The Shiz: "The New Jim Crow"

A few months ago, on my early morning jog down the country road I live on, I heard a voice telling me I was being held down. I knew what it meant. I was clinging to a relationship and I needed to let go so I could fly to whatever chapter comes next. Ever been there?

It wasn't that the relationship hadn't been a good one. And it wasn't by a long shot even close to as bad as many of my messed up versions of love affairs have been. In fact, we had both learned a lot and still cared about each other. We weren't anywhere near yelling at each other in the parking lot yet (though there was one incident on a different early morning jog one time that bordered on that). And it wasn't just me that was being held down; it was both of us. But it was time to move on and I didn't want to.



Still, when I get a direct statement from the Universe, I listen. Otherwise, whatever craziness comes down the pike after that is resoundingly my fault and I know it. So I got serious about facing reality.

I have now been on my own for three months (after four years of being a couple). And the magic has been palpable.

I spent the whole summer reading, resting, exercising daily, and catching up on loose ends. And sure enough, we're both doing well. I've got a tan. He's growing a beard. The fighters he trains are winning belts. And all kinds of interesting things have shown up in my life. A new colleague in my department committed to social change. Some new and interesting women friends to replace some who've moved away. A speakers bureau poised to go national. I even have a name on a twitter account, if I can get someone to give me a tutorial.

And now, The Shiz, a local band featuring singer/songwriters Lilli Lewis and Liz Hogan (who wrote about their lives on the Kickstarter site last year) has appeared on my horizon. Have you ever noticed that when one thing changes, everything changes? You look up from the space you've been in for a while and voila! you're looking through a door into a whole new world you didn't even know existed. (In point of fact, you didn't even know the door existed, let alone the world, until you looked up from staring at the ground.)

So I had to drop everything and share this YouTube video of The Shiz performing "The New Jim Crow." They're the shiz. With a capital S.