"There's still a place for you here" comes from my book If You Feel Too Much. I wrote those words on August 11, 2014 in response to the death of Robin Williams. The context was suicide prevention, an invitation to stay alive. As the 10-year anniversary of IYFTM approached a few months back, I returned to this simple statement and found that it had taken on new meaning. I thought about “There’s still a place for you here” in the context of immigration, deportation, and racism. Wanting people to feel safe. Wanting them to know that they belong. Here with us. Not sent away. Not behind bars. I thought about LGBTQ folks as well, those forced to wonder if their rights will be taken away, those so often told they don't belong, those who many in power seem to want to erase. When it came time to celebrate a decade of If You Feel Too Much, “There's still a place for you here" was the statement I used to promote two online events. The second of those was planned for July 10 and though I didn’t know it at the time, this would turn out to be the same day that after nearly 20 years as the bookkeeper at To Write Love on Her Arms, my mom—Janet Tworkowski—was fired from her job. She was told it had nothing to do with her performance. This was a matter of restructuring. The Board wanted a CFO and the only way to make it work was apparently... to fire my mom. When she eventually shared the news with me, "There's still a place for you here" took on yet another meaning. The here would be and has since shifted, but I wanted my mom to know—there's still a place for her. Here with family and friends, here with those who love and appreciate her, here with our support in a new season of grief and questions and transition. Here as she figures out what's next. Here and not alone. I’m not sure what these words mean to you, but if you connect with them, I hope you’ll rock this shirt with pride. Or give it as a gift to someone in your life who could use a reminder they belong. *** Printed on a Bella+Canvas 3001 blank. Color: Black • 100% combed and ring-spun cotton • Fabric weight: 4.2 oz./yd.² (142 g/m²) • Pre-shrunk fabric • Side-seamed construction • Shoulder-to-shoulder taping
