Singing the Resistance

I was struck this year during the School of the Americas protest at the power of music in a movement that calls for justice and peace like the one to close down the School of the Americas (SOA).  In the commissioning chapel service at Union on the Thursday before we left for the SOA, we shared stories and we broke bread together and we sang.  We sang "This is My Song" we walked into the space together calling for "peace for lands afar and mine," and to close the service and send all of us out into the world we clapped and danced and sang "I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield down by the riverside; ain't gonna study war no more."

With these songs in my heart and still on my lips we gathered with 2,000 others at the gates Ft. Benning, where we sang more songs together--songs of resistance and of sadness and of hope.  In minor and major keys we cried out for justice, we remembered those who have died, and we envisioned peace.

¡No más! No more! We must stop the dirty war
Compañeros, compañeras we cry out 'No más, no more'

Almost two weeks after the School of the Americas demonstration, I am still humming some of the songs we sang outside the gates of Ft. Benning, and the echoes of the chanted names of hundreds of victims still ring in my ears.  Neither the words nor the tunes are happy or light ones that I especially want to go around singing as I walk to class and go to the grocery store and share meals in my community.  But the somber tones of the songs and chants stay with me and remind me to remember the feeling of hope I felt at the protest and to resist violence and imperialism in small and big ways, and to hold in my heart those who are victims of the violence of the SOA and those who are jailed for standing against it.

Homecoming

My temporary job at Conexiòn Amèricas ended September 30, and while I was very grateful for the opportunity to work there and disappointed that it had to end, I am also grateful that the end of that chapter allowed me to begin the next chapter by going back to Guatemala to visit family and friends there who I hadn't seen in over a year. It still amazes me sometimes how much I love and miss people I only knew and lived with for ten months, but I do.

I went to Guatemala with my good friend from Maryville College, Hannah. We arrived in Guatemala in mid-October and stayed until mid-November. While we were there we traveled to several places in Guatemala I hadn't been before--Livingston, Rio Dulce, and Copàn Ruinas in Honduras--and we stayed about 10 days in both Antigua and in Xela with my family. It was fun to share and experience Guatemala with Hannah, who had never been and who was seeing everything with new eyes. Hannah is also a very flexible and curious person, which makes her easy and enjoyable to travel with.

It was strange, though, to go back and visit my family as a visitor. I was always and will always be an outsider there, but as a YAV I wasn't a visitor per se, even though we all knew my time there was limited. It was bittersweet, for sure. I was sad to be back and for it not to be the same as it was (and to know that it never will be the same again), but I was also so happy to be with Bethi, Karin, Enrique, Mileni, Carmelina, and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. And even though I will always be an outsider, it did feel like a homecoming, and lots of people in the town remembered me and came by the house to say hi or sent their greetings through my host mom.

I also got to say "yes" to everything. As a YAV I sometimes said "no" to favors or experiences because I was trying to set boundaries (and because sometimes I was just exhausted), but since I was only there for a few days this time I said yes to everything. We went to a wedding, a funeral, an inauguration of new classrooms at the school where Bethi teaches and Mileni attends, a birthday party, Dìa de los Muertos, made paches, and Hannah and I threw a Halloween party for all the cousins with games and a piñata (we just didn't tell the pastor).

(left) Hannah and I folding paches (right) Hannah and me at a wedding with Karin, my host sister, two aunts, and cousin

Carmelina at her son's grave on Dìa de los Muertos

A woman in the market who makes this delicious pan de quesadilla (sweet corn bread).  She remembered me and remembered that I loved her bread :) (This bread is one of the reasons I wanted to visit Guatemala in the fall--it is made right before the corn is harvested in mid-November)