Full of JOY! I feel like I’m walking on clouds, slowly climbing higher and higher till I reach my cruising altitude. I am preparing to go back to Kabul for a month of trainings and am thrilled to see my work build on itself. The first two groups I trained are coming back and I will be offering them new cultural tools for community engagement, collective problem solving and local healing. After this advanced workshop, a few members will stay with me to co-facilitate a brand new training with 3 new groups!

Just like a creeping vine, the roots are spreading downwards and the leaves are climbing upward. Radical theory and technique are getting a chance to take root and adapt in a new place. A few more rounds of this and a network of culture workers in Afghanistan will be able to collectively work together to address larger scale issues! And isn’t that what it’s all about? Big change, big dreams, having a big life?

And speaking of having a big life, I have BIG NEWS! My proposal to the Fulbright Commission was accepted and I will be in India, for 7 months next year, doing research on traditional Parsi embroidery for my new play “Paisley”! I’ll be a Fulbright Scholar.

This will allow me to work more closely with South and West Asian artists and scholars broadening networks of cultural activists!

Slowly and deliberately creative change takes root. When it blossoms, our static reality is transformed into something living!

So how can you support this work, simply and freely?

I’m going to end my emails blasts so sign up on the blog. No passwords, no B.S. just new updates every so often.
Tell someone about these projects and get them excited. The more information people have about cultural activism, the more more likely it is to succeed.
Hope springs eternal so don’t believe the hype about Afghanistan, or any other place or people, being hopeless. Cynicism is a form of oppression and it paralyzes us. You don’t have to believe in magic but do believe in deliberate, thoughtful action.

See you in Kabul ….

Kayhan.