Hi Friend,
Over five years ago, my now-partner Krissy joined my Origin Stories class. As we were roommates at the time, she had been hearing me talk a lot about the Origin Stories Class.
I was curious about what kinds of stories she would end up telling … and in what format. I knew she was purposefully staying away from writing, leaning instead into oral forms of storytelling (which she still does). Since I've always included a diversity of storytellers, not just writers, in my “writing courses” (why would a title like a “writing class” :-) only be for writers?), I knew there would be ample space for her non-writing form of storytelling.
She focused on two different stories. I generally encourage participants to only focus on one. Picking two worked well for her.
One of those stories was about her great-grandmother Clara. Or rather, the story of Krissy finding out that her great-grandmother Clara had been a student at the Carlisle Industrial Indian Boarding School.
Clara was entered into the school in 1897. Krissy actually had no idea that Clara had attended any of the Indian Boarding Schools, much less Carlisle, which was infamous for its cruelty. Today, we are aware of 180-200 children who died, and we expect the real number is higher. The ‘school’ also set the ‘standard’ for such boarding schools (called residential schools in Canada). In the midst of doing research on her grandfather, Krissy unexpectedly found her great grandmother’s name: Clara. And a letter that Clara had written five years after graduating.
At the time of our course, Krissy was actively working through what that letter meant for her and her family. For how this finding shape-shifted Krissy's own family’s origin stories…. And how she, alive now, wanted to interpret this finding and let this ‘new’ (and old) story shape her own life.
Over the course of the Origin Stories Course, Krissy worked on creating her own story around the letter.
She did write some of that story down, which I think was helpful for her, but I don’t consider the “final product” to be the brief page or so that she wrote. Rather, it was the way that she was relating to the story itself, the larger story that she was tending, and what happened as she kept engaging with that story long after the class was finished.
Origin Stories are sometimes like that: they require tending, and listening, and looking at them from different angles, and living with them, in order to determine what is the story that we are being invited to tell - and to live into.
Five years later, the story that she created with that letter - the process as well as the story itself - has become part of the core weave of her new initiative, Strawberry Wisdom.
To find out more about both her process and the story itself, we encourage you to come to one of her upcoming circles.
These online circles are Strawberry Wisdom’s first online public offering.
Just so you know, a lot has happened since Strawberry Wisdom came into being at the end of 2025 (which is when I last wrote about it). After the initial practical formation process, Krissy's primary actions entailed putting together funding proposals to support cultural revitalization within her own Tuscarora community, which is on the Western Door of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and engaging with the needs and interests of her community as they arise. This year, she and I collaborated with her daughter Rachel for an in-person Land Justice gathering out here on the Eastern Door of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy - that work is also continuing to grow in
Some very cool ways. And now she is gently opening Strawberry Wisdom to a wider online community.
This month, Strawberry Wisdom is offering three free online circles called Strawberry Wisdom Circles. Each one has a specific theme and will be hosted and co-hosted by different people from her broader community. Each one is explicitly open to anyone who wants to enter the circle with an open heart.
These circles are structured spaces where emergence is designed into the structure. In this case, she is using a format that has been written about as The Circle Way… and which is also akin to much older and contemporary Indigenous practices. These Circles will have at least one Circle Keeper, who is gently directing the circle. Some circles will also have a "Guardian", who acts as a kind of back-up for the Circle Keeper, and some will have a Scribe, who will take notes and help keep time. Such a structure, amongst other things, enables clear expectations. It also means that the circle is less about the Circle Keeper and more about the circle itself.
The first circle, focusing on the Words Before All Else, is hosted by Sarah-Bess (SB), a restorative justice practitioner based in Chicago. Krissy and SB have been co-leading a weekly online circle for over 5 years - that’s a lot of circles! They have also collaborated in various restorative justice processes together.
This first circle will be centered around a recording by Krissy’s son, the late Dr. Montgomery Hill, of the Words Before All Else, sometimes known as The Thanksgiving Address. SB has worked with this recording many times, both with and without Krissy in the circle.
Indeed, Krissy has not yet decided whether she will join this circle. Nor am I. It still feels hard to listen to this recording of the remarkable man whom is no longer with us.
If you find it surprising that the first Circle offered by a new organization might not include that organization's founder, I understand your surprise. But this choice strongly aligns with the organization's ethos: it is not about Krissy. And it is aligned with the understanding of Circle: that it is about the circle.
The second circle is one that she and I are co-hosting together. In this, we will lift up the letter that Clara wrote, and some of how Krissy has come to interpret it.
The third circle will be about Strawberry Wisdom as an initiative and some of the opportunities to further engage with it. Krissy will be co-hosting this circle with one of her board members, Brandy.
Each circle will, thus, have some substantial content as well as time to share about it. These are participatory gatherings. Circles are not webinars where you can just ‘listen in’. Her style of hosting Circles is distinctly not about body discipline - there is no expectation that you, as a participant, will be on camera for the whole time, or sit in the same spot or whatever.
Also unlike a webinar, these sessions are not recorded. Either you make it or you don’t. No hard feelings if you can’t make it.
These circles are explicitly open to our Indigenous, BIPOC, and non-Indigenous friends and colleagues.
And: I’m delighted to share that there is (finally) a starting date for our next Origin Stories Class: Thursday April 9!
It is the first time that I have run this course in five years. Since then, my understanding of Origin Stories as a phenomenon has really deepened. I've also seen how impactful that course was—Krissy wasn't the only participant whose work in that class has had many ripple effects over the last five years!
Seeing its impact on people such as Krissy is one of the primary reasons I’m offering this class again.
The Origin Stories Class entails creating your own origin stories. These might be familial, national, mythical, cosmic, or about your church/business/organization. It’s about you and the story you want to engage with. Our format (six classes that meet every week and then two classes every other week) supports participants like you in creating a regular writing/drawing rhythm for yourself, while also gives spaciousness for story creation.
This is a Spring Course, from April through May, and we hope to take advantage of the muddy, messy, and very creative spring energy!
You can find out more and sign up for the course here. We do have another optional info-webinar at the end of March (we just had a really great one this last week), and I will share more about the incredible value and potency of this sweet, highly creative, action-oriented storytelling course next week, as well. Do feel free to reach out with any additional questions.
