Thank You NET Weaver

The following poem was built from language and ideas from the folks who could share their gratitude at Dinner with Alisha Tonsic, NET’s former Executive Director on June 21, 2024, over Zoom and at the Blue Parrot Studio in Chicago during the TCG Conference.

Thank you NET weaver.

Your drop set into motion circles that continue to ripple. Please receive this gift of resilient spirals.

We have been connected from the past to the present. We admire your extraordinary powers of attraction. Your mentor thanks you with lessons you taught.

Frivolity bringing magic.

Hears to all the years of making things happen and those to come. We will thank you in private and thank you in song. We love the way you show up. You made space for broadening the definition of what we do together. 

NET has been formative to lives. The planning , the building, the intentionality, the relationships. We found ways to say yes. Thank you for the yesses into the future.

We breathe together.

Gracious. Rigor. Perseverance.

Through obstacles, through crisis, through laughter and joy. We do the impossible and ridiculous with care. Our mentorship is an intricate web of relationships we continue to spin in new ways.  Beautiful. Valuable. Leadership makes that possible.

We think expansively.  Theater is more than only what we are thinking it is.  Theater is for all people.

Salut. Gracias.

We continue to thank you. Your Kindness. Humor.  Brilliance about all things budget. Shrewdness and Persistence.  Care and strength.  We are grateful and excited for what is next. We thank you intergenerationally.  We breathe together. We thank you from notes from afar, digital spaces, and the meal table. 

We will carry with us your commitment to accessibility in details big and small.  Cheers to you.  Thank you for our time together and the tremendous work.  Seeing you get your due is almost too much to bear. You made our contributions feel valuable and meaningful. We love your case of kindness in a spine of steel.  Thank you for your stubbornness.

Thank you from living in your values. Integrity pushes us. That is healing.

Your name is spoken in room you are not in.  Your name is an inspiring refrain. You echo our gratitude. You’ve come to us for help and you’ve taught us. You balance the rational and irrational that we cannot live without.

We thank you for the things you’ve done that no one sees.

Thanks for your bravery.

Always knowing you were going to be in the trenches gave us comfort.

We keep naming the moments. 

The memories.

Thank you for pioneering caregiving initiatives for the field. 

We look forward to finding eachother in the future. 

Poem Created by Claudia Alick out of the 15.75 toasts shared