GIVE ME THE WIND, the water, and the touch of someone close. And give me stories. Stories of clear-eyed humans, of paths lined with golden wheat that sways in the sun, trod by brave souls undertaking important journeys.
ON SEPTEMBER ELEVEN, I cannot help but think of violence and tyranny for various reasons. Of course there is the obvious violence that tore apart Manhattan in 2001 and infected our reasoning and society with febrile veins of fear. But then, there are other tyrannies that found the date of September 11 a comfortable roost.
I CARRY THE HARD DARK WEIGHT of that day with me still. But it does not poison me, as the air of NYC did, sending me retching down the street with lungs seizing to expel the tainted air. Nor does it rest, or will it settle into muck, or septic sediment within my soul. That blast of toxin and heat has, instead, lit me on fire and blooms within like a tree of lightning.
THIS WEEK, two comprehensive reports on the health of immigrant detainees were released by Human Rights Watch and the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. let there be no doubt that in the custody of ICE, immigrants are, literally, “dying for decent care.”
MY HOPE IS THAT WE CARRY THIS FORWARD. This energy now rising. That we all carry on with this decision to work for a new day and a new way of seeing. A way out of the hate and the fear and the small-minded paradigms that keep us running in circles as we try to spiral up to the Top of the Shining Heap and step on other hands to get there. That we continue to open our minds and our hearts and become this change we want so much to believe in.
NEVER FORGET. This is what many people say about September 11th, 2001. I say it, too. Though I’m not sure I mean it in the same way. Herein is a tale, including diary entries made from NYC during the WTC explosions, of the changes that those horrifically violent and altogether terrifying events inspired in me. They changed me forever, and in some ways, I would be unrecognizable to you now, had they not occurred.
House of Nezua
the XOLAGRAFIK theater!
