There is a story we’re telling ourselves. It starts with what we need and opens the doors to what we want. We decide where the story is going, make up endings for it. Maybe even make up alternate endings for it but I think each of us is doing a storytelling job on ourselves all the time. A history is a story. More than the facts and events but how they go together and what they made possible. We live in a time where there are intentional policies and plans to destroy some of our histories. The affect and effect of this is to destroy the stories we are telling ourselves today or at least to alter them because the stories we tell ourselves start with what we need but what we need starts with what we think is possible.
This is the dreaming. A spark of electrical activity in our brains that makes a story. Sometimes that story is made when we are asleep. Sometimes we are awake. Sometimes a little bit of both. Always about possibles and impossibles. The 3 pound human brain is mostly water formed in protein, DHA, omega-3, and a complex network of cells sending electrical signals to each other. Fattest organ in your body running mostly on glucose. Dreams are not only what you cook up when you are sleeping. If the statistics about neurons and the brain to gut nervous system being 100 million neurons connecting the organs that tell you what to do and why to do it leaves you a little disconnected or feeling like you don’t quite know what to make of where I’m going with this and so you may just take a look at your gorgeous manicure, think about what your next one will look like, the fact that Oneil Cruz is 6’7” tall and is a shortstop or even just what your next meal will be, you my friend, are daydreaming.
Your brain is ~86 billion neuron cell dynamo of hyrdoelectricity current and currently regulating things you aren’t even thinking about – breath, eyes, memory. I think often of Edwidge Danticat’s words in that book (Breath, Eyes, Memory) on ancestors saying someone was told about a “group of people in Guinea who carry the sky on their heads. They are the people of Creation. Strong, tall, and mighty people who can bear anything.” And when I think perhaps my dreams are too big, I think of her. With the approximately 86 billion neurons running an amount of connections that it would not be understated to say is infinitesmal. Sometimes even combining with each other to do bigger things. To do their big ones. And this is an approximation of every dreamer in here. The history of your dreaming, beloved Sankofa community, is a history of the people of Guinea Danticat wrote about. Even if, like me, you are not Oneil Cruz and you didn’t inherit expression of the tall gene.
Spiritual cultures usually place values on dreams with interpretations that range from dreaming of fish meaning _______________ to dreaming you are missing your clothes meaning _________________. The meaning may be those ancestors talking to you. It may be your creator giving you instruction, warning or affirmation. Sometimes it’s just everyday living. Like how a few of those 86 billion neurons just took you on a journey far away from my boring speech yet again and when you feel good, this can be delightful. But sometimes we don’t feel so good and it can be more anxiety inducing. Maybe you’re thinking about all the work you still need to upload to get your points up in that one course or wondering what traffic will be like when the draft comes to Pittsburgh. Maybe you are thinking about your grandma and how much you miss her. Or how much of your heart you wish you had kept to yourself the last time you fell in love. Still these are moments of you developing the story of what you need based on what you imagine is possible.
May I ask for a moment of that dreaming to go further? Take a breath. An intentional breath where you pull in the air of a dream. Any dream. It can be a simple A on a final. Or it can be a best-selling book of short stories about mermaid vampires. Oh wait that’s just mine. Get your dream. Hold it in your mind and breathe it in deep. Now exhale it, imagine it in the world. What if it is more? What if it isn’t just an A on a final but the dean’s list or a magna or a summa cum laude. What if it’s an idea for which you develop a patent? What if it’s not just a beautiful house but a home where you grow love and respect and a legacy? What if you discover that what you are dreaming is more. There is a long history of dreaming to discovery. The history of dreaming to discovery is the history of being human. It is as deep as the pulsar shining in the night sky and as faint as your pulse under your fingertips right now. Dreaming is everything. And as such, it is what we make it. Like sankofa. Like the blues. As Delta Slim played by the incomparable Delroy Lindo in Sinners tells his community, it’s sacred and big. Dreaming is most impactful when we are intentional about what we do with this for our future.
Your brain is taking your dreams all around your body. Let it. Breathe in. Your dreaming to discovery shows up in the most amazing places. Mine shows up in my knees – prayer, meditation, and dance. Did you know kneecaps are highly unique to each person? If you use them to pray or meditate or dance remember next time you do those forms of dreaming that only you can do them – the largest joints in your body and yet no one has the exact same kneecaps as you. And you did not come into this world with them. They were just cartilage and somewhere between your toddler years and kindergarten they started forming. You built your kneecaps just like you built your hopes and dreams. And now you have to build the story of what they can do. Here in schools we often talk to you about making a living. I want you to also think about making a life. Be ready to surprise yourself. And of course, be ready to fail.
You ever hit your kneecap on something that isn’t right for it? Run in the wrong shoes or do that dance just a little harder than you should have? Kneecaps are like your dreams. They are going to get banged up from time to time. They will require repair and care. Don’t neglect them. You have to support them and nurture them. See I dreamt of wearing these shoes today. But I discovered it was too cold and I couldn’t walk well in them. So I changed. Discovery is everywhere. Let the discovery amaze you. Like it has amazed so many before you.
Mary Shelley dreamt a lot of Frankenstein before she wrote it. She started writing at 18 and kept going for two years. What if she had not followed through? Her first dreams did not tell her what a powerful piece of art she was making. And the discoveries we continually make with that work are even greater.
| The Dream | The Dreamer | The Discovery |
| Flying | Bessie Coleman | Doing aerial stunts |
| Dancing | Misty Copeland | ABT Prima |
| Labor rights | Dolores Huerta | Survivors rights |
| School and writing | Malala Yousafzai | Nobel Prize |
| Speaking | Maya Angelou | 3 grammys for spoken word |
| You |
Look back. What have you dreamt? What did you discover along the way? Now take that and look ahead. Take the 86 billion neurons with you. Take your whole self with you. Most importantly, take your history with you. Our stories are more than us. They are our ancestors. They are our descendants. They are humanity – sacred and big. Congratulations on another year of discovery. Best wishes on the journey ahead.