December 2023 Blog

This holiday season feels both extremely complicated and layered. My Daddy passed on December 4th, 2022 and it's now been a year since he has become an ancestor. I have so many wonderful memories of our holidays together and I hold them especially dear now. I miss him terribly. As we all know, this year has brought with it more atrocities, pain, and suffering on individuals, families, and communities both nationally and globally. I know that I am not the only one who is struggling to hold all of this pain and suffering while also searching for positive moments. I am so thankful for the many amazing people in my life who hold me accountable, call me out when necessary, and love me in my darkest moments. 

As many of you know, I have been writing for an online magazine called “Three-Fifths'' for about a year. This December, we are interrogating the question: “What does Peace on Earth look like to you, the individual, and how does it translate in America today?”. When I sat to start writing my piece it was October 8th and I was really struggling to imagine peace on earth that day. I sat with all of the thoughts and feelings I was having and waited for them to settle. Once they did, I began to write from my heart.   Below is the link to that article, titled, “Polarization Prevents Peace” (#threefifhtsmagzine). One thing I know to be true is that we will never be able to find peace if we continue to see some lives as more valuable than others. This holiday season, I am wishing for us to reconnect with our humanity and the humanity in ALL of our fellow human beings. In the words of the great civil rights leader, Fannie Lou Hamer, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” 

I hope to see you on the journey,

Robin

Sharing the link to my latest article in the December Three-Fifths Magazine: “Polarization Prevents Peace” by Robin Schlenger: https://threefifths.online/2023/12/08/polarization-prevents-peace/

In 2024, Robin Alpern and I will be offering an Arc of White womanhood Lifework session in January and a full course starting in February. See below for more information and the links to register!

  • I’m excited to share some of the feedback that Dr. Alana Tappin and I received from our very first session of Shame Resilience and Transformation Skills for white Executive Leaders. We will be doing another session for white managers at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland California, starting in February. We asked participants what was most valuable to them about the workshop:

  • “The content was so powerful and really deepened my understanding of the insidiousness of white supremacy and its impact on me and other white people. Thank you both for an incredible experience!”

  • “I'm more than my shame response even if in the moment it feels all encompassing, what it means to practice being anti racist while being fully human.”

  • Tracey Rollins Spann and I will be facilitating our workhop, The Impact of Racial Difference in Supervision and Management, for Seneca Institute of advanced practice on February 1st after rave reviews from our last workshop for NYU School of Social Work.

Robin Schlenger