We’re looking forward to introducing you to Meg Jerit she/her. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Meg, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
The spectrum of morning routines—I’ve tried a lot of different ones, but right now, mine typically begins with my dog telepathically sensing my being awake and coming to greet me at my bedside. On the way to brush my teeth, I love to look at the light through the leaves over my desk. Then it’s time for meditation, which in this world, I consider an absolute necessity, whether it’s five minutes or forty. It helps me to have a little area which is exclusively for this (my closet) to limit distractions. The type of meditation varies a lot, whether it’s focusing on the breath and clearing the mind, or following something more guided. It can be lovely to linger and listen to what might arise in the silence.
Reading (+ coffee) is my routine’s last step; I am usually reading at least two or three books of both poetry and prose at a time. As a writer, this feels like a non-negotiable aspect of beginning a day in my life, but reading also comes with the added benefit of lowering anxiety. It’s taken time to develop boundaries around going my own pace; I just don’t believe in how fast “the world” tells us to move. Although, there are certainly busier times when I look to the hummingbird as inspiration, for how she can both move her wings rapidly and be still at once.
I imagine the meditation as both an emptying and clearing out, as well as a preparing myself through intention-setting. Connecting with the morning light and books are for filling my mind with beautiful language and opening my heart to deeper insight. And coffee is, well, delicious.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Sure, I’m a writer, poet, community organizer, and educator. I believe strongly in the power of storytelling as a tool for transformation and emotional healing. Being in creative community has profoundly impacted me which is why I began curating an in-person open mic and reading series when I moved to Austin: Smushed Blueberries: Stories, Poems & Other Juice. I really wanted to cultivate a space for genuine connection and do my part in pushing back against artistic gate-keeping. Smushed Blueberries: Stories, Poems, & Other Juice: Splash! The Podcast, is also forthcoming and will feature both “capsule conversations” with writers I met through my MFA at Columbia College Chicago, as well as newer conversations with artists in Austin, focusing on process and inspiration (what I consider to be, “the juice” or connective tissue of creation.) I also began “Water & Ink: Healing Through Storytelling,” which aims to help participants address the past and pen their way into the future (with plenty of grounding in the present in between) in community.
For the last few years, I’ve also been working on a memoir that traverses love, therapy malpractice, divorce, heartbreak, OCD, eating disorders, and a couple other themes. It interrogates the possibilities between healing, history, and ecology, and I explore this as it relates to my family, my hometown in Memphis, Tennessee, and the Mississippi River. My dream is that this work will cumulate in joining the concerted effort toward healing communities in Memphis, through both art and other pragmatic methods. Memphis, even with its rich legacy of activism, shares with this country a deep need for leaders of integrity and to be consistently and relentlessly honest about its history in order to build a better future for all its people.
I’m also currently working on a magical realism novel set in Memphis, which seeks to preserve and showcase some of its lesser known truths.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My relationship with nature transformed my understanding of myself. When my concept of home collapsed in high school, I felt without direction. But there was a deep compass that kept leading me to the forests of Shelby Farms in Memphis. When my schemas of self, religion, and family shattered, nature was what held me and helped me see myself more clearly. I am but one of her many organisms, here to fulfill my own little green function. Whenever I need re-centering, I go hiking at any of the many trails here in Austin.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Trust yourself. Trust yourself. Trust yourself. I am still telling her this. The self—that wise, inner-knowing intertwined with love—is always guiding us, so long as we listen and trust that voice enough to follow it. The ego, the yapping, fearful dog, might bark alongside us, but it is not the self’s true voice.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
This might sound “woo-woo,” but whatever, I’m already an Aquarius. I believe very deeply that we are all connected. Because of this, I believe all our silences are also connected. Every time we speak out against our private violences, as well as the more public, global ones, I believe there is a medicine that disperses throughout the collective. As Buddhism teaches that reality is a mirror of the mind, I feel like there are little mirrors everywhere in this world, bouncing light back and forth, showing us who and what we are.
Not all things we speak up, out, and against are the same size and quality, but I believe the energy of truth that act generates is immensely valuable and empowering to everybody. Love is what protects us and expands us. When love, which is truth’s essence, fuels our fights for justice, I believe we are opening our hearts to an all-encompassing light that transcends time.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: When do you feel most at peace?
I feel most at peace when my breathing is deep and easy. When I remember that I am not any of my projects, nor any belief or any story—not even this sacred body—there is peace. When I remember that I am one with the present moment itself, as well as beyond it, and then recall that I have no real need to rush at all—that is a peace I want to share with absolutely everyone. Peace is power. It gives us wings.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://megjerit.com
- Instagram: @megitate / @smushedblueberries
- Twitter: @megjerit
- Youtube: @megitate
Image Credits
Timothy Files
Sergio F. Muro
Marcus Jackson
