Doing a Brooke

Dear Naomi O’Brien, Brene Brown, Jim Wallis, Weeze Doran, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Cory Booker, Stephen Colbert,

I’m second guessing this prompt because I’m feeling confused how to navigate my whiteness in this time of unlearning the internalized white supremacy inside of me. I’m trying to be quiet and listen to so many voices now. I would like to sit and talk with someone, but for now, I think I will wait and keep listening. A couple years ago I set a goal to read one antiracism book a month, but lately my reading has stalled. I need to get back to my library and read a lot this summer. Then maybe I’ll do a Brooke.

Today is Tuesday, Day 112 in Bahrain’s stay-at-home time, day 77 of The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad. Today’s prompt is by Katherine Halsey. Her son Brooke wrote to a famous professor he admired and was invited to go the next day to visit him during office hours. After that, and especially after Brooke’s unexpected death, the family referred to those brave reaching out times as “doing a Brooke.” So, she encouraged us to “do a Brooke” today, to write to a person we admire and tell them why, and that we’d love to meet them.