Episode 11: Personal and Collective Grief, Embodiment, and Generational Journeys: Alejandra's Story

In listening to this conversation with Alejandra, I am struck by the sounds of our breaths, of our inhales and exhales. She carries such a presence with her, such a keen perception and noticing, that it makes me wonder if it draws those around her more into presence. The breaths between words feel like our body's way of digesting and processing the ideas we share.  I appreciate the readiness and reliability she brings to her endeavors.Our conversation happened over skype, each of us in our bedrooms a few miles apart. And there's one moment in our conversation in which I really feel the love her mother Esperanza had for her- across time and space and even through digital communication. In these times of zoom meetings and emails and not being in person with one another, it was a powerful gift and reminder that emotion and feeling can transcend the limitations of our current circumstances, whatever they may be.At one point, I looked at her in our skype call, and the sunlight streamed in on her face, and she looked like a painting. This, combined with her elegant reading of a portion  of Kahlil Gibran's poem "On Love", (which she brilliantly recognizes as simultaneously a poem that fits for the feeling of grief) made this conversation feel like art, like a dip into the creative, into the mystery.

Piano music by Jeff Buckingham

Interlude from Free Music Archive: Climb, by The Ghost in Your Piano