15 Years of Blogwork

I see the last time I blogged here was September 2024. This blog began in 2011. 15 years of blogwork! A decade and a half of mostly laughs as laughing is my highest state of spiritual victory and joy. I really have laughed myself silly through the years despite all the ups and downs, some of which is documented in these blogs. Em-Phatic has been around for my eldest son’s passage through the seriously non egalitarian London state school system and into adulthood, art schools music and travel. Em-Phatic began when my daughter was 2, through the birth of my second son, and two years before my third son was born. It has also documented the births of three books, my publishing, editing career and visual arts career - but not my transition into coaching that I will fill you in on. It has been here for the downs - my cancer story - and the story of how I took my stepfather, sister and brother in law to court - and won - a 1975 Inheritance Act case after they conspired to cut me & my docile brothers out of our grandmother/great uncle’s inheritance. I have been somewhat unfaithful to this blog from time to time when I've gone off with Life. As such, there are years of fervid documentation, and some patchy years. 2025 is a blank so I will explain that at some point soon. I am still Em-phatically preoccupied with literature, art, writing, Justice & Jesus, and the experiential nature of Biblical mystical spirituality. I still struggle with the term ‘Christian,’ given it is so loaded. I still do not find myself in keeping with the established, western church. I still cut all my children’s and husband’s hair - the topic of my very first blog. I still make visual art and put on arts events in the UK when I am back on visits. 

 

What has radically shifted? The family. We are currently based in Boston due to my husband’s current occupation. My three youngest children are now at a school in Boston walking distance from where we live. Given they have all been home educated, this is quite a transition. For the first six weeks following our arrival in September 2025, we were jumping through archaic American bureaucratic hoops of such complication that we were quite distorted out of shape. Meanwhile we continued in home education. The icon (actual icon, not a bottomy pouty cut out) that was Jane Goodall died during this time so we studied and wrote about her, having watched an extraordinary National Geographic documentary. We swiftly noticed the segregation in Boston and the gaping divide between rich and poor and began to study the history of the Boston school system. An African American friend told me about the Boston Busing Crisis after I spoke to her about how sharply the schools in our area are divided by racial lines. Beginning in 1974 and continuing to1988, violent racial conflict erupted after a federal court order to desegregate Boston Public Schools was put into motion.  Judge W. Arthur Garrity ordered busing students from black majority schools to white majority schools to combat racial segregation and inequitable funding. This triggered intense white opposition, violence, riots, and the flight of white families from the school system. The extraordinary scenes put me in mind of the Soweto Riots except it wasn’t the white apartheid police that were firing live rounds on African school children who did not want to learn Afrikaans, but white families and students lobbing rocks and other handy missiles at these African American children. I am sad to report that over 50 years later this gap is as vast and gaping as it was though the violence has shifted. I will write more about our experience in the gap next time. I leave you with some handy links if you’d like to know more as I am well over my admittedly self imposed word count as I shifted into ranty mode. First up, Jane.

I see the last time I blogged here was September 2024. This blog began in 2011. 15 years! A decade and a half of mostly laughs as laughing is my highest state of spiritual victory and joy. I really have laughed myself silly through the years despite all the trauma, and much of that is in these blogs. It has been around for my eldest son’s passage through the seriously not egalitarian state school system and into adulthood, art schools music and travel. It began when my daughter was 2, my second son was born and two years before my third son was born. It has also documented the births of three books, my publishing and editing career - but not my transition into coaching that I will fill you in on. It has been here for the downs - my cancer story - and the story of how I took my stepfather, sister and brother in law to court - and won - a 1975 inheritance act case after they conspired to cut me & my docile brothers out of our grandmother/great uncle’s inheritance. I have been somewhat unfaithful to this blog. There are years of fervid documentation, and some patchy years. 2025 is a blank so I will explain that. I am still preoccupied with literature, art, Justice & Jesus, and the experiential nature of Biblical mystical spirituality. I still struggle with the term ‘Christian,’ given it’s so loaded. I do not find myself in keeping with the established, western church. I still cut all my children’s and husband’s hair. I still make visual art and put on arts events in the UK when I am back on visits.  

What has radically shifted? The family. We are currently based in Boston due to my husband’s current occupation. My three youngest children are now at a school in Boston walking distance from where we live. Given they have all 3 been home educated this is quite a transition. For the first six weeks since we arrived in September 2025, we were jumping through archaic American bureaucratic hoops of such complication that we were quite distorted out of shape. Meanwhile we continued in home education. The icon (actual icon, not a bottomy pouty cut out) that was Jane Goodall died during this time so we studied and wrote about her and watched an extraordinary National Geographic documentary about her. By quickening degrees, we noticed the segregation in Boston and the gaping divide between rich and poor. We also studied the history of the Boston school system and, alerted by an African American friend after I spoke to her about how sharply the schools in our area are divided by racial lines, the Boston Busing crisis. Beginning in 1974 and continuing to1988, violent conflict erupted after a federal court order to desegregate Boston Public Schools was put into motion. To combat racial segregation and inequitable funding, Judge W. Arthur Garrity ordered busing students to integrate schools. This triggered intense white opposition, violence, riots, and the flight of white families from the school system. It was like watching the Soweto Uprising in 1976, except it wasn’t the white apartheid police that were firing live rounds on African school children who did not want to learn Afrikaans, but white families and students lobbing rocks and other handy missiles at these African American children. I am sad to report that over 50 years later this gap is as vast and gaping as it was though the violence has shifted. I will write more about our experience in the gap next time. Meanwhile there is some good education to be had via the handy links if you’d like to know more as I am well over my admittedly self imposed word count as I shifted into ranty mode.