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Stories of resistance and empowerment
Our Healing Bells blog is a space for voices that resist, transform, and uplift. Through healing arts, musical storytelling, and co-creation, we amplify the strength of survivors of all genders; of feminists, womxn, and LGBTQIA2S+ communities.
Rooted in compassion and interdependence, each story invites empathy, courage, and reflection. From forced migration to gender-based violence, our contributors transform silence into expression, complicity into resistance, and trauma into empowerment. Join a global community grounded in social justice, creativity, and collective healing.
Stay tuned for new posts every Tuesday!
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How did social activists Frederick Douglass & Susan B. Anthony listen and respond?
Walking through Mount Hope Cemetery became a quiet lesson in courage. There, the resting places of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony whisper of justice, persistence, and hope. Their voices still rise in the wind, reminding us that progress asks for struggle and that compassion remains a form of resistance. We carry their light forward each time we choose to listen, to act, and to believe in a more just world.
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3 days ago4 min read
"I thought of my whole body as an ear." Deep listening inspired by Civil Rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou
Inspired by Dr. Maya Angelou’s deep listening, this reflection by Dr. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra explores how art, memory, and the senses become pathways to healing and justice. From silence to empathy, from trauma to transformation, we are invited to listen with our whole bodies to stones, rivers, and one another, and to rediscover the power of belonging, care, and creativity in shaping a more compassionate world.
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Oct 143 min read
What are the 8 Stages of Listening? Learn how they transform relationships!
Discover the 8 Stages of Listening in Compose for Change: Healing Arts, a Healing Bells course launching this January. Learn how deep, compassionate listening transforms relationships and communities through creativity, empathy, and care. Join a journey where art becomes healing, attention becomes love, and every story finds a listener.
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Oct 74 min read
La tierra está cansada (The earth is tired)
The earth is tired weaves healing, belonging, and resilience through memory, women’s voices, and the land itself. It’s a story of exhaustion and care, of how both soil and survivors need rest to flourish. Rooted in interdependence, this piece invites us to slow down, honor our bodies, and let nature restore balance. In collective action and stillness, we reclaim justice, nurture strength, and create the possibility to heal and bloom again.
Yurani Cubillos
Sep 303 min read
La tierra está cansada
La tierra está cansada entreteje sanación, pertenencia y resiliencia a través de la memoria, las voces de las mujeres y la propia tierra. Es una reflexión sobre el cansancio y el cuidado, de cómo tanto el suelo como las sobrevivientes necesitan descanso para florecer. Enraizado en la interdependencia, este tejido nos invita a bajar el ritmo, a honrar nuestros cuerpos y a dejar que la naturaleza restaure el equilibrio. En la acción colectiva y en la quietud, reclamamos justici
Yurani Cubillos
Sep 303 min read
Save the Evidence No Matter What: Tad DeLuca on Letters that Proved His Case
In this week’s Healing Bells blog, Tad DeLuca reflects on the power of evidence. Letters he saved from 1975 became undeniable proof that the University of Michigan knew about abuse and did nothing. Decades later, those papers not only redeemed his truth but also helped over a thousand survivors come forward. Tad shows how keeping records, no matter how painful, can root out lies and bring justice, healing, and belonging even after fifty years.
Tad de Luca
Sep 236 min read
La historia personal de Alexandra Ruiz Costas sobre la sanación a través del arte.
Alexandra Ruiz Costas, Secretaria de la Junta de Healing Bells y Co-Directora de la Colectiva por Andrea: Sanarte, compartió valientemente en Ni une más la historia de su hermana Andrea, asesinada tras no recibir protección de las autoridades. A través de la música y la danza, Alexandra encontró un espacio de sanación, donde pudo llorar, nombrar su dolor y transformarlo en memoria viva. El arte se volvió un puente de justicia, cuidado y comunidad.
Alexandra Ruiz Costas
Sep 165 min read
Alexandra Ruiz Costas’ personal story on healing through arts engagement
Alexandra Ruiz Costas, Board Secretary of Healing Bells and Co-Director of Colectiva por Andrea: Sanarte, bravely shared her sister Andrea’s story in Ni une más. Despite Andrea’s efforts to seek protection, she was murdered by her ex-partner. Through music and dance, Alexandra discovered a path toward healing, reclaiming her grief as part of her own story. Art became a vessel of justice, memory, and belonging, ensuring Andrea’s spirit will never be forgotten.
Alexandra Ruiz Costas
Sep 165 min read
Kay Hanna-DeLuca: What honeybees can teach us about community
From pollinator flowers to the hive, honeybees show us what interdependence, loyalty, and compassion mean in practice. Each bee holds a role, each gesture protects the collective. In her garden and beekeeping journey, Kay Hanna-DeLuca reflects on how tending to the hive mirrors tending to our own communities. To heal, to belong, to rise together, we can learn from the bees: support one another without hesitation, and balance thrives.
Kay DeLuca
Sep 94 min read
Back to School! Compose for Change: Healing Arts class
At Healing Bells we believe education and the arts can reset, heal, and transform. Our new course, Compose for Change: Healing Arts, invites participants to engage with urgent social issues through creativity, research, and trauma-informed practice. From storytelling to dance, from painting to poetry, art becomes activism and care. Together we nurture belonging, justice, and resilience while building a supportive global community.
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Sep 24 min read
My University of Michigan wrestling story, Part Two: Redemption
This blog entry by Tad DeLuca is Part Two of a series. Please read his August 19 entry first for context. From October of 2019 until...
Tad de Luca
Aug 266 min read
My University of Michigan wrestling story: how a good thing went horribly wrong
Tad DeLuca, a University of Michigan wrestler, endured years of abuse by team doctor Robert E. Anderson, ignored and mocked by his coach. In 2018, inspired by survivors of Larry Nassar, he came forward again—this time, police found 50 others with the same story. After 45 years of disbelief, Tad finally found the redemption of being believed. His journey is one of resilience, justice, and reclaiming his voice.
Tad de Luca
Aug 197 min read
Everyone deserves to be believed; Ni une más provides a healing community
In resonant tones we speak, “Oh believe her… she’d still be alive if you had listened.” Ni une más becomes our vow, our song against silence. This musical tribute calls us to witness, to hold survivors—with art as our compass, healing as our shared path. From Andrea’s plea to the gymnasts’ courage, from Dr. Elizabeth’s WomanSafeHealth to principles of listening, protection, and respect; this is trauma-informed care, justice, and collective belonging. We rise together.
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Aug 133 min read
Five Stages of Healing from Trauma
"This doesn’t happen at Michigan!" is the ironic start to revealing a pattern of systemic abuse. This blog explores the 5 stages of healing from trauma: shame, blame, name, tame, and reclaim. Through the arts and survivor community, victims find strength to externalize pain, challenge gaslighting, and reclaim their identity. Learn how embodied storytelling creates space for justice, validation, and deep transformation.
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Aug 55 min read
The Wound is Where the Light Can Enter: Finding Pockets of Joy in the Midst of Grief
Grief carries a heavy weight, especially when tied to the beauty of everyday life. In this tribute to Gaby Jaime, I reflect on our quiet Sunday traditions and the deep bond we built over time. Through Dosis de Alegría, a WhatsApp group created to share joyful moments during her final months, I discovered that even in the deepest sorrow, small joys can guide us back to hope and connection.
Yurani Cubillos
Jul 294 min read
Why lean into trauma? Ni une más.
Lew Towler, born July 21, 1925, was a WWII Seabee, music lover, and dear friend. He believed beauty heals suffering. In his 80s, we shared organ lessons, oysters, and stories of trauma and joy. His belief in others fostered deep connection. At Healing Bells, we carry forward his legacy by standing with survivors and breaking silences that perpetuate harm. In his memory, we say Ni une más—no more silence, no more violence, no more lost lives.
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Jul 225 min read
Lorde & Ahmed on Silence: how other activists impact Healing Bells
At Healing Bells, we honor the legacy of arts activists like Audre Lorde and Sara Ahmed. Their voices inspire empowerment, strength, and creativity in our work. Through poetry and feminist thought, they challenge silence around gender-based violence and uplift community, social justice, and healing. This blog celebrates womxn, LGBTQ voices, and survivors—centering collaboration, co-creation, and interdependence as paths toward balance, rest, and wellbeing.
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Jul 152 min read
Tree Talks at Healing Bells: where stories root and rise
Welcome to our new Healing Bells site—rooted in healing arts, musical storytelling, and creative collaboration. From Ni une más to global projects, we co-create with survivors, womxn, and the global majority to transform trauma into empowerment. Through arts activism and community interdependence, we uplift courage, empathy, and wellbeing. Join us in this movement for balance, support, and social justice—where creativity thrives, feelings are valid, and every story carries st
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Jul 82 min read
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