be built when we allow ourselves to be open and generous.”
― Mia Birdsong, How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community