Motivation, her motivation, your motivation.

Public figures like Thatcher and Heath or Blair are fair game for everyone with an opinion. That probably means us all.

[...] I recall a public meeting early in 2003 just before the second war in Iraq. The meeting was addressed by politicians, mostly from the anti war side. It was obvious from the questions from the audience that the majority were anti war and even more obvious they were anti the then prime minister, Tony Blair.

These questions and expression of vitriolic disdain were primarily from people from the same political party the PM was leader of.

So…what we talk about when we talk about motivation, your motivation.

Tam Dalziel, the local MP and Thatcher and Blair bête noir, was asked what he believed was [Tony Blair's] motivation–his name was spat out like a curse!

“Who knows what anybody’s motivation is,” Delziel replied before giving a scathing commentary of what he believed to be his motivation!

And this morning that’s my quest for this story, to speculate and comment on what is the source and drivers of yours and my motivation. What it was and will be for our actions or inactions, our thoughts and our thinking past present and future.

This message is one of dozens of exchanges I’ve had over the past few weeks with this particular friend over faith, love, and creating a better world. Years have passed since I’ve self-defined as Christian, yet if I was to answer him honestly (and I did, as you’ll see below) I couldn’t deny that the life of Christ affects how I view the lives of people like Thatcher. This is what I wrote to him. What do you think?

What an interesting message to receive. It’s very funny you wrote me about Thatcher. As most of my Facebook friends are left leaning (to say the least) my news feed was inundated with mostly negative articles, comments, and thoughts on her life and work.

I saw the movie you referenced and, with Meryl Streep as Thatcher, it was hard not to find her character charming and endearing, despite my disagreement with her politics.

I specifically narrowed in on an article several friends posted about how death etiquette doesn’t apply to public figures and it’s okay for people to denigrate Thatcher in the wake of her death because, being so public, her character is now fair game and it’s okay to rejoice, much like how people rejoiced over Osama Bin Laden’s death.

Something within me clashed with this sentiment. As I said, I wasn’t a fan of Thatcher’s politics, and some of the things she supported REALLY wrench my heart. (Her support of Pinochet, for example, which I feel especially connected to because of Pinochet’s effect on Chile and the whole of Latin America, where I live.) Yet, I still can’t stand behind “rejoicing” over her death. “Ding dong the bitch is dead!” I can empathize more with those DIRECTLY affected by her policies, but those who simply observed from afar with no real stake in her decisions–I don’t support the celebration of death because you hate a person and I feel this way about Bin Laden or even Hitler, one of the most popular and accepted figures to hate.

Maybe this connects to how I feel that no human being, no matter what they do in this life, deserves eternal damnation–one of my biggest faith questions. Furthermore, I don’t feel that hatred liberates anyone. It doesn’t erase the murder or pain or destruction that was caused at the hands of ____ (insert hated person here). Certainly, it can be cathartic, and as I put myself in the position of a mother, for example, who lost her child as a result of a violent political policy, I can see why a death would bring a type of relief/peace.

But I see this relief as yet another symptom of a broken world. A world that is so focused on quick and easy microwave answers to any and every problem. War is a microwave solution. And our world has become radioactive as a result. Thus, I understand those rejoicing over death. They are suffering, just as I am, from the cancer of a radioactive society.

You talk about motivation and I’ll bring it back to faith because I deeply believe that were we to live by Gospel-based solutions, instead of microwave ones, there would be less joy over others’ misfortune. And maybe, just maybe, Thatcher wouldn’t have taken the route she did. In another time, another place, I think she may have been a wholly different person.

So maybe what I’m saying is that this radioactive world we live in is the real murderer: it murders empathy and compassion, murders community, murders love and kindness and patience and humility. What is left but a world of distorted perceptions and billions of individuals rendered “disabled” in a sense: unable to love each other and desperate to push the button on the microwave to heat things up yet again.

I also can’t help but think that if it weren’t for some amazing miracle, I, too, could have been a Thatcher. Something spoke to my heart. Something took my hand off the “quick thaw” button and said “Stop. This is a slow cooking process. Nothing worth living heats up in two minutes.”

I know this doesn’t directly respond to what you shared about motivation and story but in a way I think I’m touching upon it. Thatcher, to me, is a perfect example of a master chef who dismissed her potential to focus instead on making frozen dinners. She fed those dinners to millions of people and many of them became sick as a result. Now they are angry and they blame her specifically for their misfortune. But Thatcher didn’t invent the microwave. WE DID. And there are warnings about this all over the Bible and many other ancient and not-so-ancient texts. We were warned. We didn’t listen. We far preferred the two minute solution to slowly brewing a better world.

Where do we go from here?

I often struggle to accept that I will see few results from my activism during my lifetime. Things very likely will become worse before they get better. Then I think about Jesus. When He ascended to heaven, if that is really how it went, He left behind a dense group of mourners and followers, but the world itself was still very broken. If Jesus is really “up there” looking “down” on us, it must blow His mind how thousands of years after his death we still haven’t gotten it right. But He did plant seeds, seeds that continue to grow, even in desertified lands. And that’s all any of us can hope to do.

I could, if I chose, alleviate my terror of being largely ineffective on this earth, by heading to the microwave. And I can understand why Thatcher did, though I know she thought she was doing something different.

Yet, as far as my own story goes, I choose slow growing seeds over quick thaws because I know that one day the microwave will break, explode, short circuit.

In the meantime, I cannot bring myself to rejoice over death. My life is already radioactive enough.

Ésta que soy by Mirtha Luz Pérez Robledo.

Ésta que soy was designed to be interactive and participatory. Centro Hemisférico director Doris Difarnecio explains how we will put the art installation together.

Participants formed small groups, attaching one line of poetry to each church step.

Lead organizer Grace Remington quietly directs/documents/energizes.

In my interview with the Centro Hemisférico prior to the event, Grace explained how the simple act of writing–even tracing–creates a more meaningful experience for participants.

We were encouraged to partner with new people as we worked our way down the steps. This simple act of interaction and collaboration enhanced the action’s sense of community spirit.

The action was both solemn and joyful.

Everyone got in the spirit!

The poem comes together.

Grace overlooks the poem’s closing lines.

When we finished the poem, we decorated the steps with flowers and candles.

Poetry reading.

The father of Itzel Janet Méndez Pérez shares: “I know that Itzel is here with us today.”

Women’s rights attorney and activist Martha Figueroa talks about the importance of International Women’s Day: “The revolution will be feminist or it will not be!”

A moving day for Doris.

Ésta que soy.

As the sun set, the action became a vigil.

Ni una más.

]]> http://www.RKAinLA.com/2013/03/esta-que-soy-international-womens-day-2013/feed/ 0 http://www.RKAinLA.com/2013/03/can-art-stop-murder-ni-una-mas-in-chiapas-mexico-is-trying/ http://www.RKAinLA.com/2013/03/can-art-stop-murder-ni-una-mas-in-chiapas-mexico-is-trying/#comments Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:41:24 +0000 Rachael Kay Albers http://www.RKAinLA.com/?p=3313 Read the full article on Bitch Media.

Photo credit: Lydia Reich.

“I’m going to go sell the cow to buy medicine for the baby,” Pedro tells Rosa, “I’ll be back soon.”

Pedro goes to sell the cow.

Off he goes, cow in tow, which he entrusts to a friend to sell for him. But Pedro’s friend doesn’t return. Penniless and far from home, Pedro comes upon an old schoolmate, who feeds him and invites him to stay for the night, promising to help him find work in the morning. When the job falls through, Pedro keeps searching and ends up finding Rebecca, the woman who served him tacos the night before.

“I’m looking for help,” she tells him.

“You’re in luck!” he replies, “I’m looking for a job!”

“What’s your name?”

“Fernando,” Pedro says, ogling Rebecca when she’s not looking.

“Are you married?”

“Me?!? Of course not!” he smiles, “And you? What about your husband?”

“Oh, I’m not married either. Right now, it’s just me and my kids.”

Pedro’s smile grows.

“I knew there was something between us,” he sidles up to her, “You…me…two single people…”

Rebecca smiles back and shows ‘Fernando’ to his room as they discuss his new job making cakes to sell at the market.

“That’s woman’s work!”

Back home, Rosa starts a women’s cooperative to help her friends sell their handicrafts. With Pedro gone, Rosa must find a way to care for their daughter without him.

Six months pass.

“Where is Fernando?” Rebecca sighs. “Probably eyeing the women at the market again. As always.”

‘Fernando’ returns and when Rebecca asks for his help with the cake he groans, “Give me the remote control and stop ordering me around! That’s woman’s work.”

Minutes later, Rebecca calls to Pedro, “Fernando! Did you hear? They just announced your name on the radio and said that we won a house! Where is the lottery ticket you bought the other day?” Irritated, Pedro points her to the trash can. Rebecca leaves in a hurry.

“Your husband’s name is Pedro, not Fernando,” the lottery official tells her.

“There must be some mistake. Check again.”

“It’s Pedro,” he insists.

Rebecca hurries home to find Pedro stuffing pesos into his pocket. “You! What are you doing? You are a fraud! I’ve supported you for six months and you haven’t given me a dime! Get out of my house!”

Pedro heads to the nearest cantina. He orders a double, then a triple, and finally demands the bottle of tequila, swaying as he sips. When a stranger asks for a swig of his own, Pedro refuses.

“If I were you, I’d give me that sip. I’ve got a few friends who won’t be too happy if you don’t.”

“I don’t care!” Pedro taunts. The stranger summons his friends who pat Pedro down and haul him away to kill him.

The angel of death watches as Pedro is robbed.

The woman from the cantina emerges and thanks the stranger for his help.

“I knew he had money,” she says, pocketing Pedro’s–Rebecca’s–pesos.

Back at the women’s cooperative.

Meanwhile, Rosa’s work with the women’s cooperative has proven to be quite lucrative. She excitedly convenes a meeting with her partners, laying out a celebratory meal. Today is her daughter’s birthday. The women celebrate their success and toast to the birthday girl. Not accustomed to the taste of liquor, they take their pox in short swallows.

It is a good day for Rosa.

Maria, Victoria, Francisca, Isabel, and Petrona take a bow. It is a good day for FOMMA: Saturday, February 16, 2013, to be exact.

“I am so excited to share this play with you,” Francisca tells us, clasping her heart with pride. “This play is a gift to all of you here with us today.”

Las Víctimas Del Engaño (Victims of Deception) is the fourth play I’ve seen the women of FOMMA–Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya (Strength of the Mayan Woman)–perform. It’s been too long since I’ve sat in the audience at Avenida Argentina #14 and I feel as if I’m home again. Isabel reads my mind.

“This is our home and it is open to you,” she tells us, “we are happy to have you here.”

FOMMA has been telling stories like Pedro, Rosa, and Rebecca’s for over fifteen years. Their work gives a voice to the women of Chiapas–and beyond–and their home gives those women tools to salir adelante (move forward) much like Rosa did. In addition to their theater work, FOMMA provides scholarships, job skills training, literacy classes, and more.

I linger in the theater for longer than usual, congratulating the playwrights, chatting up the other patrons, and munching on fruit and bread, compliments of the house. It is a good day for me, too.

Maria, Victoria, Francisca, Isabel, and Petrona, the women of FOMMA

]]> http://www.RKAinLA.com/2013/02/back-where-it-all-started-an-afternoon-at-fomma/feed/ 0 http://www.RKAinLA.com/2013/02/ni-una-mas-valentines-day-the-san-cristobal-way/ http://www.RKAinLA.com/2013/02/ni-una-mas-valentines-day-the-san-cristobal-way/#comments Sat, 16 Feb 2013 16:43:43 +0000 Rachael Kay Albers http://www.RKAinLA.com/?p=3268

On February 14, 2013, ten months after the murder of Itzel Janet Méndez Pérez, several hundred people gathered in the center of San Cristóbal de las Casas with white lanterns marked with the names of the 91 Chiapanecan victims of feminicide that died between January 2012 and February 2013. The goal of the demonstration was to break with the consumer focus of Valentine’s Day and continue demanding justice for the victims of violence against women in Mexico: reminding people that true love is not violent. Read about the demonstration in Spanish.

“They teach women not to be raped, but they don’t teach men not to rape.”

Itzel’s father speaks to the crowd of his daughter’s death and the movement to end violence against women.

Lighting the way towards a violence-free world.

After reading the names of each victim of feminicide in Chiapas over the last year, the demonstration ended with poetry and a silent march.

The youngest of the victims in 2012 was only 10 years old: she was raped by 8 men and murdered in San Cristóbal de las Casas

Every year, 95% of rapists will go unpunished for their crimes.

Feminicide also affects men. Enough!

87 victims of feminicide in the state of Chiapas in 2012.

I dreamt many times of this return over the course of my six months in Germany, certain that, as I had experienced before with my querida Jovel, as soon as I stepped foot on these cozy colonial streets, it would feel as if I never left.

I like surprises.

I don’t know if it’s new love, the new Mayan cycle, the new-and-improved RKA (or all of the above) but this time around, I’m a stepping a little lighter on these beloved colonial streets. The days are brighter. The winter is warmer. And I am happier than ever to be “home.”

And to celebrate my extra happy homecoming, I’ve put together a little list of thirteen new (and renewed) things I’m grateful for in 2013. ¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

1. New home

After three years of living in closet-sized cuartos, my partner Roberto and I now are enjoying our top floor castle in the sky, where I finally have my own office for RKA ink (and a bonus view of the magical Mexican mountains).

2. New adventures

In 2012, I spent two weeks in Xela, Guatemala for the 2nd Latin American Reunion of the Theatre of the Oppressed, a month in good ol’ Chicago, Illinois for general emotional housekeeping, six months in Bielefeld, Germany on workcation + boyfriend wranglin’ (brought him home with me to Mexico), a weekend in Berlin, Germany, a week in Budapest, Hungary at the Hotel Zsuzsifornia, a half-day in Cologne, Germany to clink elbows with the ancient Albers, and two days in Isla Mujeres, Mexico on our way back to Chiapas sweet Chiapas. (To be clear: I might have spent most of the year eating Cup ‘o’ Noodles and washing my clothes on an emergency-only basis to make this travel happen. Totally. worth. it.)

I am looking forward to a 2013 full of bigger and better aventuras,
starting with my trip to Mombasa, Kenya this July!

3. New school year

2012 saw the all-girls Las Jades theater group transform into Las Jades y El Cielo: with the addition of the young men, we not only presented a new play for high school graduation, we produced our very first telenovela, Amores Chalchihuitecos, and I was invited to be a 2013 graduation godmother for one of my students. This year, Las Jades y El Cielo is geared up for more mold-breaking art and theater! Woohoo.

4. New music

2013 marks my three year music-versary with Angel Velasco, my all-time favorite trovador. To close out 2012, we sang at a benefit concert for Ángeles de Amor, an organization that provides a safe space for individuals with disabilities in San Cristóbal de las Casas. Check out Angel’s music at AngelVelasco.com.

5. New friends

I’ll never forget the week I spent with Puffy before Santa brought her to my nephew (!!!) Alex. Puffy and I share a mutual love for late night TV, belly rubs, and jumping on peoples’ beds early in the morning. Oh yeah. I made some pretty badass new human friends, too. But none that felt comfortable with me rubbing their bellies…

6. New traditions

And by traditions, I really mean food. Lots and lots of Mexican food (and uncles named Memo). I won the in-law lottery.

7. New family

I’m a tía! In Mexico, your partner needn’t put a ring on it for you to be considered one of the family. With two more bebés on the way in 2013, I’m wondering where knitting has been all my life.

8. New goals

Last year, the seeds were planted for a partnership with the young women of Girls Shift Africa, and I’m excited to announce that I’ll be in Mombasa, Kenya this July to help lead a 10-day art and theater workshop with the girls of Tudor Primary School. Keep up with the project on my sister blog, Awesomepreneur.

9. New partnerships

In August, I launched my new biz-centered blog, Awesomepreneur (work with heart) which turned out to be an incredible odyssey of awesome sauce and relationship-building with some of the coolest people I know. Watch out 2013! Along with my partner and creative mentor, Kim Leamer Maleski, we’re giving Awesomepreneur its own home and expanding the concept to give awesome people all over the world a space to share their heartwork. Stay tuned!

10. New projects

Thought I missed out on participating in the FemiNazis art exhibition in San Cristóbal de las Casas and Tuxtla Gutiérrez, led by Brenda Obregon and Gely Pacheco, but huzzah! They have postponed their project–focused on violence against women and the villification of feminist leaders–until early 2013. Now to translate my spoken word video I Want You To Hit Me into Spanish…

11. New perspectives

See: this video.

12. New love

One year ago–exactly!–Roberto was my best friend/heartthrob/fantasy boyfriend. One year later, he is all of those things minus the fantasy part. God blessed the broken road, folks. Suerte doesn’t describe what I have with Roberto.
See: Introducing the Silent R in RKA ink.

13. New me

On my way back to San Cristóbal de las Casas, I met a Cherokee woman who shared that, at 28, I am at the end of my first life cycle and beginning the second: a time to live into my Truth and apply all the wisdom I accrued over my first 28 years of life. Her words exploded in front of me like fireworks in the sky–I have never been more excited about nearing my third decade of life. To quote Bernstein, “Something’s coming!” (Who kno-o-o-o-ws!)