From James Baldwin?s Another Country: ?Perhaps such secrets, the secrets of everyone, were only expressed when the person laboriously dragged them into the light of the world, imposed them on the world, and made them a part of the world?s experience. Without this effort, the secret place was merely a dungeon in which the person perished; without this effort, indeed, the entire world would be an uninhabitable darkness; and she saw, with a dreadful reluctance, why this effort was so rare. ? [People were] afraid, afraid of things dark, strange, dangerous, difficult, and deep.?
I find that the more I delve my past, including my experience with The Seed, the more questions are raised, and I find these questions, this complexity, this ambiguity, affirming, in and of itself. What I found most oppressive about The Seed was the simplicity, its insistence upon a single, dominant narrative to the exclusion of all others. Coming from a family of silence and suppression, I am grateful to see people here speaking, delving, searching and facing the range of emotions that accompany this search--rage, despair, frustration, confusion, laughter, forgiveness. I don't think any of this is a "negative expenditure of energy," but rather, our life's work, the fuel for art, social and political reform, the evolution of the self and our connection with others. All I'm saying is keep on keepin' on--keep speaking, reading, thinking, searching, asking questions even when there are no simple answers.
