feet

Such a big day! More walking... some shopping... some great kai... Kansington Market... the Art Gallery of Ontario... the Bata Shoe Museum... and finally a trip to the local shop to get supplies for tomorrow so we can cope with the shops being shut for Good Friday.

Yesterday Mum and Dad found an amazing bookshop which is Caribbean-owned and specialises in Black/ Caribbean/ African/ 'ethnic' and 'social justice' books. We went back today and found some beautiful books to bring home: one called Multiplication is for White People which is about strategies to shift the racism inherent in educational systems which mean poorer non-white children and young people are still more likely to be underserved by educ; one about Zora Neale Hurston (the amazing earlier 20th century African American woman writer who Alice Walker worked hard to bring into the collective memory and collective bookshelf; another one about teaching and social justice; some awesome kids books for Matiu; and the second of bell hooks's two books that focus specifically on teaching. Her book Teaching to Trangress is one of my favourite and most important books (the phrase 'education as the practice of freedom is so deeply and vastly inspiring and humbling), and Teaching Community - A Pedagogy of Hope, which I have heard about and looked for and am very pleased to have now acquired, looks like it will be just as fantastic.

This evening Mum got me to soak my feet, which are sore and starting to crack and blister, in hot soapy water. She got a towel to wipe them, and we joked a bit about the symbolism of the washing of feet in the Easter season.

Easter is ultimately about sacrifice and community; it's about the collective - here and now, but also across time and place. We skyped with whanau today (Megan and Matiu are with Amy and Vaega in Hamilton with some of V's whanau), and I thought about Grandad seeing as this is my first Easter since his passing. I cannot help but recall the years of Easters spent with whanau, in which the rhythm of the weekend involved time at church, time together, time eating hot cross buns and, eventually, Easter eggs. But the eggs are not until Sunday, and there is a lot to happen between now and then.

Tonight is Maundy Thursday. Tomorrow is Good Friday: an opportunity to reflect, mourn, remember and - yes - hope.