An Invitation to Community and Models for Connection
After almost every
presentation activist and writer Mia Birdsong gives to executives,
think tanks, and policy makers, one of those leaders quietly
confesses how much they long for the profound community she
describes. They have family, friends, and colleagues, yet they still
feel like they’re standing alone. They’re “winning” at the
American Dream, but they’re lonely, disconnected, and unsatisfied.
It seems
counterintuitive that living the “good life”–the well-paying
job, the nuclear family, the upward mobility–can make us feel
isolated and unhappy. But in a divided America, where only a quarter
of us know our neighbors and everyone is either a winner or a loser,
we’ve forgotten the key element that helped us make progress in the
first place: community. In this provocative, groundbreaking work, Mia
Birdsong shows that what separates us isn’t only the ever-present
injustices built around race, class, gender, values, and beliefs, but
also our denial of our interdependence and need for belonging. In
response to the fear and discomfort we feel, we’ve built walls, and
instead of leaning on each other, we find ourselves leaning on
concrete.
Through research,
interviews, and stories of lived experience, How We Show Up
returns us to our inherent connectedness where we find strength,
safety, and support in vulnerability and generosity, in asking for
help, and in being accountable. Showing up–literally and
figuratively–points us toward the promise of our collective
vitality and leads us to the liberated well-being we all want.