Highlander recap and HAULING ASS to Chiapas

Folks, beloveds, darlings,


I'm back in Chicago but have pictures to prove I wasn't dreaming. I'm not going to be able to spit anything coherent out about my week at Highlander right now, but suffice it to say there is something vital happening in my life.

Some things I can say:

- General overview:
Our morning workshops:
1) Who we are, why we came here, what's important about place?
2) Popular education and organizing in our communities
3) How we are learning connects to what we are doing
4) Applying popular education in our communities

Our afternoons were worksessions, and I spent all three in the GARDEN. It was FUN. I have BLISTERS. All conversations are vastly improved when had through cornstalks and tomato-vine tangles. The other work sessions were: apple thinning (a zen meditation technique in disguise?), bench-making (very and deservedly popular) and trail clearing (chainsaws were involved). We had one capoeira lesson that blew my mind.

The evenings were: hay ride tour of the grounds, song night with Guy & Candie Carawan, Culture Share night, and SQUARE DANCING. Barefoot squaredancing. All events followed by very important strategic fire pit hangout sessions.

Other things:
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- The community building we did just in our short week allowed me to move out of one space and to be fully in another. Rather than having the experience of traveling alone to discover myself, I traveled to a place and met people, and we all discovered each other.

- I am so thankful that this is the beginning of my summer, that I am only in Chicago for literally twelve hours, and that a whole nother branch of this begins tomorrow.

- I am so glad I have a long plane ride tomorrow, because I need to get to know this new person in my head a little bit before she has to concentrate on speaking Spanish.

- I am thinking a lot about friends who have spent time at Highlander in the past and people who should've been here now, like my teacher Kim Christensen and my very brave soul-sibling Liz Wall.

- The fruit of this week is going to continue to blossom and swell over the next weeks and months, and I can't wait to hold it in my hands and feel its weight.

- I really didn't want to leave.

The pictures I think will help with what I can't say yet, so here they are. I will be writing again probably next weekend after the first week in Chiapas. I'm off on a 7:30AM flight tomorrow.

Love,

H

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