Mary Wade to Hold Trayvon Book Launch in MT Airy

Mary Wade’s scholarly writing and work usually center on spiritual topics. She’s published many writings and did her doctoral dissertation on the spirituality of Howard Thurman. She is the founder of the spirituality and mindfulness group Elevating Our Nation (EON), and coordinates workshops like the recent “Aging Gracefully” through Building Respect in Communities, a ministry of Wayland Temple Baptist Church in North Philadelphia. Now Wade is integrating her love of the arts with spirituality and social commentary in her new book, “Can You See Me Now: Poems, Prayers, Songs for Trayvon Benjamin Martin.” She will hold a book launch at a private residence in Mount Airy on Aug. 30 and will host other book signings through her church and nonprofit group affiliations in September. “I was actually in Washington, D.C. doing research at George Mason University when I heard the verdict,” Wade said. “The decision totally distracted me from my work. The title came to me and I immediately just started writing down my thoughts. “It was an inspiring process. The work just came through me, so I put down the project I was working on about Howard Thurman and kept writing. The result was 22 spiritual poems. Since I was in D.C. I just ran over to the Library of Congress and put the copyright on it,” Wade said. In fact the new volume was a spiritual catharsis for Wade. The matured adult scholar and writer found many similarities between her life and that of Martin, she said. Growing up in North Philadelphia from an ordinary family, she was not groomed to go on to higher education or a professional career. “Many of the teachers and others I encountered [prejudged] me based on my background or just by looking at me. Sometimes I even thought those things about myself. That was before I knew that God has important work for me to do,” Wade said. Consequently, in many ways Wade feels that Martin was stereotyped as she was based on the fact that he was a young ordinary African-American male wearing a hooded jacket. In her book Wade intuits that Martin may have had a calling to bring up those difficult spiritual questions about race, class and ethnicity many Americans avoid facing. Before and since the jury’s decision Wade has attended rallies and vigils for Trayvon. She said she felt the sacred connection with the adolescent even amid a crowd of more than 700. “It’s just like when I was first working on a work about Howard Thurman I felt that spiritual connection,” Wade said. “I felt it with Trayvon Martin and this is why I had to write this. It’s something deeply religious about this experience. I think that this book brings the spiritual centered approach to resolve deep feelings after that decision.”