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a beautiful old face.. the smile... as he walks down a country road.. where i spot him and practically propel myself out of a moving car.. driven to him like a magnet...
one can imagine the years lived.. what history is carried within..... oh the stories and memories he could share...
we meet on the street.. she is walking towards me barefoot with a huge grin ear to ear......she slows down and pauses near me and touches my arm.......... i can see she wants to share exchanges, so i practice with the spanish I’ve been accumulating over years of studying on Skype and talk with her
I learn some about her family..the life she lives with her son that lives conveniently just around the corner......... surprised, as we are about to part, she invites me to walk along with her and back to her home.... these are the kinds of moments that remain indelible in my mind...... Inside she introduces me to many family members... including other elders and children.......with pride she shows me her family home.....along with the chickens...cats and dogs running amidst the yard......what they are cooking from the huge outdoor oven.. with its billowing smoke.......tortillas being made by the dozens....... and her bedroom off in a small sacred space of her own.... picking up items that are special to her... a radio that looks like it came from another era.....
45 mins later, with a stranger from another world.. yet not a stranger at all... she feels familiar.. like my grandmothers.. yet two women.... different tongues.... diff backgrounds, nationalities...... generations apart ... but same... Always the same denominator........
it's more about what we have in common.. our humanity, connections, than what separates us...
we part with a hug.. i take several photos.. mostly she has these huge bursting smiles.. i tell her how beautiful she looks... (to me the face is wrinkled with the history of time, a life long lived) .......embarrassed.. humbled... she hides her smile and part of her face... we say goodbye
“it’s impossible," said pride.
“it’s risky,"said experience.
“it’s pointless,” said reason.
“Give it a try,"
whispered the heart....
-unknown
an older ladies face peers from a dark opening..... when my gaze is elsewhere she watches me... but when i lift my head and turn her way she connects with me, holds steady staring....even exchanges a smile.... but then as if shy or uncertain she slips into the darkness.
her hand remains steady, resting on the ledge... alone it has an eerie feel, like a disconnected object, but it draws me in closer.... i cannot resist it when i know it is attached to someone who is lurking and peering at me from a dark space.
shortly thereafter , the hand finally moves away.. and closes the shuttered window.
for years I’ve collected vintage postcards from the caribbean........mostly jamaica and haiti.....but other islands..... and there are so many stacked up in my tin boxes and on the wall... I’ve often thought about creative ways to use them.. but also to keep them as document....
but then it came to me that it would be great to try to replicate some of my own images into a past-time capsule.. create vintage postcards that would be reflective of the ones i have spent years to collect..... and because a lot of the places i go and the photos i capture lend to the type of imagery that would have been made into postcards of the time
still reeling from the adrenalin rush of yesterday.. the feeling of solidarity versus the feeling of despair and confusion for the direction of this country the day before.....
a cabinet so appalling...unqualified or so contrary to the post they were appointed to lead... the white billionaires....oh excuse me one black...and sadly even he is unqualified for the position.. and the one woman who has never taught. gone to public school. sent her kids to public schools and cant remember that she gave 200 million dollars to the republican party....
.....and the charlatan of a president at the helm. i felt like we were going to be rudderless...
but NOOOO i remember we are our own rudders.... determining how we will iive our own lives.. day to day..... what change we can effect one another personally or globally........
WE the people are strong, able , intelligent, willing..diverse,compassionate.....
with tolerance, inclusion.. and so much more we can move mountains.. we have no other option if that’s what it will take and we are pushed to the core... called into action...... we are not going backwards ....and will never remain silent
this may have been penned a woman’s march.. but it was very much The Peoples March..it wasnts just about our bodies and rights. it was a call for a moral obligation to all of us... fundamental rights.... basic.
Good Sunday to all! my heart and mind remains open/ willing determined and defiant if need be.... hoping against hope the bark will be bigger than the bite...if not i can and will bite back
Thanksgiving....... gratitude....... Xmas.......celebrate.......New Years...... reflection....
As i look to the horizon....... i look back on the setting sun too...... not to just the last year.... but to all the years prior that led to the transformation of the woman i’ve become today..... to the world i have read about in stories and seen in movies before my arrival.. to the one i've lived as a child... an emerging adult and to the world we have inherited in the present.....
there is so much to contemplate.... achievements..failures... strengths.... weaknesses ... sadness... joy...... fear.....hope.... grief......wonder.......Resolve...intention.....
what do we want for our future?? ourselves? others? our world?
where ever you are at this moment in life... my wish is that all of you traverse this time and place with ease and courage.....to walk in your unique life.. with purpose and pride...
live openly as you can bc this world when we to take notice is incredibly abundant.. even and more so, in the treasure trove of small gems and moments..... people , places and experiences.....
i hope 2016 and beyond is good to all of us . much love on this drizzly warm sunday morning.......
in the still of the nite.. when silence wraps itself around you..and your mind begins to quiet from all the murmurings of the day ..you can begin to feel your heart beat...your breath..your solitary thoughts ... your lifes blood pulsate....mingled with memories. dreams.. all that you love and hold dear... the brain free falls.. lets go of all its constraints....finally succumbing to sleep and the free unconscious mind..
