DejaJoelle

DejaJoelle is a healing artist and cultural healing curator who was born and raised in the Rondo neighborhood of Saint Paul.

“When I think about this program, I think about my family and the people in my community that actually need this, and I’m extremely grateful…We live in a world now where we feel like work is the thing. But it doesn’t really make any sense when we’re not taking care of ourselves or our families the way that we want to.[1] It’s a lie that we have to work ourselves to the bone to be successful, that we have to die in exhaustion. That our children don’t get to see us that much because we have to work two jobs. My project; our project; community’s project is to resist that narrative by doing the opposite. By actually resting. By taking deep breaths. By spending time with our children or telling our supervisors, ‘No, I cannot cover that shift.’ We deserve everything. Not some good, not a little bit of good, but all good. And we’re gonna get it without breaking our backs.”