The Cartographers 15: Patrice Gopo on the Intersection of Place, Race, and Faith
We don’t often think about how our places shape us and our stories. We often think of our places as a backdrop to all the living we do, just the context for how we’ll move about in the world. We don’t clearly articulate how places shape our souls.
My guest today has a particularly helpful take on place — partly because she’s lived on different continents as a minority and has learned how to navigate majority cultures. She’s lovely to talk to and offers us so much wisdom (and stories) about how to tell our stories of place well.
Patrice Gopo articulately explains how places have shaped her in this episode. Patrice Gopo is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She is a personal essayist and often writes about topics of race, immigration, and belonging. Her first book, a collection of personal essays entitled All the Colors We Will See, is a Fall 2018 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. Patrice is a firm believer in the power of personal narratives to create pathways of connection and understanding in society. When she’s not writing and reflecting about her own journey, she teaches and speaks about the importance of personal storytelling.
LINKS
Buy Patrice’s book, All the Colors We Will See: http://bit.ly/patricegopo
Website: patricegopo.com/subscribe
Instagram: @patricegopo
Facebook: @patricegopowrites
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How do places form our loves? Listen to @patricegopo on place, race, immigration, and the stories our places tell on the #FindingHolyPodcast with @aahales.
What does moving across the world, writing our stories, and doing the laundry have in common? Find out from @patricegopo on the #findingholypodcast.
Don’t miss this fantastic episode with @patricegopo and @aahales on the #findingholypodcast. It’s a theology of place unpacked.
ONE SMALL STEP
Give yourself a 10-minute assignment: think about your place. Go on a walk in your neighborhood. Brainstorm in your journal. But give yourself 10 minutes to start noticing how who, what, when, where and what happens right where you live forms your loves.
Curious what that might look like? You can go to aahales.com, scroll to the bottom, and enter your email: then you’ll get a free download of the first chapter of my book, Finding Holy in the Suburbs, about how Target forms our desires. Red carts, coffee, and clearance sections, oh my! (And the book is 40% off right now at IVP as part of their Summer Reading List, details here).
Remember, no matter where you live, that you get to live the story of Jesus. But don’t forget the laundry — because big things matter, but so does the laundry!
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