• How there is a human tendency to classify, and problems arise when violence is enacted based on taxonomy and structures.
• Why the knowing of ourselves and our histories can lead to a true listening practice with ourselves.
• That embodied knowing comes from coming together based on the things that bring us joy and create expansion.
• We should always manifest and embody the things that bring us true pleasure.

1. How have your many identities shaped you throughout your life?

I want to start with a story…my sweetie introduced me to the concept of “plantcestors” which are the plants our ancestors were in relationship with.  One of his plantcestors he introduced me to is tamarind.  They’re smooth pods on the outside, and when you open them they have these juicy, sweet and tangy amber fingers in them that are surrounded by this exoskeleton.  There are several seeds in the center of each bulging area that affects the shape of the pod.  So today I’m thinking about my identities shaping me being like these tamarind pod seeds.  They each have these experiences that have built up around them, they’re sticky and connected to the other seeds or identities, and their fleshiness bulges out to the surface sometimes.  Other parts of my identities are more subtle, and not as visible on the surface.  

2. Why do you think that we are so concerned about classifying people into identities?

I have many ideas about this. I think about the violent obsession of racial capitalism that requires classification in order to give more to one group and less to the rest.  This is an ongoing problem that justifies the dehumanization of people.  It also is a problem of our binary thinking—the either/or thinking that gets people thinking, “well, you’re either black or you’re white” so that when you’re mixed race like me, you get the messaging that you’re “half this and half the other” like we’re math equations. 

That said, I do think there’s a human impulse to categorize—I see this with my toddler who loves to point out the dogs, trucks, vans, and cars outside.  I think this has supported us to be in relationship with our plant allies for example—like when we see poison oak, that’s a boundary, or when we see an abundance of figs on a tree, that’s an invitation to enjoy a few.  

But the problem arises when we view identities as fixed, and as consumerist driven brands that we need to prove we belong to.  For example, there was a time when I felt I needed to hide or downplay that I was dating men because I identified as queer. 

3. What do you wish people understood about identity formation?

That if we do it in response to truly listening to ourselves, it could be a liberatory practice. I love Alice Walker’s encouragement in a recent talk to study and know ourselves and our histories.  For me, Beautiful Scholarship, the method I developed to practice embodied study and research is so helpful because it keeps my body in the center of the work of study. This is something you’ve modeled and told me over and over again Missy, to listen to your body’s intuition.  

4. What is the strength of understanding your multiple identities?

To me this question speaks to not just settling with the mono-culture identities that are offered by mainstream society.  It means finding out exactly what is pleasurable to you, what you’re curious about, and finding the people who are doing things that inspire the heck out of you.  The strength then of understanding these many identities that we all have is of feeling rooted in our own bodies which are an extension of our ancestor’s and descendant’s bodies and stories, of feeling rooted in where we live, and in all our relations with other humans and the more-than-human worlds.  Feeling rooted leads to feeling like I belong…which reminds me of Shug in The Color Purple talking about God. She says it (because God isn’t a he or a she, but an it) came to her one day when she was sitting quiet, “that feeling of being part of everything, not separate at all. I knew that if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed. And I laughed and I cried and I run all around the house. I knew just what it was.” That sounds pretty darn amazing to me, and strong and beautiful.

5. What is your favorite book/show/podcast about one of your identities?

Ornamentalism by Anne Anlin Cheng is the latest book I’m jazzed about. It’s actually the first time I’ve read Asian feminist theory.  Not just feminist theory written by an Asian scholar, but a theoretical framework that theorizes the specific nuances of Asiatic femininities. And yet it is in conversation with Black feminist theory, which is my first feminist theory home, so I’m feeling very excited about it.

xx

Miyuki

I took my own advice today and raised $577 towards my crowdfunding campaign (https://chuffed.org/project/teaching-for-transformative-change) and vision to bring life coaching into my teaching and be a more self-actualized teacher bringing me past 60% of my goal with 122 supporters! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S ALREADY OCTOBER AND THERE’S ONLY 9 DAYS LEFT TO GO! Haha Going to be calling folks every day!

I’m getting lots of practice asking directly. It’s been a thrill to get back into this work.

I remember the first time I learned about direct asks for fundraising at the National LGBTQ Taskforce Creating Change conference back in college (2011??). I made my very first direct ask call to my bestie Willow to ask if he’d donate to hotpot! Philly, the queer APIA group I was a part of!

Since then I’ve been a part of numerous direct ask phone campaigns to raise funds for organizations and causes that I cared deeply about. As I wrote out in the event page to crowdfund with me (tiny.cc/miyukiobama), direct asking is a potent way to have breakthroughs around money, particularly if it’s for something that doesn’t have mainstream name recognition like The Red Cross or Green Peace, etc.Today, I called 13 people with the goal to raise $450 and I did it! In just 24 hours, my community and friends of that community raised $577!There were many highlights including my conversation with my sweet and hard-working former housemate, my successful and brilliant artist friend Indira Allegra and a fun and nostalgic convo with a cousin who I hadn’t talked to in several years!Of course there were also a couple of conversations where I was asked some hard questions. But those were so clarifying for me to answer, and had me reflecting deeply. All that to say, I was going through my old illustrated notes from 2011 and decided to spruce them up into this current form! I hope you enjoy this and share widely with folks who are doing direct asks/crowdfunding.

#teachingfortransformativechange #crowdfunding #directasks #fundraising#creatingchange

I’m sharing on Facebook and Instagram (@heymiyuki) too if you want to see daily art posts about life coaching, teaching, crowdfunding

Love, Miyuki

Here are also two posters I made with and for POOR Magazine who you can follow on:

YouTube – Subscribe!
Twitter – Follow
Facebook – Follow
www.tinygraygarcia.com
www.racepovertymediajustice.org

Typed text version:

What is organizational privilege?

This is a poverty scholarship framework developed by the folks at POOR magazine, and describe people who have race, class and or formal education privileges. Someone with organizational privilege knows that they will not ever go and health, hungry, or without access the network of support. It is a powerful framework for those of us who may not have a lot of money I have access to people who do and or ways of earning more.

Because I launched my crowdfunding campaign on Rosh Hashanah, today, 10 days into it is Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of remembrance to reflect on the year and any instances when one has missed the mark on the landing oneself to the highest self. A friend explained to me that the process of this reflection (tesuvah) is “a time for forgiveness, both giving and receiving, a time for returning, we committing to being and becoming who we need to be in order for the just and abundant world we dream of to be possible, to be here,” for everyone.

And so, I felt moved to this morning to write about my thoughts on forgiveness and at-one-ment with regards to my crowdfunding efforts. Have you heard of organizational privilege? (Check out above for the definition) Something that I can start with is that people and that includes this one with organizational privilege has much more ease and support when they we can’t find. As someone in higher education, I know others with degrees and stable incomes who believe in me & my vision, and are excited to support me. But when anyone without that network asks for money to live, have safe and stable housing, and support, it either is ignored or comes with all kinds of emotional price tags (i.e. pity, inspiration, shame, etc.) and restrictions (i.e. surveillance, incarceration, resegregation, cultural erasure).

I was fortunate to attend a workshop at POOR magazine in Oakland last month for people with organizational privilege, where I was urged to reclaim my voice as someone who has access and can re-distribute resources more intentionally and have conversations and others like me about this all without shame. Shame is an insidious emotion that stops us from action, keeping us all in the status quo. POOR magazine doesn’t ask people with organizational privilege to give away everything they have and leave they’re paying positions–in fact they see it as everyone’s responsibility to use their privileges wisely for the betterment of all.  For me, that has helped me stop demonizing money and thinking of myself as someone who will always be low income, and instead encouraged me to earn the money my degrees and networks give me access to and redistribute.

So how does the circle back to forgiveness, at-one-ment and my crowdfunding campaign? Well, as a dear friend helped me see, my campaign has also been a painful reminder to some without organizational privilege of the disparities of support. And while that reminder initially made me want to stop the campaign, I had to accept that some may feel this way (and I could ask for forgiveness) at the same time as I stepped into utilizing this platform to have these necessary conversations, because injustice affects us all.

If you saw earlier I wrote atonement as “at-one-ment.” It’s a nod to my dear friend K, who talks about being “on the one” after we’ve cleared any density between us. Well, it doesn’t just happen once, it’s a process that requires daily and consistent reflecting & engaging. Practice too. As a Japanese saying 有言実行 says, if there are words there must be action.

One of my goals is to redistribute 5% of my income but I also want to commit that to my crowdfunding campaign as well.  I plan to send money over to POOR magazine who is raising funds for Homefulness, a homeless people self-determined solution to homelessness, and the indigenous women-led land project Sogorea Te Land Trust as they labor to save, preserve, liberate, & honor the land we live on.

Thank you for reading this far and for being on this journey with me. You can follow my campaign at chuffed.org/project/teaching-for-transformative-change and see my daily post about life coaching on my Instagram @heymiyuki and facebook.com/miyuki.baker

xx Miyuki

P.S. Privilege is always intersectional and there’s lots of grey zones. It has been easier for me to identify with the parts of my lived experiences that were socially oppressed. But I’m ready or at least willing to claim the power and resources I do have, for our collective liberation.

Hey there! I’m miyuki! I’m an artist, organizer, and academic living in Oakland. I’m dreaming of intergenerational living. Calling in all my plants and human allies and magic to manifest my dream home by January 1, 2019.

As you may have heard through the grapevine, I want to be a parent. I’m looking for a new home where I could raise a baby and community. As I’ve learned to do through indigenous teachings, I am thinking the universe and you for the magical home that has yet to emerge. I am making this with the faith that I will find the perfectly imperfect home and community to live with. Thank you for being a part of this journey by keeping me and future baby in your mind and heart. Please contact me at HEYMIYUKI@GMAIL.COM with your East Bay housing visions, wisdom, people I should contact, and good vibez.

My vision:

• garden
• magical/sacred kitchen
• playtime
• shared meditation & meal time
• singing and dancing
• shared power
• clear communication
• close to nature
• lots of natural light
• shared childcare
• clean and minimalist common space

Open to all of these options & more:

• co-housing
• land trust
• building a cob or natural materials house on someone’s land or bought land
• buying a house with folks

P.P.S. You can learn more about the meditation course I’ve been participating in at dhamma.org and about the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose at msjdominicans.org