From London-Heathrow: Reflections During A Long Layover
I believe in art’s social presence – as breaker of official silences, a voice for those whose voices are disregarded, and as a human birthright
- Adrienne Rich
1. Wittgenstein and the early desert Fathers used to write reflections numerically—the format allowed more fluidity of thought and less structure. I’ll let my mind wander this way as well.
2. It’s hard to know where to begin with this reflection. Reading the application for voice to vision in my inbox two months ago seems both near and far in my mind. A lot has happened in a short period of time.
3. When I think about how the project came together, I am usually speechless. A few conversations. A few connections. A piece of writing. A phone call. And somehow I found myself in Portland, Maine sharing myself deeply with women I had only known for a few hours, planning the first of three trips to West Africa.
4. I had no words when I returned from that trip. “How was it?” I know this will be a question asked of me on return from Sierra Leone—I’m sure my response will be similar. It is difficult to capture and explain moments that “pop,” and when the pieces of my life fit together so well, I am left speechless.
5. I am excited to work with women.
6. I am excited to share, to laugh, to cry, to sit in silence, to understand, to question, to learn.
7. “Every profession has its own music and dance.” Adama Doumbia (a Nigerian) writes.
8. I am excited to dance in and out of professions, relationships, and places.
9. I love new languages, new foods, dusty roads, new understandings of “time,” of spirit, of life. I can’t wait to learn the nuances of language; I can’t wait to learn the handshakes, the greetings, the stories, and the wisdom. I can’t wait to feel the exhaustion that the intensity of being in a new culture brings.
10. Kono, Makeni, Freetown—names of places I have longed to see since I was a young girl and West Africans told stories around my table.
11. I am excited to break my first kola nut with a paramount chief, dancing, drumming, poetry readings.
12. I am thankful for the opportunity to go back—to return—to see the people who will no doubt leave me changed, new, reborn once more. And then to meet new faces, see new places.
13. I can only imagine the heat. The dust. The mosquitoes…
14. …the satisfaction of a bottle of cold Coca-Cola on a hot day of travel.
15. I am looking forward to transformative relationships, new friendships, the space to write, reflect, listen, and share.
16. Today, I sit with the joy of anticipation.
Literature creates imagination, imagination can change war
- Bei Dao