sanctuary

Sometimes, in the hours before dawn, I lay in my bed with my eyes closed and say, “I am salt. I am light. I am made from the dirt,” over and over again.

Salt.

Light.

Dirt.

Those words comfort me.

I love words.

When I was a kid, I carried an old copy of Webster’s dictionary in my back pocket. 

If I had moments during the day when I was still and silent (these moments were few and far between because I had two younger brothers and a neighborhood of kids numerous enough to make two complete football teams), I’d open it and read a page or two and learn new words that I never knew before.

Words like sublime, intuitive, serendipitous and indomitable.

Today I learned the word akimbo.

It is an adverb that means hands on the hips with elbows turned outward.

I often stand akimbo in front of a class of nine and ten year olds.

What is my word for 2021?

Sanctuary.

When I was an English major at UNC-Chapel Hill, the most important paper I wrote was a research paper about the Sanctuary Movement.

Have you heard of it?

It was an underground railroad that helped protect refugees fleeing violence in Central America in the 1980’s.

The movement is still alive (and giving life) today.

I love the idea of doing sanctuary.

I love the idea of being sanctuary.

I hope you will find sanctuary in my writing.

In my teaching.

And in me.