Wendy Golden-Levitt is a mensch who works with children using Jungian principles and … wait for it … cloth. Back in the day I sent two quilts her way. She commissioned one and the second (the crow) was a gift. Many readers of this blog also made cloth contributions.

I recently received a couple of emails from Wendy where she describes the impact my cloths have had on a particular child. I share the story below.

First, I have Wendy’s permission to share this. And J’s mother’s permission.

Second, until I was about twelve, everybody called me DeeDee.

Third, the heart-felt entreaties made by ten-year-old J. both uplift me and break my heart. It’s worth your time to read all her words.

Wendy quoted below. Sorry about the spacing. Some quirk I don’t think I can easily fix.

I also started seeing children again. here in my very tiny apartment. One of the older children I worked with for several years enjoyed working with your cloths. Her family was in Toronto for five years and returned to NYC this year. Long story short… she wanted to come here to “work on a couple of things.”

J., 10 years old, walked into my second bedroom and looked at me and said: “Where the heck are DD’s cloths?” They call you DD. I told her I had not unpacked them yet. But they were in a huge storage bin, sitting in my second bathroom bathtub. She insisted we look for them. And we did. We found Samantha the Crow cloth first. She grabbed it and said, “Good thing you didn’t lose this because I would have been very mad and have to start therapy again.”

She had a long talk with Samantha (what the kids call the crow). She lay on the floor, holding the cloth above her, and talked. Here are some of the things she said.

“Samantha. There is a problem in the place we live. We got a president who is making me scared to be a brown girl. I don’t know what to do. I want to play a lot. But I can’t. I am scared I will be taken away.

You are our crow girl. Can you do something? Can you make it safe for us? I want to learn the things you know. Because you fly. Because Wendy told me you carried fire and other things to help make the world in the very beginning. You know how to build, to count. You have a lot you can teach us kids.You have a whole world under you. (Referring to the different cloth squares you stitched underneath the crow). So I know you can help us. I want to not be afraid. I want to build something new like you. I want to also be safe like you know how to do. I want both. I want to make stuff. I think if you help us kids make stuff again, we could be okay.

Samantha? I want to walk in the nature centre near me and take my shoes off and look for you. I know with my shoes on you will not know me. But with my shoes off and grass and stuff on my feet you will know me. I want to meet you. Wendy says I can. Either at the nature centre or as a surprise. Or in my dreams. Please guide me and the other kids.”

And below is a second email about a second visit.

J. was back yesterday. Here is a poem she wrote during our session….with your crow (Samantha) cloth:

“I am black like the crow.
I shimmer like the crow’s feathers
in the sun.

I lay on top of DD’s cloth to let strong powerful energy into me.
I lay on my back.
It is important Samantha (crow) protects my back.
My heart goes from front to back
side to side.

I am finding ways to be okay even though I feel scared I will not be seen anymore,
even though I have dark skin.
The president you can tell
has never worked with DD’s cloth.

I will learn with the squares underneath Samantha the crow
how to build real love,
real strong muscles of my heart.
I will learn from DD how to speak and say
“You will never make me a slave again.”

You could show this to DD if she is alive and wants to see it.”

Wendy: There is something in your cloths that resonates with both the effort of suffering and the effort of healing. The kids feel it. So do I.

Description of making Samantha here and Treasure Island Quilt and crow here.

More at Treasure Island quilt.