Blog

So writing another blog update to the tune of Mars Volta. I can tell that I am getting to the bottom of my music collection if I am listening to Mars Volta willingly.

So all I have to say is WHAT IN THE HELL HAPPENED TO MARCH??? Somewhere between the huevoneria leading up to the weeklong festival of Semana un-Santa and the snail’s pace of business after the vacation, stalling from the munincipal office, total flaking out of my community counterparts on THREE projects. Yes count them THREE projects I find myself in the middle of April with very little to show for my artistic self:

Project #1
Trash monsters. Hmmm…. The two teachers I was preparing trash monsters for their class to decorate with trash decided to bail. Of course I found this out second hand…

Project #2
I had a gigantic storybook outlined on the rights of the child. My boss put me in touch with a local writer who she preferred to write the story (which fits in way better with ArtCorp priorities so I ash-canned my story). She has been promising to deliver the storyline for a month and continues to flake out. I asked her only to give me two sentences so I could work out at least a few sketches.. but alas NOTHING! As of today I have decided to give up on her and go for it.

Project #3
Trying to organize an event in Guatemala is a lot like herding cats. After setting up 4 meetings with men of the junta directive of the library to work with them to organize a Mother’s Day poetry/serenade festival I ash-canned them, grabbed my notebook and started going door to door myself with much better results as of yesterday.

Project #3.5
I have been working with the youth group of the library to write their own story. We finally have the story and the sketches done (As seen below) but my god, every week it is a new set of kids if any at all!

My time these past few weeks has been limited to learning how to clown, clowning, helping out in the library, teaching a couple English workshops, tracking down canvass/gesso and I really can’t figure out what happened to the rest. Nothing’s really happened.


Well that’s not entirely true. Somewhere between the incredible flakiness and communicational disconnect which seems to comprise the norm of “teamwork” in Guatemala a lot has progressed. I now cannot walk down the street without seeing someone I know and spending a good 5-10 minutes prattling. Prattling? That seems to be another art I’ve mastered in the past month. How to fill up airtime with the indirect, light banter that is essential becoming part of the Guatemalan girls’ club. For instance:

“Have you seen the price of tomatoes?”
“Oh the price of tomatoes?”
“Oh why yes.”
“How expensive!”
“Yes how expensive!”
“And the price of potatoes??”
“Why yes the price of potatoes!”
“The price of potatoes!”
“Oh yes the price of potatoes! Lord keep us!”

This can go on with any number of fruits, vegetables, breads, and household items. The trick is to kind of sing it back and forth to whomever you’re talking to and punctuate the conversation with lots of brief exaggerated facial expressions.

What else has gone on? Hmm….. I’ve made some great connections. Lucky for me I have three friends from home living near by. This has not kept me from making a few great Guatemalan friends. People I feel that I have known forever. Unluckily the majority of these guys are outside my town however I am developing a contigent of buddies here in Chiche. I like to sit and talk with my shoemaker friend: he can curse a Mexican blue streak and so can I. We laugh a lot. My neighborlady I have decided is fantastic. She doesn’t read or write or talk a whole lot but my god do we have fun when we go out dancing! She brought me food the other day. I almost cried I was so touched! I cooked lasagna for a bunch of people this weekend with rave reviews!The two friends that I have made that I click really well with are ex-boyfriend and girlfriend. I have to treat that very delicately. Other than that little detail it is really nice to connect well with two people that are my age and are dedicated to the same principles.

It’s great to finally know most people’s names and the rough sketch of their lives. To know how to maneuver the different ways people touch eachother while greeting. But best of all is walking through the street and saying hello to people. There is such of wealth of human warmth and kindness here. People say “Good Day, I hope it goes well for you.” And I feel like they mean it. I feel like I receive a whole lot of love and good will from passersby and I send it right back to them.

I suppose somewhere to that list of things that happened this past month I should mention that I split up with the person that, had things been ever so slightly different, I would have very happily married. I don’t want to give that I lot of airtime. I feel like I received an energetic refund these past few days from all the heart I gave trying to work through it and pull through it. May we both be well and happy. What begins with love returns to love and so it shall always be.

I am looking forward to this weekend. My other extra-ArtCorp gig that I picked up along the way is working with a Franciscan nun on empowerment and healing work with women and teens. We have worked out a big art-stravaganza…stay tuned for details. I have taken to the bible these past few weeks as I realize that it is the best organizing tool there is in this country. There is such a richness of empowerment to be created from biblical sources. I am so happy to have discovered a way to really reach people in Guatemala in their own language. Besides, if you want to destroy the master’s house you better learn how to use his tools.

;)

Be happy,