OUR BODIES ARE BATTLE GROUNDS
A few weeks ago I went to a Subversive Gynecology Conference at one of the Universities in Valpo. It was incredible. I went alone, without really knowing anybody who was going to be there (facebook told me about the event). We were about 60 or 70 total and we created a big circle made of women bodies (and a couple of little kids). For two days we talked together, in a loosely structured way about the female body, about women sexuality, menstruation, abortion, birth, body politics and the importance of self-knowledge.
Some of the ideas that I most loved that came out of passionate and personal conversations that we had:
We are all creators.
I am you. We are the same. If I love myself, I love other women as well.
Love fuels revolution.
I left feeling really lovely and connected to every single one of the gorgeous women that I met there.
MUSIC AND NONVERBAL LANGUAGE
Also, about a month ago, I was playing violin up on the roof patio when somebody said “vecino, o vecina de violin?” (violin neighbor?) and a head appeared above the wall that connects our house to the neighbor´s patio. He said he´d been looking all over for a violinist and invited me over to jam a little with him and the other neighbor. They then asked me to play in their band (la banda de los amigos) and since then we´ve been playing together regularly in bars and restaurants near our house(s).
Here´s a video of another one of the neighbors´ bands, The Pilsen. I played a show with them the other day. Here we are. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-kSQawhdg0
It´s pretty great to have music friends in my life, and I am reminded how important the ability to play fiddle is for me. I recently learned in my linguistics class that 70-90 % of all human communication is non-verbal. This makes sense, especially when thinking about the fact that I can articulately speak a phrase musically in a way that I sometimes can´t in Spanish.
Beyond music, I´ve also been noticing other ways in which I communicate nonverbally with people around me, whether it be by the way in which I walk on the street, different kinds of eye contact, laughter, touching, dancing, greeting, shifting, miming (I mime so much more without even noticing sometimes, to accompany or replace words). These movements and other ways of sending messages are what some call vibes or “ondas” and, if you pay attention to them, you can learn so much about your surroundings, what´s happening with a relationship, etc. Intuition is pretty nifty, and useful.
SEED POWER
Chile, along with many South American countries, is participating in the worldwide movement against Monsanto, the huge creater of GMOs that is taking over global agriculture. I went to a march against Monsanto and GMOs the other day here in Valparaiso, and to a seed sharing event in a park afterward. Even though I didn´t have any organic seeds to give away, a bunch of people gave me seeds (I filled my pockets with little pieces of paper wrapped around carrot, quinoa, green been, bell peppers, hot peppers, and sunflower seeds). A couple of days later I planted some of those magical little things in the Earth at my friend Moisés´house. He has a garden that we´ve been clearing out and organizing for a little while, and now it has real stuff happening inside of it. A pretty nice feeling thing to do, both for myself because it´s great to dig around in the dirt and nurture life but also in the political context…seed saving is very important especially in light of the corporate takeover of plant species, land, and farming practices. Simple and important.