Nourish your spirit

My friend, Vik, here in Buenos Aires says that you should "never let anyone break your spirit". I add that you should always nourish your spirit. I have learned so much from my two friends here in Argentina: Vik and Iz. I am, of course, using different names to preserve privacy.

What does it mean to make your spirit grow? This is a question society is asking in a number of ways: how can I make myself smaller, larger, curvier, straighter, prettier, less plain, more like Madonna, more like Brad Pitt and the list goes on. At the heart of all of the requests for the change are the necessity to have love for our spirits (our inner essence/being, if you will) and to love and accept who we are. We understand that we as human beings are not complete if we do not love who we are creating: ourselves.

It seems that we are always changing or accepting the ways in which life and society wishes to change us. This inner/outer vehicle of combustion and evolution is ourselves and it seems that we wish to create trappings to harness our vehicles of operation. I ask myself: why do I sell myself short? And, I ask myself this over and over and over. It seems that infinity is littered with what I could have done better, maneuvered better, said in a different manner. Yet, in the end, my vehicle has evolved; I am improved. And, I am improved because I have made a decision to continue, to search, seek out --and essentially--to fight.

What am I fighting for? I would say justice in a variety of levels. Justice for the spirit, liberation of the heart, and a better way of living through artistic expression. I am disillusioned when I feel that my fight has taken too long, that my spirit has been diminished and that it seems all my work has been for naught. Nevertheless, Divine Mercy (which must be capitalized for obvious reasons and respect--regardless of grammatical conventions) intervenes and thrusts me back onto the path or a new path where I can continue to work and perceive the route which will bring the greatest joy for the most people possible.

Buenos Aires has allowed me to see a multitude of walks of life, stories, beauty, sadness, disillusionment and despair. I can feel the many stories that lay within the beautiful edifices which surround this grand city. As I walk back from Plaza de Mayo, I stare up at El Obelisco and see its white point reminding me that there is always a way in which to rise above the circumstances which surround you, even if you don't believe such a way exists. There may be writing on your walls, graffiti at the base of your foundation. These defacements mark all of our existence-- either internally or externally--nevertheless, ones grandeur cannot be removed by petty scribbles and scratches. Such subtle markings only contrast with the greater height and glory which man can achieve despite the invasive actions of others.

As I walked with Vik through the Reserva Ecologica with the sun shining and the sky appearing as a great dome above us, dotted with cirrus cloud formations, I knew that a new chapter had begun. Realization came with the knowledge that I could reach beyond all the graffiti on my walls and continue my inner-renovations with new dreams. The Rio Plata stretched out in front of us and there was a recognition that many more amazing moments will occur because I have begun a new dream and reached for a new vision which no one can take away.

Disillusionment, the other "D" word, will always exist and threaten to extinguish all passions for justice, equality and mercy. However, through the process of building ones spirit, no damage is permanent. No graffiti mark is so great to bring down El Congresso. So, I too, shall stand: proudly, permanently, with the blazing torch of my dreams reminding me I have much more to discover in my life's marathon.

No llore

NO LLORE

La pared
de mi vida
eres tú

mi amor

lo es largo
chato
e infinito
como la muerte

Cuando yo busco
otra persona
otra amor

tu vuelves
tu vuelves

y yo vengo
sin razón

sin intelegencia

Yo estoy en una
guerra
entre
mis emociones
y
mi mente
entre
donde tú

estas

y
yo estoy

No veo nada

No puedo nada

CUANDO

tú imágen

tús palabras
tú amor puro
existe


en mi sangre.

---Britta Jensen

Knit Picks!

For those of you who are truly in need of information on where to get the good stuff (and I mean, the good stuff for knitting) I have some great websites to offer to you to save pennies (or maybe spend more pennies!)

Here we go:

• www.fabulousyarn.com

(they are probably the best shippers by far that I have experienced in my internet shopping for yarns. They have the best deals for bulks of yarn that are prohibitively expensive to buy in bulk in New York or other locations).

• www.joann.com (I have bought a lot of acrylic and funky yarn from them...always during sale times, because you can buy some really cool funky yarn for very decent prices)--but, I always check between them and Herschnerrs for prices on certain brands.
  

• Herschnerrs www.herrschners.com and I check out their sale yarn (especially on Moda Dea). Great about shipping--never had a single problem!

• www.angelyarns.com --I ordered Kid Mohair sublime from their company. They were very good about keeping in touch with me and I ended up saving a good deal of money ($20-30, which is nothing to snooze about!) and the savings included the shipping cost from England. I am making a large project which requires several balls and although it did take around 3 weeks, they kept me up to date on where the yarn was in the queue. Also, they ship patterns very quickly (you can get individual sublime patterns, versus having to buy the book from yarn shops).

New discoveries (not yet ordered from, but have good information and seem to have good prices):

• www.elann.com (they carry some sale items on Gedifra, which is very very difficult to find period, not to mention at their prices).
• http://www.knitpicks.com/
• http://kyarns.com

Now, I have to find a good distributor of knitting needles for my Argentine friends!

Communing with the Land

I have tangoed only two nights...so many more to go! Tango can make you rather pensive, wondering and cement ideas in your head. It is more than a dance, but a story that you create in these whirling circles. You relive the past, the present, and


create your future. As you are guided, sometimes cheek to cheek, by your partner, you feel that there is this symbiotic rhythm of the dance that can only be created when two people give up their usual preoccupation with self to tell a story together.

It is difficult to tell a story simultaneously. Believe me, I've tried, many times: in Movement for Actors. I think it takes a true Butoh master to be able to create simultaneous speech in chorus.

On the dance floor, all voices become one as different stories unfold. I have felt that dance is a form of worship and that through dancing I am expressing perhaps the most important aspects of who I am, without saying a word.

A week in BsAs!

Where else can one enter shopping malls with angels outside, tango dancers ready to show off their skills? Where else in the world are there shopping malls with fountains, ceiling murals in estila Italiano? I don't know, please tell me! I am awed and amazed by everything I find in Bs As (as Buenos Aires is affectionately referred to). I have far more pictures, but won't belabour you with too much chachki in picture form. I leave below a few precious mementos of a week of exciting diversions with a new friend (and native Argentinian) who I shall refer to as "Izm". Thanks to precious moments with Izm, a great guide to the lost tourist whose tongue is tied!








My Buenos Aires Habitat.................... in Recoleta!

Ah Buenos Aires! Above is me in my apartment and the views from my apartment here.


What are these workers doing? I didn't know, but they sure looked very funny from here.










This is una capilla on Avenida Callao (I think).
I was on bus 110 coming from my first big
yarn purchase on Av. R.Scalabrini Ortiz y
Cordoba. If you know anything about what
a yarn addict I am, you'll know that my coming
back with only three small bags was a sign
of incredible self-control!








La Catedral on Avenida Santa Fe. The mosaic at the left is completely breathtaking.
Below: the mall on Av. Flordi






Puerto Madero above with the Bridge for Los Mujeres (dedicated to women who made a difference in the Argentine political/social strata....not bad! Do we have such a thing in America?)
Below: Recoleta Cementary (not a one-time visitor type of adventure...it is truly a collection of mini-castles dedicated to the dignitaries and past greats of Argentina alike. It is a place that defies description and is completely amazing to behold. Both Izm and I agreed that it is a place that one wishes to visit again and again as the labyrinthine streets unfold graves, monuments and mini-capillas dedicated to the long-lost. (And, many an interesting story of those who lie beneath...or whose bodies lie beneath...depending on your beliefs). Don't miss the last picture on the bottom left (Eva Peron...aka Evita).