The Sun

My son is about to celebrate his first year on earth

I am shepherding a new life as I steer toward a new paradigm.

My family went into lockdown on Friday the 13th of March. In these two and a half weeks I’ve reached the conclusion that no matter how grumpy I get, the sun won’t stop shining. Sounds funny, but I’ve caught myself on a number of occasions grumbling about the sunny clear skies. Why won’t my surroundings mirror and comfort me exactly as I need them to? I see the buds bursting on the trees outside — spring flowers aren’t subject to our regulations nor do they bend to our desires.

I’m grateful to have become a mother this year. As a support my son to grow into his fullest self, to explore the world and make room for him to do so safely (who knew everything in my living room was a hazard to a small life?) I am pulled back from the thoughts of terror and uncertainty to the concrete and real. To watch him, all joy and pulsing life, I am witness to the cyclical nature of everything. Beginning, Middle, and End. The earth won’t stop turning toward the sun no matter how much we exert ourselves and create worlds that defy nature. My son won’t stop growing and dreaming because he can’t play outdoors.

During the huge shifts we are undergoing each one of us will inevitably face our inner voice - both the unconscious, unhealthy patterns of thought as well as the higher self.  

Which one will you listen to? Which one will you breath life into?

My latest one-woman show and community building project, There is a Portal will continue. I am convening a fabulous pedagogical and community engagement team and in the fall, we will work across 5 freshmen seminar courses at Queens College to create networks of belonging across race/class/gender and across campus. How might a new student see their world and the possibilities it holds if welcomed into their educational journey through participatory storytelling, deep listening, and personal-political explorations of history? I’m eager for the question to unfold.

In 2003 I created a one-woman show to raise awareness and repair the damage that had been wrought in so many lives after 9/11. I’m pasting the text of my artist’s statement below. Just replace COVID 19 with 9/11.

Image by Gazelle Samizay

Whether it’s man-made crisis or natural rhythms, we are offered the opportunity to try again.

To move in a new way in order to create a new story.

We are being pulled through a portal toward the unknown.

We are being shown what is possible if we all move together - in the direction of healing and hope.

With love,
Kayhan

Celebrating Spring

It's the day after Noruz, Persian New Year, celebrated by people all over West and South Asia and the diaspora.  Here in NYC, I finally got my fire going after the blizzard and so many regressive changes since January put a freeze on things.

This is what's making me hopeful and what I'll be working on for the next stretch of time:

Art: Stedroy Cleghorne

 

The Path Home: multimedia story project bringing out voices of immigrants who got a pathway to citizenship during our nation's first and only legalization program in 1986.

We're creating a public engagement format to use the video in a dynamically structured setting where audience members can enter into a conversation with the stories of the past.
Want to see this come alive? We need support to fully build the model, test it with our community partners, and take it on the road. Contact me if you can help.

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Photo: Marisol Diaz at Pepatian's Bronx Artist Showcase

 

Dialogue. We need it, lots of it. Reach out if there are ways I can help you structure, design, or facilitate community dialogues on pressing issues. Every group, organization, and space can do this. With a little attention and help you can grow beautiful new community connections.

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Painting: Aliza Nisenbaum, on exhibit at Whitney Biennial

 

Myself and a group of Immigrant heritage women are creating a series of home learning circles to build mutual support networks for immigrant and refugee rights. We need help to get this off the ground. If you are interested, we'd love to hear from you.

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May warmth and tenderness enter the little spaces inside you and heal what hurts.
May those spaces sprout flowers for the new day.