I dragged my feet all the way to El Paso three years ago. I did not read one nice thing about the city prior to my arrival. But my husband wanted to give it a try, and I thought I owed him that chance. I tried to shut my mouth and keep an open mind before I got there.
I fell in love with the place.
It was stressful for us in El Paso this last go-round. Now that I'm in Iowa, that's what I say. But, a video arrived in my email inbox this morning, igniting my heart. It's a performance from April's Border Book Festival [when I saw Amy Goodman speak] by two visiting artists: Perla Batalla, singing La Llorona and Luis Rodriguez reciting his poem "My Name is Not Rodriguez."
I don't know why this grabs me so hard. There is nothing in my past that connects with any of this. But it grabs me hard:
9 comments:
Hi B
It is easy to see why it grabs you. That is excellent and it grabs you at the first pick actually!
Hey, thanks for watching it, Jim! I love it so much that I have tuned in off and on all day. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. You know I really appreciate you.
Another uninformed rant against whitey. It's not like we did anything bad if you don't count our first 400 years over here.
I fell in love with the Southwest as a seven year old child living in Arizona and New Mexico and then returning at regular intervals for years until my thirties. There is a feeling in the people that you don't find anywhere else. This song and poem were beautiful.
Ain't nothing like being in the desert at night well away from the city lights with the galaxy blazing overhead.
"There is nothing in my life that connects with this," you say.
I had an experience like this in India. Indians, in their wonderful ways, used to tell me that I had been an Indian in a past life.
Maybe. Who knows?
And also isn't a wonderful feeling to 'connect'?
Randal: I hate whitey too. Hey, wait a minute, I'm whitey. ...nevermind.
Jamie, it just gets in your blood. Glad you liked the vid. That's cool we have the SW in common.
Beach Bum: Amen, and I've got an even better post coming up for stars at night.
Claire: BINGO. That's it EXACTLY! Thanks for sharing that.
Oh how I've missed you these past busy weeks. Very intense meditation. Thank you for sharing!
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