Figure Skating in Harlem, and now its sister program, Figure Skating in Detroit, bring these opportunities to communities that have historically had limited access to them. Supported by donors and community partners, Figure Skating in Harlem offers sliding-scale tuition and financial aid, ensuring that no student is turned away because of financial need. This incredible nonprofit has been around for nearly 30 years, becoming a decorated and well-established organization with more than 75 coaches, teachers, tutors, and counselors and a network of more than 1,500 alumni.

Sharon Cohen Explains the Heart of FSH

“Figure skating is the hook, and academics are the heart,” Sharon explains. Through homework assistance, college preparation, and individualized tutoring, instructors help participants build the skills and confidence to succeed both on the ice and in the classroom. The results of this approach are reflected in the organization’s 2025 Annual Report: FSH reports a 100% high school graduation and college matriculation rate among its seniors. Alumni have gone on to pursue careers in a wide range of fields and attend leading colleges and universities.

As a child, Sharon found freedom on the ice during a period when grief and the struggle to form her own identity might otherwise have overwhelmed her. Her experience of leaving her burdens behind, pushing off the wall, and gliding across the ice is something she carries with her and extends into how she teaches the students who are part of Figure Skating in Harlem and its competitive synchronized skating team, Harlem Ice.

In a sport historically dominated by affluent white communities, creating a community of Black girls skating toward their power and toward community is truly a groundbreaking endeavor. While looking through the organization’s YouTube channel and videos of performances by participants from elementary school through their teenage years, it is obvious how powerful and graceful their hard work has made them.

Harlem Ice Receives an Emmy Nomination

To learn more about Figure Skating in Harlem, we encourage you to watch the Emmy-nominated five-part Disney+ docuseries Harlem Ice. Directed by Samantha Knowles, known for her work on HBO’s Black and Missing, and executive-produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Robin Roberts, the series follows Figure Skating in Harlem students as they prepare for competitions, performances, and a life-changing global experience.

Excellence On and Off the Ice

For Sharon and so many others, gliding on the ice and returning to it with consistent perseverance have led to expansive lives filled with community, purpose, and excellence through the art of figure skating. We hope this story inspires you to create positive change in your own community and use your place of influence to expand opportunities for others.

We are so honored here at Birth of Reason that Sharon sat down to share her story and the successes of this group of amazing young women. We will be following them closely as they enter their next season and continue their competition and performance journey.

Further Reading:

Birth of Reason Website

Shop the Birth of Reason Necklace

Figure Skating in Harlem Website

“Harlem Ice” Now on Disney+

Subscribe now

In our tenth episode of Birth of Reason, artist and founder Judi Weisbart invites us into the world she created through her sculpture Goddess with a Mission. Host Belle Hahn reflects on the emotional and spiritual dimensions of womanhood, sharing her perspective as a mother, an artist, and a woman shaped by lived experience. In this episode, we also hear from ERA President Zakiya Thomas and ceramic artist Zoya Abbas. Together, these voices open up a larger question: what would it actually look like to live in a world where feminine power is fully seen, respected, and valued?

The episode opens with Judi guiding us through the process behind her sculpture. A figure of a woman designed to hold many roles at once: creator, nurturer, teacher, provider, and cultural anchor. She lifts the Earth above her head, a glowing glass globe that, like each of the fifteen pieces in her World Series, carries its own light. Every element of the figure has a resonant meaning. At her heart, a wedding couple represents love and partnership. At her center, the Birth of Reason Egg symbolizes creation and origin, and a need to restore female-led energy of the globe. A child is embedded within her body, marking her as the giver of life. Grapes rest on her shoulders as a symbol of nourishment, while an apple at her back evokes both sustenance and the knowledge of the Garden of Eden. Coins at her waist point to economic power and the ability to generate prosperity for herself and her community. From the globe she holds, a small book hangs that contains the knowledge she passes on to future generations. Etched into the base of the sculpture are the words: “Men work from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done.”

One of the most interesting through-lines in this episode wasn’t planned, it just showed up. Both Judi and Belle, in separate moments, returned to the story of the Garden of Eden and the symbolism of the forbidden fruit. It’s not surprising. That story has shaped how women have been understood for generations, in both subtle and overt ways. Eve is often cast as the one who caused everything to fall apart. Eve is supposedly the one who made the “wrong” choice. Framed as the origin of disruption and humanity’s fall from innocence, this narrative has deeply influenced cultural and spiritual attitudes in ways that still echo today.

Our conversation with this episode’s Incredible Human, ERA President Zakiya Thomas, brings this conversation out of the abstract and into the lives of women in the United States today. Because when we talk about gender equality, we’re not just talking about vauge concepts, we’re talking about what is actually protected, and what is not. As Zakiya reminds us, this is unfinished work. The Equal Rights Amendment passed Congress in 1972 and has been ratified by enough states, and yet it still has not been formally added to the Constitution. Nearly every constitution written since World War II explicitly affirms that men and women are equal under the law. Ours still does not. Zakiya is one of those driven, inspiring people leading the charge to make sure America lives up to its promise of equality.

Filmed in 2025 at Makers House in Santa Barbara—a collaborative space where artists come together to experiment and exhibit—Zoya (she/they) shares what drew them to ceramics and why it has stayed with them. Surrounded by her work, she describes a fascination with what she calls “fancy mud,” drawn in by its almost limitless potential to transform into anything. Zoya’s ceramic creations range from abstract forms to marbled vases and intricate dot work, with each feeling like worlds of their own.

When asked about inspiration, Zoya reflects on her relationship with the natural world, which she finds both awe-inspiring and unsettling, particularly the ocean. Some of her recent work draws from tide pools, engaging with creatures that can harm humans and large bodies of water she both fears and deeply respects. Working within a collaborative environment has also shaped her perspective; she speaks to learning not only from instructors, but from fellow artists and peers sharing the space.

And her advice to other artists is simple: “Just five minutes every day,” an acknowledgment that creativity doesn’t happen all at once, and it doesn’t need to.

If this episode asks what it would look like to live in a world where balance is restored, Zoya’s answer is quieter but more immediate: it starts with how we show up to the act of creating itself.

Further Reading and Resources:

Birth of Reason Website

Shop the Birth of Reason Egg Necklace

ERA Coalition Website

Zoya Abbas' Gallery and Shop

For Ella Robertson McKay, the Managing Director of One Young World, that number is nearly infinate. Her global organization identifies, connects, and supports young leaders from more than 190 countries. Since joining the organization in 2011, Ella has helped build One Young World into a launchpad for the next generation of leaders, creating pathways for young people with extraordinary ideas to find community, support, and the influence needed to make those world-changing ideas a reality.

At Birth of Reason, we believe that a more beautiful, compassionate, and collaborative world is possible—and that young people will play a central role in creating it. That is why we were honored to sit down with Ella, whose work at One Young World has helped connect and uplift a generation of emerging leaders across the globe. While Birth of Reason and One Young World approach this mission in different ways, both share a deep belief in the power of human potential and the importance of giving young people the support, community, and opportunities they need to lead. In this conversation, Ella reflects on what becomes possible when we choose to invest in the vision, creativity, and courage of the next generation.

If Ella’s work resonates with you, we encourage you to learn more about One Young World and the many opportunities they offer emerging leaders around the globe. From fully funded scholarship opportunities to year-round leadership development, mentorship, and a lifelong international network of changemakers, One Young World is helping young people transform bold ideas into meaningful action. Their next global summit will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, from November 3–6, 2026, bringing together thousands of young leaders from more than 190 countries to collaborate on solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges. Whether you’re a young leader looking to expand your impact or a parent, educator, or mentor hoping to support the next generation, we encourage you to visit OneYoungWorld.com to explore upcoming programs, scholarships, and opportunities to get involved.

Subscribe now

OneYoungWorld.com

BirthofReason.com

When Birth of Reason artist and founder Judi Weisbart sat down with Ilwad, the conversation became more than a reflection on war. Through sharing real stories and connection, we captured a real human moment with an Incredible Human.

Ilwad Elman is one of the most recognized peacebuilders and human rights advocates working today. From Mogadishu to global policy spaces, from the Elman Peace Centre to international forums and the United Nations, her work has centered on a deceptively simple idea: when people are given dignity, livelihood, safety, and a reason to belong, they are less easily pulled into violence.

That idea echoes through the legacy of her family’s work at Elman Peace: “Drop the gun, pick up the pen.”

Years ago, Judi Weisbart created War: When Will We Learn? without knowing that one day she would sit across from Ilwad Elman, someone whose life’s work speaks directly to the question inside the piece.

Built from rubble, an ammo box, a mushroom cloud, toy soldiers, a divided earth, and a river that reads like blood, Judi’s sculpture asks what war costs us, and why we keep pretending our differences are bigger than our shared humanity.

Host Belle Hahn opened the conversation with her own lifelong sensitivity to violence, setting the emotional tone for Ilwad’s deeper message: peace is not simply the absence of war. It is a shared commitment to collectively build a more peaceful world by working to repair the damages of the past too.

Ilwad spoke from Somalia, but her wisdom belongs everywhere.

Her reminder was clear: communities still have moral power. We can still humanize one another. We can still build peace from the ground up.

Together, we recognize that peace is not just something we hope for.

It is something we practice.

Subscribe now

Humanitarian photographer, activist, and speaker Lisa Kristine knows that personally. In a conversation with Birth of Reason founder and artist Judi Weisbart, Kristine reflects on her awakening to the reality of modern slavery. We explore the transformative power of visual storytelling, and her belief that a single image can transcend language, fostering empathy and connection across continents.

Kristine's work documents some of the world's most overlooked labor systems and human rights abuses. Her photographs capture miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo, brick workers in Nepal, and silk dyers in India. She captures striking images of individuals whose labor often remains invisible to the consumers connected to it.

When Kristine first began this work, most people had never even heard the term "modern slavery." The crisis was happening in plain sight, hidden only by our collective inability to see it.

What becomes evident throughout the interview is Kristine’s conviction that photography can do far more than document reality. In conversation, she visibly lights up when speaking about how a single image can transform the way we see one another. A single frame, she suggests, can quietly redraw the boundaries of empathy.

Seen as a whole, her work reflects a belief in shared humanity across cultures, conditions, and continents. Through her photography and the Human Thread Foundation, she continues to raise awareness, mobilize resources, and support efforts to end modern slavery around the world.

Awareness does not automatically produce action, nor does empathy always guarantee change. Yet meaningful action rarely begins without first allowing ourselves to see what we would rather ignore.

In a world overflowing with information, it is easy to become numb. Kristine’s work offers another possibility. It reminds us that what changes us is not information alone, but connection. What moves us is empathy.

Because once we truly see one another, it becomes much harder to pretend we are not connected.

Subscribe now

• Organization website: Human Thread Foundation

• Photos that Bare Witness to Modern Slavery TED Talk by Lisa Kristine

• Lias Kristine

Right now, more than 120 million people around the world have been displaced by war, violence, persecution, and instability. That’s roughly one in every 67 people on Earth.

And according to Sasha, we’re thinking about this challenge all wrong.

Around the world, millions of refugees are doing their best to survive in systems that were designed to be temporary. While humanitarian aid saves lives, it often isn't designed to help people rebuild them. RefugePoint takes a different approach, focusing on helping refugees regain stability, support their families, and move toward self-reliance.

Through programs in Nairobi and partnerships spanning hundreds of organizations worldwide, RefugePoint works with refugees who find themselves in a difficult limbo: unable to return home, yet often lacking a clear path forward. Rather than focusing solely on immediate humanitarian relief, the organization helps people move toward stability and self-reliance by supporting access to housing, healthcare, education, livelihoods, and community networks. The aim is not simply to help people survive displacement, but to create the conditions under which they can rebuild a life.

What began as direct support for refugees has grown into a broader effort to rethink how displacement is addressed globally. RefugePoint's Urban Refugee Protection Program in Nairobi serves as a kind of learning hub: a place to develop self-reliance programs, test what works, and share those approaches with the wider refugee-response field. That work helped give rise to the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative, co-founded with the Women's Refugee Commission, which now connects hundreds of organizations working to help refugees move from dependence toward dignity, opportunity, and inclusion.

As climate change and conflict unsettle communities across the globe, being forced from home is becoming less an exception and more a defining condition of our era. The world will soon be forced to confront a difficult question: What happens when millions can never go home?

For Chanoff, the solution is not just better policy, but a change in how we see one another. History shows that humanity has done this before. Abolition, universal suffrage, and civil rights all asked society to widen its circle of care. Now, Chanoff suggests, displaced people may be asking us to widen it again. He invites us to see displaced people not as strangers, but as participants in the same human story—and to imagine a future in which dignity is not limited by geography.

If any of us could find ourselves displaced tomorrow, should we rethink not only refugee policy, but our responsibilities to one another?

In this conversation with Birth of Reason founder Judi Weisbart, Chanoff explores how we might build a future that offers displaced people more than mere survival by providing an opportunity to rebuild a life.

Our institutions have not yet caught up to this reality. The question is whether our moral imagination can.

Leave a comment

• Organization website: RefugePoint

• From Crisis to Calling: Finding Your Moral Center in the Toughest Decisions by Sasha Chanoff and David Chanoff: Penguin Random House

• About Sasha Chanoff

• Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative: Co-founded by RefugePoint and the Women’s Refugee Commission to advance refugee self-reliance globally.

Statistics & Data

The estimate of roughly 120 million displaced people worldwide comes from UNHCR reporting on global forced displacement. Recent UNHCR figures place the total above 120 million people displaced by conflict, persecution, violence, and human rights abuses. UNHCR+1

Together, they explore how food connects us to place, season, memory, labor, land, and one another. Waters has spent her life reminding us that the way we grow, cook, eat, and share food reflects the kind of world we are building. Nourishment is not only physical. It is cultural, spiritual, and deeply communal. A table can be personal. It can also be where some of the biggest changes begin, structurally, culturally, and humanly.

Artist Judi Weisbart reflects on the sculpture connected to this conversation. It is part of Birth of Reason’s World Series Showcase, a fifteen-sculpture, fifteen-episode Season One format, with each work opening a dialogue around one urgent social issue.

At its core, this episode is about hunger, inequality, and the possibility of a more generous world.

There is enough, if we share.

For our Substack readers, cook from the conversation: Alice Waters’ Hummus with Whole Wheat Flatbreads offers a simple, generous way to bring the episode’s spirit of shared nourishment to your own table.

Further Reading:

Explore Alice Waters’ work: The Edible Schoolyard Project• Edible Education Curricula• The Edible Schoolyard Network• Alice Waters Institute• A School Lunch Revolution• Chez Panisse

BirthofReason.com

info@birthofreason.com

Birth of Reason is based out of Santa Barbara, California.

We wanted to give the film a home here as well, not just as a birthday moment, but as part of what Birth of Reason is here to celebrate: young artists finding their voice, making work, and being given a real platform.

Evie wrote, directed, animated, and edited this stop-motion film herself. It is playful, inventive, and full of the handmade imagination that makes youth art so worth spotlighting..

Watch “SOUPER” and join us in celebrating her creativity!

When we interviewed Jerry White for Episode 5 of Birth of Reason, we didn’t expect the conversation to resonate as deeply as it did. It quickly became our most-watched video at the time. The conversation offered a reminder that the people most capable of creating lasting change are often the least interested in performing authority.

Watch Ep. 5 with Jerry White

At 20 years old, while studying abroad, Jerry stepped on a landmine and lost his right leg. That experience changed the course of his life. Years later, he helped lead the International Campaign to Ban Landmines alongside advocates including Princess Diana, work that contributed to the movement receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

Over the decades, Jerry has helped shape international efforts including the Mine Ban Treaty and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Judi and the Birth of Reason viewers reported that the way he spoke about humanity, responsibility, and the slow work of peace was what stood out in the episode.

Some of Jerry White’s answers to Judi’s questions cut right to the heart of it:

Jerry’s newly released book, Be See Do: The Art of Humane Leadership, takes a closer look at the real deal.

He describes it as “the most personal and practical expression” of what he’s learned over four decades as an activist, survivor, diplomat, professor, and coalition-builder. The book focuses on something simple but complex to hold: how to stay useful, humane, and grounded in difficult times.

During our interview, Jerry spoke about the difference between “vertical faith” and “horizontal faith.” Vertical faith, he explained, is about deepening your own beliefs and values. Horizontal faith is what happens when we learn through relationship with other people.

As Jerry put it:

We’re grateful we had the chance to speak with Jerry, and we’re glad this book is now out in the world.

You can learn more about Be See Do at:

beseedo.com

And if Jerry’s message resonates with you, consider supporting the book by reading it, sharing it with someone you love, or leaving an honest review.

The Giving List Summit was held April 15-17 in Montecito, California with this year’s core statement, “Women Doing It Differently.” Naturally, Birth of Reason’s founder and Santa Barbara artist Judi Weisbart was eager to attend.

The summit brought together nonprofit leaders, women entrepreneurs, advocates, artists, and changemakers around one shared objective: to empower the next generation of women and girls to philanthropy and fundraising stewardship.

The Giving List Summit and Birth of Reason share a common ethos: we believe that where we put our attention matters and women’s issues are tragically undervalued.

In the United States, organizations dedicated to women and girls receive only about 2% of overall charitable giving. Statistics like these emphasize that events like this year’s Summit are more than just symbolic gestures; they will shape the world we leave future generations.

These women are at the precipice of that struggle. Working in a wide range of fields— from direct humanitarian work, to litigating for gender equality, diplomacy, hunger elimination, advancing education in underserviced communities, refugee rellief— the Summit proves that when action-oriented people make time to network, the mission gets clearer. Change can happen if more organizations share resources, leverage cross-amplificaiton, and coordinate passionate teams of young people to delegate labor and see how cooperation can make all the difference.

While laying the roadmap for the future was important, panelists also touched on contemporary problems making their missions more challenging than ever. With traditional mutual aid systems fracturing, environmental instability, slavery, exploitation of workers, declining access to education in the Global South, the collapse of USAID, and diminished resources for disaster response, complex difficulties require carefully tailored remedies.

Between panels, Judi was able to sit down with some of these remarkable guests and get a firsthand account of their fresh perspectives, the work they do, and why it’s important to them. Everyone she met had an incredible story that renewed her faith in people power. Here at Birth of Reason, we call those people “Incredible Humans,” and by their example we learn that the way we give, lend, fund, and connect can evolve beyond a handful of individuals and become a global movement.

Subscribe now

Share

Works Cited

Giving List Women. “2026 GLW Summit Speakers.” Giving List Women, givinglistwomen.org/2026-speakers. Accessed 13 May 2026.

Giving List Women. “Advancing a More Gender-Balanced World.” Giving List Women, givinglistwomen.org/about-us. Accessed 13 May 2026.

Giving List Women. “GLW Doing It Differently 2026 Summit: April 15 - April 17, 2026.” Giving List Women, givinglistwomen.org/schedule. Accessed 13 May 2026.

Giving List Women. “The Giving List Women.” Giving List Women, givinglistwomen.org. Accessed 13 May 2026.

Association for Women’s Rights in Development. “2021 Brief: Where Is the Money for Feminist Organizing?” AWID, 24 May 2021, www.awid.org/news-and-analysis/2021-brief-where-money-feminist-organizing. Accessed 13 May 2026.

Ackerman, Jacqueline, and Jon Bergdoll. The Women & Girls Index 2025: Measuring Giving to Women’s and Girls’ Organizations. Women’s Philanthropy Institute, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, 8 Oct. 2025. ScholarWorks Indianapolis, hdl.handle.net/1805/51502. Accessed 13 May 2026.

Art and community are tightly linked, yet the conversation around art is often framed in terms of absence: lack of funding, lack of institutional support, lack of access. These deficits are real and measurable, and they shape who gets to make art and who gets to experience it.

But focusing exclusively on scarcity obscures a more structurally interesting question: under what conditions does art stop being a discrete object and start becoming part of a system?

In Santa Barbara, where Birth of Reason is filmed, a new public art installation offers a concrete example. Funded through a Bloomberg Philanthropies grant and approved by the city, the project is being built directly into the Carrillo and State Street intersection (2). It’s something you move through. Walk across. Bike over. Drive through. That means more on a daily basis to the community than any masterpiece hanging on a wall.

The project, led by Zapotec weaver Eduardo Jimenez and graphic artist Irene Ramirez in collaboration with local community members, draws on a visual language rooted in Zapotec textile traditions—highly structured, geometrically complex patterns that have long carried cultural information: identity, lineage, cosmology (4,5).

That context matters. In many Zapotec communities, weaving is not separate from life but rather embedded within it. These textiles were not made for display behind glass, but for use, circulation, and continuity. There is a conceptual throughline here, even as the medium shifts from fabric to asphalt. The question becomes what happens when a tradition rooted in cultural continuity is translated into the infrastructure of an American city (3).

This is what it looks like when art is not treated as an addition, but as part of how a place functions.

Subscribe now

Projects like this are often described as “asphalt art,” but the term understates what’s happening. There is growing empirical evidence that these interventions can slow traffic and improve pedestrian safety, suggesting that aesthetic design can produce behavioral change at scale (2). At that point, the idea of “art as infrastructure” stops being metaphorical and becomes at least partially literal.

As Michael Bloomberg put it, “Public art has the power to reshape the way we experience our cities… inspire people, draw in visitors, and enhance residents’ quality of life” (1). Cities are increasingly acting on that premise.

Santa Barbara is one of only ten cities in North America selected for this $100,000 grant. And it is not happening in isolation. Across the country, municipalities are investing in artists and cultural work at scale. San Francisco alone recently awarded over $10 million to artists and cultural organizations in a single cycle, framing it as a commitment to the groups that “represent the soul of the city” (6).

Taken together, these shifts suggest a reframing. Art is no longer only something you go out of your way to see. In some cases, it is becoming part of the systems you move through every day.

And that raises a more subtle question: when art is fully embedded in a place, does it change how people experience it, or does it simply change what they no longer notice?

I’m curious what it will feel like once it’s there.

Works Cited

1. Cruz, Ryan P. “Santa Barbara Selected for Bloomberg Philanthropies $100k Asphalt Art Grant.” The Santa Barbara Independent, 17 June 2025, www.independent.com/2025/06/17/santa-barbara-selected-for-bloomberg-philanthropies-100k-asphalt-art-grant/. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.

2. “Edhat.” Edhat, 20 June 2025, www.edhat.com/news/city-of-santa-barbara-selected-for-asphalt-art-initiative-grant/. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.

3. Editor. “Zapotec Culture.” Our History - Our History Archive, Where History Comes to Life, 25 June 2025, www.ourhistory.org.uk/the-enduring-legacy-of-zapotec-culture-in-oaxaca/?utm. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.

4. Gonzalez, Ana. “Mexican Woven Textiles from Oaxaca: Living Craft beyond Decoration.” Manos Libres, 7 May 2023, www.lasmanoslibres.com/blogs/journal/mexican-woven-textiles-oaxaca-zapotec?utm_source=chatgpt.com. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.

5. Initiative, Art. “Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture.” Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture, 2019, www.sbac.ca.gov/bloomberg-asphalt-art-initiative. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.

6. “Mayor Lurie, San Francisco Arts Commission Award More than $10 Million to Support 151 Local Artists, Nonprofits, Cultural Organizations | SF.gov.” Sf.gov, July 2025, www.sf.gov/news-mayor-lurie-san-francisco-arts-commission-award-more-than-10-million-to-support-151-local-artists-nonprofits-cultural-organizations?utm_. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.

7. “The History of Oaxaca’s Traditional Zapotec Weaving.” Mexicohistorico.com, 2026, www.mexicohistorico.com/paginas/The-History-of-Oaxaca---s-Traditional-Zapotec-Weaving.html?utm. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.

The Global Women’s Peace Initiative for Religious and Spiritual Leaders was a call to all women to build a strong global network of women leaders rooted in spiritual values who are committed to working for peace. This network will cross all cultures, faiths, traditions, sectors, and regions. Its purpose is to support and strengthen the work of the United Nations on peace issues, particularly as related to women and youth, and provide resources for women who engage in peacebuilding efforts.

Over 500 women attended this awe-inspiring four-day meeting. Though the title would denote that only women of religion and spirit were invited to attend, this is false. Women from the environmental movement attended, such as Jane Goodall, primatologist and UN Messenger of Peace (UK), and Kuki Gallman, environmentalist (Kenya, Africa), as well as women business leaders like Joan Halpern, founder of Joan & David Shoes; Patty DeDominick, CEO of PDQ Services; Sandy Gooch, founder of Mrs. Gooch’s Markets; and many others. Celebrities such as Linda Grey, Lindsey Wagner, and Linda Evans gave their names and hearts to the gathering as well. The larger constituency of the group was indeed great women leaders of faith: Rev. Joan Brown Campbell of Chautauqua Institute (US); Saleha Mahmood Abedin, Muslim scholar and professor (Saudi Arabia); Kamla Chowdhry, member of the UN Secretary General’s Expert Group (India); Sobonfu Some, a spiritual teacher (Burkina Faso, Africa); and Mae-Chee Sansanee Sthirasuta, a Buddhist leader (Bangkok, Thailand), to name but a few.

The gathering was not exclusively for women; men were invited to participate in the initiative. The official opening was preceded by a full day of prayer, meditation, contemplation, ceremonies, chants, and songs of various faith traditions. All participants were invited to join in the effort to create an inner condition from which the global peace initiative could emerge, and it did. The participants came together as nurturers, healers, and educators, to play a special role in bringing universal values to the fore. Women have for centuries worked for transformation at the grassroots level, yet have received little recognition for their work. They have been denied, or have shied away from, leadership roles in many regions of the world. But in today’s world, it is imperative that women take on leadership at a global level.

It was my great pleasure and honor to be one of the participants in this event, and it changed my life. I have mulled over what part of the four days I could write about, what would be of the most interest to those readers in Santa Barbara, and how to express the feelings of the “call.” I do feel I was called to be one of the millions of women to speak out and help create a better world for all, and to help forge a new paradigm of leadership and a more inclusive world vision.

My life-changing event occurred on the last day of an emotional and demanding schedule of plenary meetings, roundtables, workshops, dinners, and discussions for the three prior days. On the final day, I was attending an environmental workshop and went to the ladies’ room when I was stopped by one of the organizers and fundraisers, Debra Olson, who suggested I go and join a group of thirty women who were in sacred circle around the subject of the Israeli/Palestinian issue. I was intrigued and thrilled to be invited to such a meaningful and important discussion. I went up to the suite where it was being held. There was little room for me, but I managed to squat inside a large fireplace with another woman I had met at the airport when I had arrived in Geneva. She was a Muslim woman from Malaysia. She was crying, so I put out my hand and tried to comfort her. This expression of tears was not at all strange. Every woman I had met had experienced tears at one time or another over the past three days as we listened to stories of war, hunger, rape, abuse, indignity, and poverty. As women, it is impossible for us to listen and stay aloof. Every woman was one of our sisters, so we cried with them.

As I sat and listened to the words of both the Israeli woman and the Palestinian, I could feel the pain, the frustration, and the need for a meaningful discussion about peace and justice for all in the region. They talked of losses and fears, ways to come together, and the meaning of being prisoners in their own homes. It was profound and touching. In the sacred circle, there was a painted egg handed around and used to move the discussion. Only the person with the egg could speak. A woman from South Africa spoke with great conviction about the need for us all to stop the crying. I looked to the woman next to me, who was still sobbing. The South African told us that we must all go to the streets, march, and speak out against the violence and injustice, as she had done when her government believed that apartheid was acceptable and the murder of black children was a daily occurrence. She said that when women and their young children went to the streets, it was difficult for the young men in the police and army to kill their mothers and grandmothers en masse. I was taken aback by the vision of thousands of women marching for peace and justice.

The egg was moving through the circle when, eventually, it came into my hands. I held it and took a deep breath. I was not sure what I should say, and I didn’t want to speak just for the sake of saying something. This was a sacred moment, and I wanted to do what I had promised myself when I left Santa Barbara on this pilgrimage: have an open heart, an open mind, and the wisdom to listen. The first thing I said was: “Hello, my name is Judi Weisbart. I was born to an American Jewish father and an English Christian mother, and I apologize for them all, because as I sit here I know that we all have the history of violence and injustice in our own peoples. None of us are without ancestors who have done dreadful things in this world.”

Then I felt a connection with the object I held in my palm. The egg became my awareness of the meaning of this event. It is the eggs that abide in women that are the sacred meaning of the peace movement for all women. It is the egg that is the beginning of life, the egg that holds the cells that make all living things on this planet, the egg that is the planet itself. The egg is the symbol that must be recognized as the reason for peace, because if the war begins, the new technology could destroy all the eggs and we would be no more. This was a moment of awe for me, but the wisdom was not yet complete. I still had to listen to one more voice.

As I finished my words, the woman next to me asked for the egg, and I handed it to her. Her eyes were swollen and red from all the tears she had shed, and she looked into my eyes with a pain unlike any I had ever seen before. She began to speak about being a Muslim woman from Malaysia and not looking like the women of the Middle East. She spoke of her children and then of the fact that my government had branded her country as “terrorist” because the bin Laden family had paid for an airport in her country and they were Muslim. As I listened, I understood her tears were of fear and pain, but I was not ready for the searing of my very soul. She looked into my eyes and said, “You are the only one that can help us. You American women must go to the streets and tell your government that they cannot go to war because if they do, no one is safe. You must know that the whole world is terrified of you!” Oh my God, I thought, it is not the others they fear. It is us. We are the terror of the world. We are the power, the might, and the warriors. I do not want the country I love to be seen in that way. I must speak out like the South African woman said. I must say no more war, violence, and injustice.

Today I walk with the peace walkers; I talk to the leaders; give talks on my experience; moderate interfaith dialogs; and work on the events in Santa Barbara that create a voice for peace.

For more information go to www.gatherthewomen.org and see how we are growing.

“The future of this planet depends on women.” -H.E. Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations

Assemblage Sculpture by Judi Weisbart

Is a tolerant future still possible when it feels like we’ve moved in the opposite direction?

In this episode of Birth of Reason, Judi Weisbart introduces her sculpture “Hate Crimes,” created at the turn of the millennium under the belief that humanity was ready to evolve.

Judi reflects on growing up believing in unity, taught that hatred is learned, not innate. She contrasts that hope with the resurgence of open hostility, racial violence, and religious intolerance in the last two decades. She argues that hate crimes are not abstract offenses but acts of targeted violence intended to erase entire groups, and that silence makes us complicit.

Growth requires difficult conversations, open minds, and shared responsibility. Together, this episode serves as commentary and a call to civil and humanitarian duty: hatred cannot be normalized, but instead confronted.

Share your thoughts and join the conversation— leave a comment below!

Leave a comment

Black History Month is February, and this is one of many perspectives.

When we need each other, amazing things develop…

Many years ago, I was honored to be involved in an African American film festival. I had worked with a group of incredibly passionate people when we brought the Henrietta Marie slave ship exhibit to our town to teach children about the slave trade. I worked with African American groups as well as churches, synagogues, schools, and others to teach our children about the era of slavery in the United States. This opened my eyes to a world that I had not been privy to in the past. We talked about slavery as a business, not only as a moral evil, but as a worldwide money-making industry. Following this experience, I was interested in learning more about the history of our country with nuance and relational understanding.

After the exhibit, I went to see a film at the African American Film Festival. Though I cannot remember its title, I remember its basic storyline. It began in the late 1930s, when Black colleges in the South were looking for professors to teach their growing student bodies. They were seeking faculty in the arts and sciences, but few were available to them within white American academia.

Black and Jewish American histories begin on very different social and political footholds in the United States, African Americans through enslavement and systemic racial exclusion, European Jews through immigration and antisemitism, yet both encountered entrenched discrimination that shaped later intersections. Looking beyond the United States, Black colleges realized there was a group of highly educated people in desperate need of refuge: the Jews of Europe facing Nazi persecution. As Jewish academics fled Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, several historically Black colleges and universities recruited them to teach, creating intellectual partnerships shaped by parallel encounters with exclusion in American higher education. Unlike figures such as Einstein, many of these scholars were not readily welcomed elsewhere in the United States. Black universities petitioned for the right to bring these Jewish immigrants to teach their students, and so it began.

Subscribe now

These professors had witnessed the rise of fascism and understood that oppressed people must speak out early and forcefully. They taught more than science and art; they taught about forms of government and the power of peaceful protest. Many leaned toward socialism or communism, seeing them as alternatives to fascism when democracy had failed them in Europe. Their teachings offered Southern Black students unique political and social perspectives. In many ways, this contributed to the intellectual underpinnings of the Civil Rights Movement that emerged in the 1950s.

For me, these histories revealed that we are not islands. Our experiences are connected in ways that only history can reveal. Slavery was not solely an American issue; it was global. Warlords and slavers sold captive people to the British; the British transported and sold those people to Americans, and so on. Humanity has committed great evils and also acts of profound courage. There were White American who fought in the Civil War to end slavery. Hundreds of years later, the Nazis attempted to eliminate the Jewish people. Yet Black communities, needing to staff empty professor positions, created refuge and opportunity for Jewish scholars.

We have many choices in life, many experiences, and many points of view. If we open our minds, hearts, and eyes, we can learn from the past and enter the future with wisdom.

We must remember that every generation has played a role in human history, committing both harm and good. When we recognize our shared responsibility, we begin to understand that self-reflection is necessary for peace and reconciliation. Only then can we move forward through doors of tolerance, kindness, and love.

Our history does not limit our future. By understanding that collaborations and friendships are formed in certain moments and lost in others, we better grasp the complexity of human relationships. None of us alone can change the world, but together we can.

Today we are again being asked to play a role in the unfolding history of the United States. Millions of Americans are speaking out for justice and kindness in the face of fear and uncertainty, protesting ICE and calling for change. The world is always in flux, and we are continually asked to stand with those who are persecuted or marginalized. It is both our right and our responsibility in a free society. This is our time, and we are the people who can help create the community we need and the world we want to see.

For more information on the history of Black and Jewish America, see PBS’s recent documentary, Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History, which explores the intertwined experiences of both communities. At the time of publication, all four episodes are available to watch free on YouTube.

PBS Black and Jewish America

Terrorism is the Anger of a Fearful Soul | Birth of Reason |

Assemblage Sculpture by Judi Weisbart

In this episode, Judi introduces her sculpture remembering 9/11: two towers facing each other, flames suggested through light and mirror shards, and a net suspended between them holding the Earth in place, precariously. At the base are the names of those who died, and inside the work are ashes collected from Ground Zero.

Judi reflects on why she builds physical evidence into her art, and how terrorism continues long after the event through its psychological impact, cultural fallout, and the choices that follow.

In the second segment, host Belle Hahn responds personally to the piece, revisiting the fear of that day and how its aftermath shaped an entire generation. She explores the question the sculpture leaves hanging: do we keep repeating the cycle, or do we make a different choice?

Share

Subscribe now

The Premiere

Stand By Mother had its world premiere at this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival as part of the ‘Santa Barbara Features’ section, and Birth of Reason was there to document its enchanting opening night.

Screening inside the newly reopened McHurley Film Center on State Street, the film landed squarely in the middle of the festival’s annual surge of eminent stars, packed theaters, and red carpets.

Downtown Santa Barbara was abuzz with festival energy, and we got to see the full arc of the premiere night: the arrivals, the cast interviews, and that immediate post-screening rapture, when the applause echoes on as the cast and crew slowly realize that all that appreciation is directed at them.

The audience was joyful. Peppered throughout were the friends and family of the young stars, beaming with pride and adding their uplifting chorus to an already music-driven premiere.

Many of these young performers had never acted before. But there they were, at their own world premiere.

Watching Stand By Mother, it wears its humility with charming pride. The film is a storytelling project that began as an intimate stage production and, through persistence, transformed into a 52-minute narrative feature. A film that sprouted from a deep respect for children’s magic and their ability to produce powerful art, Stand By Mother is a stage-born story that refuses to stay small.

There is zero trace of industry trend-chasing or generic story-telling, just the feeling that you’re watching a film built by people who kept showing up until a dream became real. Not surprisingly, it was the heartfelt intentions behind the scenes that informed the authentic spirit we can feel on-screen.

The Film Itself

Written and directed by Montecito resident Kerrilee Gore, Stand By Mother is an upbeat children’s fantasy musical and optimistic environmental eco-fable. Instead of relying on a gloomy outlook to carry its message, it leans into the power of enchantment.

Our main character, Felix (Emmett Long) discovers a mysterious book in his garage. Played with charisma and genuine, character-driven reactions, Felix anchors it all. Emmett’s wide-eyed performance lets the audience move through the story with him. Beyond passively watching, the audience experiences the story through his eyes, steeped in child-like wonder. One by one, powerful and playful ecological guardians emerge through a portal that acts like a stage curtain. They sing. They dance. They take to the air. The music is dreamy, edged with the quiet mystery of childhood imagination, where objects carry meaning beyond explanation.

Dakota Lotus brings the film’s other lead, Wesley, to life. Grounding every scene, his talents play like a seasoned actor. His character radiates a charming older-brother energy, coupled with a Peter Pan-like twinkle that makes him a natural guide alongside his younger castmates. He shares the screen generously, and it shows. Lotus’s strong screen presence is reflected in his professional resume, including starring in Disney’s Coop & Cami Ask The World. He also shined in Thena, a debut feature from filmmaker Peter Gold and produced by James Franco, which premiered at Italy’s 2025 Taormina Film Festival, and received strong feedback. Talking to the young actor and his co-stars at the premiere, we learned that he served as a supportive mentor on set, leaving a lasting positive impression on many of the younger actors. Everyone agreed that the “triple threat” Lotus is a rising talent to watch.

In Stand By Mother, this lovable duo learns what it means to live with the Earth in harmony, coexisting in balance with all living things, and taking both big and small actions in response to climate change. The message isn’t subtle: the planet matters. Animals matter. Plastic waste matters. What we do now matters.

But the film doesn’t scold. It pulls you into a fairytale logic where imagination does the work. It trusts kids to feel their way toward understanding. The theatrical DNA serves it well; simple, intentional staging; characters entering like performers stepping into a spotlight; an episodic structure that honors its stage roots. It’s easy to imagine this film as a strong companion piece for an age-appropriate environmental studies unit.

This is what it looks like when a community decides youth voices are worth amplifying. And it’s sensational.

The Performances & the Music

Twenty-three local students carry this film. Most are under ten. Most had never acted before. The performances are great because the characters were written by those who know the kids well, in collaboration with the actor’s general vibe and natural disposition, so the acting is surprisingly effortless from these little powerhouses. What they might lack in experience, they make up for with direct, pure, and powerful performances.

The Protector of the Animals (Colette Hahn Cohen) stands out. There’s an intensity in her gaze that captures Felix, and the audience. When Felix sheepishly calls her “so cool,” it is well-earned. Kids don’t intellectualize moral authority, they admire it. That understanding is what makes this film work.

Another highlight was the film’s young guitarist, Finn Young, whose unedited performance appears in the film. Not “cute for a kid” good, just gushing-with-raw talent good that any music lover will be moved by.

“Listen” by Bobbi and Izzy Tahouri, is a standout from the film’s soundtrack, also featured in the trailer. Izzy, just 12 years old, is another breakout talent the film uplifts, and the song fits perfectly.

The soundtrack doesn’t just sit underneath scenes, it gives the film its heartbeat.

The songs leave a lasting emotional imprint. Groovy, atmospheric, raw and beautiful; none forgettable. The overall feeling is reminiscent of classic fairy tales: haunting, not frightening, just slightly beyond the edges of adult logic.

The Belle Hahn Connection

Birth of Reason’s own Belle Hahn has a connection to the film as well.

Belle is the host of Birth of Reason and the interviewer behind many of our ‘Incredible Human’ segments. Her own artwork was the focus of one of our most widely-viewed episodes to date, and she appears throughout the series in dialogue with our founder Judi Weisbart.

Birth of Reason exists to connect art, big ideas, and real-world impact, spotlighting creators and change-makers who use their work to address cultural and global challenges. Belle Hahn excels at connecting interesting and interested people.

She introduced us to the director and the young talent behind Stand By Mother, making it possible for Birth of Reason to engage with this project directly. The Hahn family has been involved in Stand By Mother from its early stages as a theatrical production, and Belle even uplifted the work by hosting her birthday celebrations around the stage production’s debut and launch.

Her daughter Colette appears as the film’s Protector of the Animals and we’re grateful to have multiple team members with families who are actively involved in making art and supporting other artists.

A role unique to the screen adaptation, Mother Nature is portrayed by Belle’s own mother Thomasine Richards. She is perfect as the final magical being we’re introduced to, Richard’s delightfully husky voice is perfect for the part, lending itself to both tenderness and maturity. Belle told us that her mother always dreamed of having a film credit, so it was a joy to watch her deliver her performance so naturally. Her presence as Mother Nature taps into an energy that feels ancient, familiar, warm, and safe, bringing the climax of the story to a finish that feels hopeful and complete.

What’s Next

We asked what’s next for director Kerilee Gore. She said there aren’t any immediate plans, but after the premiere, what was clear was the outpouring of loving support the film received, and that audiences might relish a potential-next-chapter of this story. Another iteration of this story would have to make the biggest positive impact possible, and plans could be taking shape soon.

The filmmakers didn’t set out to make a massive splash, only to make honest art. It grew beyond its first purpose. You can see the stage origins. You can feel the community behind it. You can tell it was made quickly; none of that is disguised. It’s part of the film’s honesty.

“If even one of them walks away thinking ‘maybe I don’t need that plastic toy,’ I’ve succeeded.”
— Kerrilee Gore, quoted in Montecito Journal,
Steven Libowitz, “More Montecito at the Movies,” February 10, 2026.

To Kerrilee and the kids of Stand By Mother, you should feel an immense pride. You made something joyful, and you made something that matters. The beautiful aerial choreography by Autumn Lotus and dance compositions by Carin Tahouri, the cinematography and editing skills of Noah Freeman Hecht, and producer support from James Dudley and Trent Mata, make each pillar of the film’s authentic magic. The film celebrates youth artistry, community-based storytelling, and a hopeful message about the future of our environment. We loved seeing it, and we love supporting it.

That’s how local creative culture survives. Adults show up and loudly cheer for the young people in their lives and in their community. They invest attention. They use their platforms to amplify young voices. Projects like this grow because people decide to stand behind them.

Stand By Mother arrives proudly, centering its kids, their performances, and a soundtrack that lingers with you more than you might expect. It works because it’s an honest project. In a lineup of diverse films, this one is unique in its ability to remind everyone that film festivals aren’t just for celebrities. They’re for stories. We’re glad the Santa Barbara community and SBIFF clearly care enough to support a truly sincere film.

Follow us on YouTube (@theBirthofReason), Facebook (/thebirthofreason), and Instagram (@birthofreason) for more interviews and behind the scenes moments from our collaborators.

Don’t miss our ongoing web series. Each episode focuses on one sculpture in Judi Weisbart’s World Series sculpture collection, each piece representing a provocative or challenging humanitarian topic. Judi shares her artistic insight, personal stories, and reflections on the challenges facing our world. Also featuring interviews with youth artists, notable philanthropists, and more!

For more interviews with these young actors and other youth artists, subscribe at birthofreason.substack.com.

No algorithms. No noise. Just real storytelling delivered to your inbox.

Subscribe now

The 2026 Essay and Poetry Awards Program for Santa Barbara County youth winners have been announced, and I was in the audience as a select few performed their entries. It was eye-opening and deeply fulfilling to hear young people speak with such determination and power. This contest is a core part of the annual MLKSB celebration, which has long partnered with community, faith, and nonprofit organizations across Santa Barbara County to create shared spaces for reflection, art, and dialogue. As part of that tradition, this year’s read-aloud performances by select finalists were hosted during a community worship service, bringing youth voices into a broader civic and communal setting.

For nearly two decades, the program has been a staple of the community. This year’s theme was leadership driven by justice and humanity and it wasn’t abstract. It came through clearly, personally, and with care in the students’ words.

Birth of Reason founder and artist Judi Weisbart couldn’t attend, so I was grateful to step in. I had never been to a Jewish service before and was genuinely excited to experience something new. I was welcomed immediately, helped to my seat, and drawn into a space filled with community, reverence, and joy, along with lively, collective singing.

The rabbi leading the service wasn’t who I ended up interviewing, but he embodied the warmth of the space. When a phone rang, he smiled and said, “Whoever’s phone is ringing, pick it up—it might be Moses.” It caught me completely off guard and made me laugh in a way I didn’t expect. My only real frame of reference for faith services was Catholic ones from early childhood, which I remember as formal and tightly structured. The ease behind this moment felt open, human, and alive.

Throughout the service, select winners stepped up to the microphone and were met with enthusiastic support. It’s soul-enriching to witness young people claim their voices. Each student brought Dr. King’s words into their own lives, looking at this year’s theme through their own questions, hopes, and perspectives.

Felicity, a sixth grader, spoke about responsibility through everyday kindness and helpfulness, delivering her piece with calm confidence. Stella, a seventh grader, used sharp alliteration and repetition, showing careful thought and emotional clarity.

One student stood out for the way she held the room. Arrow, an essay award finalist, spoke with a steady, grounded voice. Her delivery drew a clear response from the audience, culminating in a standing ovation. She moved through her essay without hesitation, speaking with intention and focus.

Afterward, Arrow took time to speak with me after being congratulated by members of the congregation, faith leaders, and representatives from the MLK Committee of Santa Barbara. Reflecting on the experience, she said, “I’m super glad it went well. I’m proud of what I did. I’m grateful for all the praise.” She smiled and added, “I thought everyone was so nice.” Arrow is a sixth grader from Solvang.

When I asked what inspired her writing, she said, “When I heard Martin Luther King quotes about our leaders, it really spoke to me. I started thinking about what kind of leaders we need in our country and our world.”

She shared that the piece came together over two nights, followed by editing and repeated practice to memorize it. During her reading, she did not use notes or look down once, maintaining steady eye contact with the audience throughout.

I asked Arrow if she had ever considered running for political office one day. She smiled and said it’s not something she’s ruled out, answering thoughtfully and without hesitation. Listening to her, it was clear that many paths remain open to her. And honestly, that same feeling stayed with me for every student I had the pleasure of hearing speak that day.

Following the service, I sat down with Rabbi Maddi to ask her more about the collaboration that brought youth voices into this space. I’m saving that heartfelt conversation for a future article ~ so stay tuned.

This event, and the full weekend of programming, is not just a commemoration, but a living call to civic engagement and social justice. The youth essay and poetry awards are one powerful part of a broader effort to honor MLK and bring his message and method into the present moment.

At a time when division and intimidation are too often normalized, these students remind us of something essential: empathy is an active choice. Our young community members are the leaders already forming among us, and they’re showing what it looks like to speak with care, clarity, and empathy. Their voices matter. They connect us back to one another.

“We need leaders, not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Birth of a New Age, Buffalo, NY, 1958

“By following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I have found ways to perform acts of service to help my community and be a leader.”
— Felicity, How Leaders Should Act, MLKSB Essay entry, 2026

“Take the love you feel and show it
Until the entire world knows it.”
— Patricia, Lead with Love, MLKSB Poetry entry, 2026

“Dear Dr. King,
It’s me, a dreamer that woke up in your tomorrow…
not as an echo,
but as a heartbeat.”
— Stella, Letter to Dr. King from the Future, MLKSB Essa entry, 2026

We congratulate all essay and poetry finalists and thank every applicant, along with the families and community members who supported them.

If you couldn’t attend this year, or would like to donate or volunteer, please visit the Santa Barbara MLK Committee’s website at https://mlksb.org.

Thank you to the MLK Committee of Santa Barbara for years of steady commitment to justice and community.

And thank you, reader, for spending this time with Birth of Reason. We hope you enjoy our corner of the world, where art, humanity, and connection continue to meet.

“Our entire decision (to get married) was based upon whether or not we would lose money and how much we would lose,” SSI recipient Lewis Fredette told the Associated Press.

Fredette and his fiancée, Jennifer Updike, are both autistic and receive Supplemental Security Income. They got engaged in 2023, but have remained engaged rather than legally marrying. Their concern is straightforward: under SSI’s rules for married couples, they would receive less money each month and be allowed to keep less in savings.

Their situation is an example of what disability advocates call the marriage penalty.

It is not one law, and it does not affect every disability benefit in the same way. Instead, several federal benefit rules can make marriage financially dangerous for people who depend on programs such as SSI, certain Medicaid pathways, or Disabled Adult Child benefits.

For some couples, getting married means doing the math on what they can afford to lose.

Why marriage becomes a penalty

SSI is a needs-based program for people with very limited income and resources who are disabled, blind, or at least 65 years old. Unlike Social Security Disability Insurance, eligibility does not depend on someone's previous work history.

The program assumes that married people can share expenses. That assumption is built directly into how benefits are calculated.

In 2026, the maximum federal SSI payment is $994 a month for one person.

Two unmarried recipients could therefore receive as much as $1,988 combined.

If those same two people marry, the maximum payment for the couple is $1,491.

That is $497 less every month, or $5,964 less over a year, before considering other income that might affect their benefits.

Savings are treated differently, too.

One SSI recipient may have up to $2,000 in countable resources. Two unmarried recipients can therefore have $4,000 between them.

A married couple gets a combined limit of $3,000.

In other words, two people do not receive twice the financial room simply because there are now two adults to support. The couple is allowed only $1,000 more in countable resources than a single recipient.

If only one spouse receives SSI, another rule can come into play. Social Security may count, or “deem,” some of the other spouse’s income and resources as available to the SSI recipient. That can reduce the payment or eliminate SSI eligibility altogether.

The stakes can include health care and independence

The monthly SSI payment is only part of the problem saving money for emergencies.

For many disabled people, eligibility for public benefits is connected to health coverage and services that would be extraordinarily expensive to replace privately. The exact rules vary by state and program, but Medicaid is especially important because it can cover long-term services and supports that conventional health insurance may not provide.

Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services programs can include personal care, home health aides, habilitation, respite care, case management, supported employment, environmental modifications and other services that allow disabled people to live and participate in their communities rather than institutional settings.

That changes what “losing benefits” means.

For one person, it may mean less monthly income. For another, eligibility is connected to the person who helps them get dressed in the morning, equipment they need to move safely through the world, or support that allows them to work and live independently.

The National Council on Disability has specifically identified income and asset limits as a barrier to economic security for people with disabilities, including marriage penalties created when a spouse’s income and resources begin counting against eligibility.

The rules make financial stability risky

The limits affect people before marriage enters the picture.

A $2,000 individual resource limit leaves very little room for an ordinary emergency fund. A married couple has to stay below $3,000.

There are, of course, exceptions. The home someone lives in generally does not count toward the SSI resource limit. One vehicle may be excluded. Certain special needs trusts, ABLE accounts and property needed for self-support can also receive special treatment.

So the rule is not that SSI recipients are simply forbidden from owning anything, it’s more nuanced.

The problem is that ordinary, unrestricted savings remain subject to an extremely low ceiling. Building a cash cushion for an emergency can put eligibility at risk. Benefits cliffs can also leave someone earning too much to qualify for a program while still earning nowhere near enough to privately replace the services that program provided. The National Council on Disability has described exactly this problem as a barrier to employment and self-sufficiency.

The result can make some of the most basic steps toward financial stability unusually complicated: saving for emergencies, preparing for retirement, absorbing a medical bill, or accepting additional income without first calculating what other support might disappear.

When a private relationship becomes a benefits question

Legal marriage is not the only relationship status SSI considers.

Social Security rules allow two unmarried people who live together to be treated as a married couple for SSI purposes if they are found to be “holding themselves out” as married.

Current Social Security guidance says that can include telling other people they are married, referring to each other as a spouse, husband or wife, or using the same last name. SSA also notes that terms such as partner, boyfriend, girlfriend or fiancé may indicate that a couple is not holding themselves out as married.

That gives seemingly private choices a financial consequence: what a couple calls one another, how they present their relationship, and whether Social Security considers them spouses.

For people already trying to protect access to essential benefits, even defining a relationship can become bureaucratic.

Not every disability benefit works this way

SSDI based on a disabled worker’s own employment record generally stays the same when that person marries. Social Security explicitly says marriage does not change disability or retirement benefits paid on someone's own record.

SSI is different because it is means-tested. Household income, resources and marital status can affect the calculation.

Disabled Adult Child, or DAC, benefits have another set of rules. DAC provides Social Security benefits based on a parent's work record to qualifying adults whose disability began before age 22. In most cases, the recipient must be unmarried, and benefits usually end upon marriage. There are exceptions for marriages to certain other Social Security beneficiaries.

Medicaid is more complicated still. Eligibility and the consequences of marriage depend on the state and the particular Medicaid pathway involved.

So “disabled people lose their benefits when they marry” is not quite right.

The more accurate problem is that some of the programs most important to disabled people attach significant financial consequences to marriage, and those consequences can be severe enough to change whether a couple feels able to marry at all.

Marriage carries more than a financial value

Marriage is a legal status, but for many people it is also a religious sacrament, a cultural tradition, a public commitment, or part of how they understand family.

It also brings a package of legal recognition involving areas such as inheritance, taxes, family law and decision-making. Unmarried couples can recreate some protections through wills, powers of attorney and other legal documents, but doing so requires additional planning and does not make every situation equivalent.

For a couple that wants marriage, telling them simply to remain unmarried is not a neutral solution.

They are being asked to give up one form of recognition in order to protect another form of security.

These rules are policy choices

There is nothing inevitable about the current structure.

Congress has already considered several approaches to changing it.

The Marriage Equality for Disabled Adults Act, introduced in the House in 2025, addresses marriage restrictions affecting Disabled Adult Child beneficiaries.

The Eliminating the Marriage Penalty in SSI Act was introduced in both chambers to change the treatment of marriage for certain adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities receiving SSI.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers also introduced the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act, which would update SSI’s resource limits.

Those proposals take different approaches, and none by itself resolves every way marriage can interact with disability benefits. They do show that the current system is open to reform.

What reform could look like

Possible reforms include:

• raising SSI resource limits and indexing them to inflation;

• reducing the gap between individual and married-couple SSI benefits;

• changing spousal deeming rules that can make a partner’s income threaten eligibility;

• protecting access to Medicaid and long-term disability supports when people marry;

• removing marriage as a reason to terminate DAC benefits; and

• narrowing or eliminating SSI rules that treat unmarried couples as married based on how they present their relationship.

Disabled Americans should be able to build relationships without first calculating whether legal recognition will cost them the support they need to stay healthy and independent.

The details of benefit policy are complicated. The underlying issue is not.

A marriage license should not threaten a disabled person’s ability to live safely in their own home, receive necessary care, or remain part of their community.

Marriage equality remains unfinished while that tradeoff exists.

To learn more

SSA: Who can get SSI
SSA: 2026 SSI payment and resource limits
National Council on Disability: Toward Economic Security
DREDF: Advancing Marriage Equality Toolkit
CMS: Home & Community-Based Services

And yet, there are artists who move in the opposite direction—toward slowness, care, and attention. Artists who remind us that hope is not always something that shouts. Sometimes, hope listens.

Ashfika Rahman is one of those artists.

Through photography, textiles, installation, and deep community collaboration, Ashfika creates work that begins not with an image, but with relationship. Her practice listens before it speaks. It observes before it frames. It asks permission before it tells a story. And in doing so, it challenges many of the assumptions we hold about what art is for—and who it is meant to serve.

Ashfika’s work explores gender justice, displacement, climate vulnerability, and marginalized histories, particularly in contexts shaped by colonial legacy and environmental precarity. But her art is not about illustrating issues or translating pain for distant consumption. It is about presence.

About staying with complexity.

About honoring lived experience without flattening it into symbols or statistics.

Rooted in collective memory and community-held knowledge, her practice resists urgency. It does not rush to resolve. It does not promise answers. Instead, it bears witness. It makes space for stories that have long been excluded from dominant narratives—stories that are often spoken quietly, carried privately, or passed down through generations rather than recorded in official archives.

What makes Ashfika’s work so powerful is that it is not driven by visibility alone. In a culture that equates impact with attention and worth with exposure, her art offers a different ethic.

An ethic of dignity.

Dignity means allowing people to remain more than their trauma.
Dignity means refusing to turn suffering into spectacle.
Dignity means understanding that some stories must be held gently, not broadcast loudly.

Her work honors this distinction. It acknowledges that representation, without care, can replicate harm. That storytelling, without accountability, can extract rather than heal. And so Ashfika builds her practice around collaboration—inviting communities not just to be seen, but to be involved. To shape how their stories are held, shared, and remembered.

In doing this, her art becomes a form of quiet resistance.

Against erasure. Against simplification. Against the idea that progress must always be fast, loud, or disruptive to be real.

In a time of global fragmentation—political, ecological, spiritual—this way of working feels especially vital. We are living through overlapping crises: climate collapse, forced migration, widening inequality, and deep social fracture. It is tempting, in such moments, to look for hope in grand solutions or sweeping declarations. But Ashfika’s work reminds us that hope often arrives through smaller, more faithful gestures.

Through listening.
Through collaboration.
Through truth told with care.

Subscribe now

This is where art becomes light.

Not because it distracts us from the darkness, but because it teaches us how to see within it. Art, at its most essential, does not exist to decorate reality or escape it. It exists to help us remain human inside it. To feel without numbing. To remember without hardening. To stay present to one another when the world encourages distance.

Art holds what cannot be easily spoken. It preserves memory when systems fail. It creates space for grief, resilience, and meaning to coexist. And when practiced with integrity—as Ashfika Rahman’s work so clearly demonstrates—it becomes a vessel for justice, not by force, but by fidelity.

Fidelity to lived experience.
Fidelity to community.
Fidelity to truth.

This is why art continues to matter. This is why it remains a spark of hope in uncertain times. Because it reminds us that attention itself is an ethical act. That to truly see another person—to listen without rushing, to honor without claiming ownership—is already a form of repair.

This month, we honor Ashfika Rahman as a Spark of Hope for her unwavering commitment to humanity, storytelling, and justice through art. Her work reminds us that hope does not always arrive as a breakthrough moment or a triumphant ending. Sometimes it arrives quietly, patiently, through the simple but radical act of paying attention.

And in that attention, a different future becomes possible.

To support Ashfika:

https://www.vadehraart.com/artists/139-ashfika-rahman/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ashfikarahman47/?hl=en

Liked this article?

Consider subscribing for more – straight to your inbox!

Subscribe now

Birth of Reason is the culmination of my life and my beliefs.

“We need leaders, not in love with money, but in love with Justice; not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.”
— Martin Luther King Jr., August 11, 1956

My Heroes

I was blessed to find my three heroes when I was very young.

Mahatma Gandhi was my first. He fought for his people, fought for justice, fought for dignity and for human rights.

My second hero was Eleanor Roosevelt. She is best known for redefining the role of First Lady, becoming a powerful activist for human rights, civil rights, and social justice, and her pivotal role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) at the United Nations, earning her the title “First Lady of the World” to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Paraphrased she said, “Welcome, my fellow immigrants.”

My third hero is Martin Luther King Jr. He created a movement in my lifetime. Both Gandhi and Eleanor Roosevelt were before my time, so I read about them. But I remember Martin Luther King on television. I remember the feeling I had of pride overlaid with deep sadness and tears. I realized I lived in a society that was racist beyond measure.

Remembering the Civil Rights Movement

The civil rights movement began in the 1950s, and I have African-American friends who remember being told they had to use a different restroom, sit in a different part of the bus, or eat at a separate counter simply because of the color of their skin.

I have always found this incomprehensible—that one part of a society could completely control another, and that those in power could accept this as normal or humane. I have never understood it, and I never will.

I cannot imagine believing that power over another—especially someone weaker—would justify cruelty or humiliation. I cannot imagine making a child feel less than human. It breaks my heart still.

At moments like this, my own words can only go so far. When it comes to moral clarity, there is no better voice than Martin Luther King Jr. himself:

Martin Luther King Jr. always gave me hope. His dignity and respect for all mankind shaped the path I wanted to take as a human being.

In this article, as we approach Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I want to remind us why his life and teachings became a national holiday—what it means to be an American, but above all, what it means to be human.

Understanding History Without Turning Away

I understand our history, even when it is painful to face. I struggle with it, and I grieve the moral failure that allowed slavery to exist and persist for 246 years in the building of wealth—for the British, for Americans, and for the world.

The truth is that the United States of America would not exist as it does today without this history. Slavery has existed across civilizations for thousands of years, and acknowledging that does not excuse it—it underscores how deeply human beings have failed one another throughout time.

What matters to me is that out of this suffering emerged men and women of courage, conscience, and moral clarity who worked to end it. Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader who, in my lifetime, helped move our country forward toward dignity and justice for all Americans.

The Long Arc Toward Justice

Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of peaceful demonstrations and nonviolence. I’m sure that others had thought about this possibility—to face violence with nonviolent protests—but in the 1940s, he managed to create an environment doing just that, finally removing the British from India and creating a new world for us.

A Call to Conscience

Thank you to all these people for helping us see what needed to end. I honor all those who died so that I could live in a world of freedom.

We must not go back or accept any less than our highest nature—that of love, kindness, and the act of peace.

So this year, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we can all look into our own souls and make the decision where we stand, and with whom we want to be, for today and the future of our nation—or continued comforts, discomforts, anger, kindness.