Connected

Dear writers,

Because this year’s Summer Leadership Institute took place online, we have chosen to publish a virtual edition of the anthology, in addition to the hard-copy version. The contents will be shared in order, with a new piece published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

This anthology was written in an unprecedented time. COVID-19 has disrupted our world, and in our microcosm, it shifted what was once an in-person, concentrated summer gathering into a virtual, expanded community. When it took place, quarantine had been in place for approximately three months, and many of us were still deprived of in-person interactions with our peers, our friends, and our families. The pandemic also foregrounded vast racial and economic disparities in the United States, coinciding with violence and with subsequent protests that amplified divisions among people of different perspectives.

Accordingly, there was an underlying question that entered the workshop with us: Could we support the same connected community online that would have developed in person during previous summers…and do it despite a public atmosphere of shock, anger, and distrust? 

Many of us, participants and facilitators alike, entered the workshop yearning for connection. To enter a space of strangers and leave that space as a community is no small feat, and yet, this connection bloomed. It is no coincidence that the kindness and connection we found in our community came from intentional vulnerability, purposeful gentleness, and respectful challenges composed around writing.

This anthology is the work of a group of people seeking connection and finding new meaning in each other. Together, we wrote; we shared; we grieved; we healed; we were forever changed by one another.

Looking ahead, we hope that this experience will resonate with others who found that, in times of great darkness, great light is also within reach. For as much as they may at times divide us, words also connect us.

With hope for a more connected world,

TBAWP’s 2020 SLI Community