Page 56 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue2

Tecate Cypress in arroyo several years after fire, 15” x 56”

Hearing testimony as many bear witness prompts not only sadness and outrage, but also a desire for

explanation, for autopsies. Any answer prompts more questions, and increasing awareness of the

complexity of ecological systems. As such, each explanation leads to the reestablishment of the

network of ecological connections. In this heightened sense of interconnectivity with those with whom

we grieve, and with a wider sense of self integrally intertwined with the environments in which we live,

we can find strength.

Sketchbook page to accompany Cuyamaca memorial (make last text block bigger)

Tears are cleansing. Grief allows us to see with new eyes, eyes that demand accountability,

responsibility to make meaning or sense of the loss and take action. As Joanna Macy reframes this, we

can understand “pain for the world as a call to adventure.”20

20
Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy (Novato,
CA: New World Library, 2012), p 81.