Staff Pick: Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day

Resistance can often take on a daunting and overwhelming aura. Author Kaitlin Curtice helps her readers learn how everyday choices can fuel lifelong change and forge a more inclusive world. She offers the framework of “four realms of resistance”—the personal, the communal, the ancestral, and the integral. All realms intersect to disrupt the status quo. She advocates for the importance of rest and true self-care, especially for the BIPOC community, and she views it as an act of defiance and reclamation of bodily autonomy.

The author invites the reader to get curious about what our society considers normal and mainstream. She implores the reader to dig deep. For instance, Curtice off-handedly reveals the quiet racism embedded in the seemingly innocuous song “Jingle Bells,” and it sent this reviewer down a reference rabbit hole. Curtice delves into her personal experiences of unlearning her strict Christian upbringing and rediscovering the Native American spirituality of her ancestors. This book equips readers with small yet tangible ways to take care of themselves, others, and the environment. It is a great starting point for anyone willing to look inward and build a more equitable world. The book also provides insightful questions for those readers already doing the lifelong work. She explains what it means to be human.

“You are a human being. You have not yet arrived, but you are continually arriving. The thing about being human is that we are born, we live, we grieve, and we celebrate, and one day we pass on, becoming ancestors and guides to those who come after us.”

Reviewer recommendation: Instead of rushing through, savor this book one chapter per day. Each chapter will feel like a hug of encouragement and support.