FIREFLIES
12/12/22
Kendall Johnson — Writer & Visual Artist
Although the News Gives Us Reasons for Despair
We Remember Hedgehogs’s Story:
Hedgehog’s Story
As Nazis marched into Paris in 1940, many French citizens accepted allegiance to Marshal Pétains collaborationist “Vichy” government. A valiant few did not. When the leader of the French Resistance was arrested, he selected Marie-Madeleine Fourchade to lead in his place. She chose her code name — Hedgehog — and set out to recruit her team of operatives, pilots, couriers. Their mission: avoid and sabotage Nazi occupiers and their Vichy collaborators in conjunction with British intelligence by gathering information, attacking telephone and rail facilities, and even hiding and returning downed Allied aircrews. Marie-Madeleine was captured four times and escaped four times. While many of her fellow citizens kept their heads down, Hedgehog risked everything to stand up to the darkness.
for this time, here
you are born the great bird
a messenger
* * *
Amidst narratives of despair, we must refocus on the small points of light all around. I’m a former trauma therapist and on-scene disaster consultant, a teacher, a painter, and now a writer. Last year I found hope in gathering stories of individuals persevering against all odds to overcome despair. Fireflies Against Darkness was my first collection of such stories, and More Fireflies, just released, the second. As current events become the spectacle of darkness for another year, I find myself working on a third collection. I want to share them with you.
Adapted from
Fireflies Against Darkness series
Arroyo Seco Press
www.arroyosecopress.org/books.html
www.layeredmeaning.com
