Giving thanks for my friends

by Morgan Curtis, Ancestors & Money Coach

When Niria & I went to her homelands of Chihuahua in 2019, she took me to the Historical Museum of the Mexican Revolution. When we were in the gift shop she gave me a postcard: “Atención, gringo, you are needed in the revolución.”

“I remember that i exist only in relationship to other people and systems.” - emergent strategy mantra by adrienne maree brown

One of the strangest things so far about being at Harvard Divinity School (missed that on my last newsletter? Read about it here!) is being in a culture of individuals again. After five years living in beloved community at Canticle Farm (which is still home, I’ll be back soon!), it’s an adjustment to just say “Hi, I’m Morgan” without all the people that have formed and shaped me visible at my back. So this newsletter is coming to you in that spirit, giving thanks for four of the friendships that have made me who I am, by way of invitations to join us at upcoming offerings.

♫ I do not come here alone, I carry my people in my bones. I do not come here alone, if you listen you can hear them in my soul. ♫
- The Peace Poets

Transforming Ancestral Legacies toward A More Just World

Join Niria & I for a live conversation (on Zoom, December 3, 10am PT) with host Victoria Santos as part of the Money as Medicine series with The New School and The Center for Healing and Liberation at Commonweal. We’ll talk about money and our “journeys transforming ancestral legacies—one from the perspective of a person growing up in a wealthy, privileged family, and the other from the perspective of a person growing up in a migrant farmworker family.” I inherited $500,000, Niria “her great-great grandmother’s metate, a culturally significant ancestral tool made from lava rock that has the hand imprints of the strong women she is proud to descend from.” What sense do we make of these inheritances? What do we want to leave to our descendants? You can join us by registering here.

The Climate of Relationships and Intersectionality

I’m so grateful to dear mentor and teacher Terry Tempest Williams for inviting beloved friend brontë velez and I to join her speaker series Weather Reports with Harvard Divinity School this fall. You can register here for TTW, brontë & I’s conversation on October 4 (7pm ET) at this link.

She writes: “Morgan Curtis and brontë velez will be discussing the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and climate collapse and how seeing the world whole through the lens of relationships creates communities of care rather than communities of conflict.”

“They will discuss what reparations might look like on behalf of racial justice and justice for the Earth; and why it is critical to find an intergenerational dialogue, diverse and dynamic that calls for a global paradigm shift. With urgent, contemplative and imaginative voices, Curtis and velez are people of consequence and action who walk their talk in the name of radical evolutionary change.“

Introducing my co-facilitator for the Ancestors & Money cohort: Justine Epstein

This is my sister-friend Justine! She was behind-the-scenes essential for the first Ancestors & Money Cohort, and for take two, we’re coming out as co-conspirators in this work!

In the words of participants from last time: “Justine, you were so integral to my experience in this program”, “I'm grateful for the energy you bring, your earnestness, eloquence, dedication, and determination”, “You really helped me lean into the connections I have with my ancestors and trust that they will catch me as I fall into the unknown.”

You can read more of Justine’s story here, and more about the cohort here. We’re about half full, with a registration deadline of October 14, and the cohort beginning on November 14. We can’t wait to be back in circle, growing this community of people dedicated to reckoning with our ancestral legacies and taking reparative action. We’d love to talk with you if you feel a call to be part of it.

Newsletter namesake poem by Mary Oliver