Summer Vibes
Be kind to yourself as you roll and glide through the season.
Some seeds I planted in my work life are taking shape and spreading out.
Speaking of spreading out, my garden has seen so many changes in the last few months. Little tiny shoots just inches long, poking out of the edge of the soil have opened into lush, wide, leafy mounds that I can sit inside of! Seeing them transform makes me ask, What is our inherent creative capacity?
Looking at them the answer seems to be: It is to grow as wide and big and in whatever way we do.
But when I think about growing as my spirit intends I start to think of limits placed on me. Growing freely means defying the space “given” to us in a society based on creating boundaries and enforcing borders.
To be creative (in all ways) is a subversive process. To claim our natural curiosity and growth impulse - like a leaf does - is to live and spill outside of pre-determined limits.
The plants offered me a rich reminder that the creative spirit we live with, and that lives within us, is boundless. Even (especially) when we cannot put words around what we are trying out and reaching for.
What dimensions are you stretching into?
Here are some ways my creative work is spreading out:
I spoke with the folks at Columbia University’s Program in Narrative Medicine in animating self and relationships through body language. View the recording on YouTube.
An essay I wrote on Afghan theater-making & leadership was published in A Grassroots Leadership & Arts for Social Change Primer. A print and e-book are available.
The There is a Portal digital story is almost ready to launch! We are preparing for the Beta Test and building our relationships and plans for how the work will live in community as a resource to immigrant, refugee, and dispossessed people’s storytelling.
Speaking of boundless creativity, the dispossessed Afghan families I’ve been walking with inspire me with their creativity and all the ways they are making and holding life. Here’s an update:
Two families have been offered resettlement by Canada!! They are waiting in Pakistan for flights and medical screening. One had been offered a fellowship at UC Santa Cruz but wouldn’t leave his elderly parents back in Afghanistan, as US migration regulations dictate.
One family had their humanitarian parole application submitted by a pro bono lawyer, we tracked down so many letters of reference and support for his case. Congresswoman AOC even wrote a letter!
One family is still in hiding in Afghanistan.
One single male is in limbo. I’ve helped him get a mini-grant to continue his work collecting lullabies and stories that Hazara women pass on to their children. His work will aid cultural continuity through this tremendous fracture.
I continue to raise funds to support their daily survival and to uplift the vibrant and rich culture and knowledge ways that Afghans hold.
Give here or contact me for other methods.
Speaking of culture and growing and spreading - it’s watermelon season! My family, like many Iranians, Afghans, Indians and others, are in heaven! What’s your happy watermelon moment?!