Spring is in Bloom

Despite its unpredictable weather and temperature swings, Spring is my favorite season. Similar to how Monday offers a fresh start to the week, or January 1st marks the beginning of a new year, Spring, with its promise of rebirth, has a magical way of awakening our senses and encouraging us to see the world with fresh eyes. As daylight stretches longer (thankfully!) and warmth returns to the air, we find ourselves naturally more alert, more present, and more attuned to the subtle transformations happening all around us. The fresh blooms and earthy fragrances remind us that change is always possible. The ground softens, and new life pushes through. Spring is also an invitation to imagine what else might bloom within us. What might grow not only in the natural world but also in the human one, especially within our communities.

We’ve seen that energy of renewal and resistance taking hold all around us through the #HandsOff protests that have swept across the US over the last few weekends, uniting people from coast to coast in a powerful display of solidarity. All across cities and towns, voices were united in chants, and people showed up for one another, standing firm in the belief that a better world is not just a dream, but an achievable reality. These moments weren’t just about saying no to injustice; they were declarations of collective care, calls for healing, and commitments to transformation.

That same energized and invigorated spirit was alive in our recent Movement Building Calls to Collaboration, held on February 13th and April 7th. Over two days, more than 100 organizations gathered to connect, strategize, and envision together. Breakout sessions ranged from housing justice, to education equity, to reimagining the care community – each one grounded in lived experience and a deep commitment to building a better future.

The conversations were powerful, the ideas were bold, and the connections were genuine, as they helped strengthen the connective tissue of organizers across New Jersey and created real moments of solidarity among attendees. We left with renewed energy and a clearer sense of how our individual work fits into a collective, statewide movement. You can learn more about it at www.gatheringground.us.

What’s formidable and inspiring about these gatherings – whether in the streets as we witnessed with the recent protests, or in a shared physical space like our Movement-Building Call to Collaboration, is that they remind us of what’s possible when we lean into solidarity and lead with love, trust, respect, and care. Real, lasting change is slow, rooted work. But it’s also joyful, and deeply human.

There’s a breathtakingly beautiful tree in my neighborhood that I make a point to walk by nearly every day. All Winter it stood still and bare, almost like it was holding its breath. And then, almost overnight, it burst into bloom.

Here are two photos: one taken in the dead of Winter, its branches bare and stark against a gray sky, and the other just last week, when I was pleasantly surprised and awestruck by its pink blossoms and quiet and radiating brilliance.

This majestic tree gives me pause every time I walk by it, allowing me to reflect on the fact that like in nature, so too in life often there is activity taking place beneath the surface, even when it isn’t visible and obvious to the observer. Seeds are germinating underground, buds are forming within branches, all quietly and eagerly waiting for the right conditions to emerge.

A gentle reminder that change isn’t always announced and shouted from the rooftops. Sometimes, the most meaningful shifts begin in simple conversations or in the quiet and unassuming connections taking root in shared spaces and in community.

Nature has a way of showing us that transformation is always possible, even after long stretches of dormancy. When the time and the conditions are right, things can and do shift.

This tree (Brooke as I call her), is a small but beautiful and powerful daily reminder to me that blooming, awakening, and evolving are always possible – in nature, in ourselves, in our communities, and in the movements we are building together.

As Spring continues to unfold and color and beauty return to the world all around us, it is my hope that we remain grounded in our values of justice and fairness, and bold in our imagination and in new possibilities. 

Our work – the work of community-building, belonging, equity, and transformation – is slow, patient, and persistent. It requires care and a deep trust in what can’t always be seen. At Gathering Ground, we believe that change is possible even when the path ahead isn’t linear or fully visible. With patience and collective effort, it will bloom, nurtured through the spaces we create together for meaningful connection and conversation.

In Solidarity,

Maria Carnemolla, Executive Director