How We Show Up

From Black Lives Matter to the ongoingWomen's Marches, we have had some powerful moments over the last decade that have galvanized and created new, but brief, feelings of community. Many of us, however, haven't figured out how to spark that feeling on our own, or how to build off or sustain those moments. Many of us are longing for a kind of sugar-borrowing and stoop-sitting closeness we imagine existed in the 50s. Maybe we even grew up in that environment, but we moved away from home for love, work, or adventure and we don't know how to recreate it in a new place. What so many of us are missing is the closeness that connects us and make us feel like we belong to a community.In How We Show Up, community visionary Mia Birdsong delivers a modern, timely understanding of what true, authentic family and community can look like--outside of the 2-parent, 2.5 kids norm we all have in our heads. Today we have more single parents, couples who raise children outside of marriage, and more people growing older alone. Tackling topics like creating safe spaces, creativity in community, raising children in community, and more, How We Show Up is the antidote to the social fractures we face in our nation today. By sharing stories and actionable advice, and taking cues from marginalized communities--people of color, women, LGBTQ--Mia Birdsong offers us the blueprint we need to build true community wherever we are.

“"This is a the book we've all been waiting for about the 'craft'--and that's what Mia Birdsong so insightfully names it--of creating community. She's a master craftswoman herself--gathering stories of such intentionality, honesty, and reliability that you will immediately start living your life more radically and reaping the rewards."-- Courtney E. Martin, author of The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream”

"Mia Birdsong is one of our most important thinkers and strategists for how we build structures to support the families that we actually have and the kinds of families we would build if we weren't all so obsessed with respectability. This book gives us both the vision and the blueprint for how to do this in ways that feel sustainable, and quite frankly otherworldly. I left this book feeling something I haven't felt in a long time...hopeful. "--Brittney Cooper, author of Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
"Mia Birdsong's deeply personal book calls forth a deeply public truth: that we're all better off when we're all better off. Her search for the meaning of community and belonging will inspire Americans from many walks to show up in a new way."--Eric Liu, CEO of Citizen University and author of Become America
"This book is a blueprint to being vulnerable enough to love harder, dig deeper and be unafraid to redefine and expand our relationships. A beautiful and helpful piece of work. "--Tiq Milan, writer and LGBTQ advocate
"This is a the book we've all been waiting for about the 'craft'--and that's what Mia Birdsong so insightfully names it--of creating community. She's a master craftswoman herself--gathering stories of such intentionality, honesty, and reliability that you will immediately start living your life more radically and reaping the rewards."--Courtney E. Martin, author of The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream

Mia Birdsong is a family and community visionary, activist and storyteller. She is Co-director of Family Story and speaks on economic inequality, race, gender and building community at universities and conferences across the country. She co-founded Canerow, a resource for people dedicated to raising children of color in a world that reflects the spectrum of who they are, and sits on the Board of Directors of Forward Together, a nonprofit dedicated to winning rights, resources, and recognition for all families.

From Black Lives Matter to the ongoingWomen's Marches, we have had some powerful moments over the last decade that have galvanized and created new, but brief, feelings of community. Many of us, however, haven't figured out how to spark that feeling on our own, or how to build off or sustain those moments. Many of us are longing for a kind of sugar-borrowing and stoop-sitting closeness we imagine existed in the 50s. Maybe we even grew up in that environment, but we moved away from home for love, work, or adventure and we don't know how to recreate it in a new place. What so many of us are missing is the closeness that connects us and make us feel like we belong to a community.In How We Show Up, community visionary Mia Birdsong delivers a modern, timely understanding of what true, authentic family and community can look like--outside of the 2-parent, 2.5 kids norm we all have in our heads. Today we have more single parents, couples who raise children outside of marriage, and more people growing older alone. Tackling topics like creating safe spaces, creativity in community, raising children in community, and more, How We Show Up is the antidote to the social fractures we face in our nation today. By sharing stories and actionable advice, and taking cues from marginalized communities--people of color, women, LGBTQ--Mia Birdsong offers us the blueprint we need to build true community wherever we are.

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