CRSL Newsletter
April 19, 2021
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The Planting of Critical Hope:
The Practice of Grief and
the Blooming of Justice
Dear Friends,
Critical hope is defined by Scholar Paulo Freire as a way of addressing injustice through meaningful dialogue—we are not hopeful because we wait for the future, because we create it.
Critical thinking is the process by which we interrogate and dismantle. Critical hope is the state of mind and heart in which we envision what things can look like when they are put back together according to the world we want to see…
Critical hope acknowledges that the world as we know it is changing rapidly. We ask ourselves how we might remake the post-COVID-19 world to be more just, equitable and inclusive. We double down on collaboration and community just as we understand silver linings are not always afforded to the most vulnerable and marginalized populations.
This article contrasts critical hope with toxic positivity, which “promises us that everything is going to be fine.” One way we in the CRSL are aspiring to enact critical hope is to reject the route of this “toxic positivity,” so prevalent in our society, which tends to sensationalize violence but to push suffering; especially that of marginalized communities; into corners. Thus, to name and mark loss and grief is an act of resistance. Last month we gathered in this spirit in our Generating Justice and Joy Covid One Year Zoom Memorial, and as we will this Thursday at 5:30 pm our in-person Covid One Year memorial. A burden shared is a burden halved, and when we help each other carry each other generate an energy that is greater than the sum of our losses.
In our in-person memorial we will use bulbs gleaned from our very own bulb show; each one representing a loss we wish to embed in the ground so that it can bring us new insight, new love and new hope as it blooms anew.
No one who has lost a loved one this past year, or those whose lives have been profoundly disrupted by Covid 19 should have to suffer alone. We see you. We hear you. We want to travel with you. If you have lost friends or loved ones, we want to celebrate their lives with you, to help you to re-member them. You matter to us and thus they matter to us too.
Matilda Cantwell is CRSL's Director of Religious and Spiritual Life and College Chaplain.
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― John O'Donohue
…Now the act of seeing begins your work of mourning.
And your memory is ready to show you everything,
Having waited all these years for you to return and know.
Only you know where the casket of pain is interred.
You will have to scrape through all the layers of covering
And according to your readiness, everything will open.
May you be blessed with a wise and compassionate guide
Who can accompany you through the fear and grief
Until your heart has wept its way to your true self.
As your tears fall over that wounded place,
May they wash away your hurt and free your heart.
May your forgiveness still the hunger of the wound
So that for the first time you can walk away from that place,
Reunited with your banished heart, now healed and freed,
And feel the clear, free air bless your new face.”
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An On-Campus Memorial to Mark the Pandemic Year: From Remembrance to Hope
(Part of the CRSL Generating Justice and Joy series)
Thursday, April 22
5:30 pm
Boathouse Lawn
We will also recognize that the year has been characterized by an increased awareness of police brutality against BIPOC citizens. We will mourn the losses of Daunte Wright, and Adam Toledo, the most recent victims of widely publicized police violence, especially in the context of the feelings elicited by the Chauvin trial. We will say their names. We will acknowledge the hate crimes that have arisen against Asian Americans, mass shootings in Colorado and in Indiana, and ongoing gun violence in this country. We will vigil for peace until the violence stops..
Paradise Pond was chosen on the Smith Campus because of the ways in which water represents and reflects spirituality for many people. As a special part of this ritual we will have the opportunity to put bulbs gleaned from the bulb show into the ground to symbolize new life. (Directions will be provided to participants) sign up: https://tinyurl.com/9eynt33p.
Co-sponsored by Botanic Garden of Smith College, the Religion Department, Design Thinking Initiative, and Student Affairs
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The Avowal
by Denise Levertov
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As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
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Weekly Ramadan Iftars & Maghrib Prayers
Sundays, April 18, 25 & May 2, 9
7:00 - 10:00 pm
Helen Hills Hills Chapel
To RSVP Contact yfall@smith.edu or aafzal@smith.edu
Ramadan Recitation and Reflections
Daily at 10:00 am during the month of Ramadan (April 13 - May 12)
Join Heba and Kim live or volunteer to read from the Holy Quran, contact kalston@smith.edu. Asynchronous recordings will be added to Facebook daily.
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Think of Criticalhope as
One Word
by Rhonda Shapiro-Rieser
Critical hope seems at first to be a contradiction in terms--a clash of two universes of discourse. “Hope” has to do with the experience of faith which inspires vision, which engages us in action and (hopefully) to a sacred, healing resolution. “Critical” seems to come from the world of thought which leads to analysis which leads (hopefully) to truth. Alternatively, the word “critical” implies crisis and omnipotent need--a critical care unit in a hospital--a sense of being on the brink.
I’ve always thought of hope as something we do in spite of circumstances. But perhaps hope itself must evolve. I’m starting to think of “criticalhope” as one word. It is the ability to see the suffering and pain in the world. It is the clarity to know that pain and suffering could be alleviated by actions talked about and never taken. It is vision with a drop of cynicism. Read more here.
Rhonda Shapiro-Rieser is CRSL's Jewish Student Adviser.
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Shabbat Virtual Gatherings
Join us on rotating Fridays for a fun-filled Shabbat! We focus on community-building, singing songs, and doing the traditional blessings. Each week we create a new theme and focus on something different. To receive the zoom or audio link; or for questions, contact Sarah Biskowitz (sbiskowitz@smith.edu), Adena Collens (acollens@smith.edu), or Lara Brown (lbbrown@smith.edu). The next service will be Friday, April 23, at 5:00 p.m.
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Changing, Cracking, Confusing
by Shanelle Whyte
Changing, cracking, confusing, catastrophe
Rocky the road and uncertain the future
I need an anchor, some to bring me to shore. Where do I turn to when I feel alone?
Tired and tattered
I am sinking! Can anyone hear me
Critical
Alas, I see a hand outstretch, not one but two- there, four, five, six. I hear "Hope is here take refuge in our
Love"
How the raging sea of guilt and grief, despair and sorrow, has now become a harbor for tomorrow. Together is how we triumph. Together and not alone
Oh
Praise to the one who is now our peace, has given us peace and has allowed us to experience peace from each other
Every day won't be easy, but together we are not alone. Critical may be the journey but let hope be our story.
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Racial Justice in Islam Series Connects Leaders to Students
The Racial Justice in Islam: Opening Our Hearts series was created as a space for students to learn about Islam’s approach towards justice, its historical foundation, and modern-day implications. Through asynchronous dialogue with noted Islamic leaders students were encouraged to express their lived experiences and explore issues that lie deep in the soul, affect the heart, interrupt harmony in our society and offer new paradigms for repair.
The series initially started as Racial Justice in Islam: Searching For Answers, co-hosted by Kim Alston, Muslim Student Adviser in the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and Hebatuallah Saleh, Smith alumna and Muslim religious liaison who has worked with the Smith community, teaching Islamic educational courses. It continued into the spring semester because of the vastness of the subject material. Heba relates that "the series on racial justice in Islam was a nice experience that opened the doors of knowledge and conversations. The variety of topics and speakers was fascinating and the multidimensional conversations were held with some of the best scholars in the field." Read more here.
Kim Alston is CRSL's Muslim Student Adviser.
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Catholic Club
Weekly Eucharistic Distribution
Students in the Smith College COVID-19 testing program can gather at the front lawn of Helen Hills Hills Chapel at 11:45 AM (EST) every Sunday beginning April 25. You must RSVP on the Smith Social Network to attend this event.
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Presidential Colloquium
Michael Sandel: The Tyranny of Merit
Tuesday, April 20, 7 p.m.
Political philosopher Michael Sandel—a Harvard professor whose popular “Justice” course has reached tens of millions of people on television and online—will deliver a Presidential Colloquium on “The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?” complementing Smith's Year on Democracies.
View his TED Talk above for an idea about the Tyranny of Merit. Sandel will be joined on screen by Smith students, staff and faculty members who will participate in weighing pressing ethical questions about meritocracy.
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Earth Day Meditation and Conversation
Thursday, April 22
4:00 pm
Join us for a meditation and conversation centered around our relationship with the environment. Brought to you by The Center for the Environment, Ecological Design, and Sustainability and the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life.
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Tis a Fearful Thing
by Yehuda HaLevi
(1075-1141)
'Tis a fearful thing
to love what death can touch.
A fearful thing
to love, to hope, to dream, to be -
to be,
And oh, to lose.
A thing for fools, this,
And a holy thing,
a holy thing
to love.
For your life has lived in me,
your laugh once lifted me,
your word was gift to me.
To remember this brings painful joy.
'Tis a human thing, love,
a holy thing, to love
what death has touched.
Judah ben Samuel Halevi was a physician, philosopher and the premier Hebrew poet of his generation in medieval Spain.
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This Morning I Pray for My Enemies
by Joy Harjo, 1951
And who do I call my enemy?
An enemy must be worthy of engagement.
I turn in the direction of the sun and keep walking.
It’s the heart that asks the question, not my furious mind.
The heart is the smaller cousin of the sun.
It sees and knows everything.
It hears the gnashing even as it hears the blessing.
The door to the mind should only open from the heart.
An enemy who gets in, risks the danger of becoming a friend.
Joy Harjo is a poet, activist, musician and author. She became the first Native American United States Poet Laureate in history.
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Members of Black Campus Ministries
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Black Campus Ministries
Every Sunday
7:00 pm
Join Shanelle for Black Campus Ministries Small Group! This space is created for students to discuss the relationship between black identity and Christianity. Contact Shanelle (swhyte@smith.edu) for more information. We hope to see you there!
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Prayer Small Group
Every Tuesday
12:30 pm
Join Ashley on Tuesdays for the Prayer Small Group at 12:30 PM EST! This will be a space to grow in prayer and form relationships with other members of SCF! We hope to see you there! Contact Ashley for more information!
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International Students' Ministry Bible Study
Every Sunday
12 pm
Matlhabeli and Somto are back with the International Students' Bible Study on Sundays! This space is for international students, so if you know any Smith students who would benefit from this, please invite them to the space! For more information, contact Somto or Matlhabeli.
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Interfaith Spirituali-tea
Every Tuesday
4:45-5:45 pm
Interfaith Spirituali-tea (formerly known as Interfaith Lunch) is a safe, welcoming communal space for the spiritual, the faithful, the doubting, and the curious. This is a student-led CRSL program dedicated to discussion about spiritual and religious life at Smith and beyond. Each week we focus on a different topic, sharing from our own experiences. For more information, contact Liah Gilvar-Parke at lgilvarparke@smith.edu.
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Mindful Mondays, Every Monday, 12:00 p.m.
Finding Our Breath: Mindfulness Practice and Conversation with a Commitment to Compassion and Hope. A forum for light meditation instruction, sharing and building compassionate communities in times of uncertainty, isolation, and heightened revelation of the deep racial and social disparities that are part of the air we breathe in American society.
no one is free until we are all free. - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
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Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
—the Talmud.
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Center for Religious and Spiritual Life
Helen Hills Hills Chapel
123-125 Elm Street
Northampton, Massachusetts 01063
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