Just trying to deal with these feelings…

Posted on | December 10, 2008 | No Comments

We have 5 more days until we roll back in to Brooklyn. As the HURRICANE SEASON crew gets closer, we begin to bear witness to all sorts of self-sabotaging, elitist, depressing behaviors within ourselves and each other. Three and a half months is a long time to travel with people you haven’t said vows with, had children with, or committed to winning some medal with.

And we are at the final stretch.

In the last blog I suggested to myself I should get a tattoo. The next day, I did. The Adinkra symbol for TRANSFORMATION. Alas, I’m just that kinda chick… As Will (a Cali/New Orleans transplant) tattooed my arm in Jacci & Associates AART ACCENT: TAT-2 & BODY PIERCING (1041 N. Rampart, New Orleans, 504-581-9812), Alixa so graciously held up the laptop so that I could hear Concha Buika’s “Ay De Mi Primavera” on repeat.

We have lost family members while on this tour and seen long lost relatives and friends. We have slowly dragged one another’s menstrating periods closer together. We have used composting toilets and gray water systems together. We have fallen in and out of love together (and together). We have baked yummy things picked from gardens and created the most elaborate spreads over dining room tables across America together. We have watched the market go down, seen the nation demonstrate that “…we can…” and shared our own inaugural dreams together. We have seen audience members cry, stomp, cheer, and marvel together. We have listened to Fela Kuti’s “Water No Get Enemy” and every remade version together. We have experienced floods, torrential rains, snow storms, black outs, witnessed two hurricanes and an international terrorist attack. We have lost weight, gained weight, and waited on one another to complete morning rituals together. We have hurt one another’s feelings, made one another proud, and hugged more times than any tour crew on the face of the planet.

It has been an experience none of us will forget all the days of our lives. It has forced me to forgive myself and others. In long rides between cities, I have been still. I caught on sleep I’d been storing hours for from 5 years ago…

We’ve slept on mountaintops, on beaches, in RV parks, at rest stops, in nests, on buses, in living rooms, and in mansions. We have discovered Concha Buika, gotten tattoos and videotaped Election nights hanging out of strangers’ cars. We’ve seen Mo’ Better Blues, Favela Rising, Sicko, Do the Right Thing, Wall-E, Hancock, Miracle at St. Anne’s, Trouble the Water, and What Democracy Looks Like on laptops, flat screens, and huge Zeniths.

We each have different stories we can’t wait to share with our loved ones. I, sadly, wasn’t as diligent about posting as I’d planned. Nevertheless, what this tour has meant for us – the crew – cannot be summed up in blog reflections.

Check the fotos!

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