India- March 8, 2009- International Women´s Day

Today i went to a Goddess Temple... I wore my sari... i talked to myself about what i love about my woman-ness, and our womanness... i prayed for women all around the world... all of them...

i sent my wishes and goodness to all of them, and to the GREATEST woman possible... mother earth... she is the creator, the destroyer, and all that is in between and above and beyond and before...

i made sure that all these women knew it was international womens day.... even the ´poor women´, as one woman working as an engineer said- ´the poor women would not even know'...

so i made sure they would know...

i got the men to explain... ha ha ha... look at what happens when you put a strong (white and therefore significantly privelaged) woman with a voice in charge... all of a sudden, these 'poor' women are celebrated...or at least informed that they are all over the world!!!

Thank G-d, thank Mother Earth... what a beautiful place to be for International Womens day... Tirupati, India...where bald is beautiful... and meaningful...

all over the world, half of the world's population...women

all of them lead such different lives... all of them share complete similarities...

how lovely... some, many are really struggling... and some are really comfortable... in the cold, in the heat, the sunshine, the cold rains... in houses, in huts... with chickens and wild boars, and domesticated cats and dogs... children- too many, one child, grandchildren, no children...

doing solid, physical labour, washing, a housewife, prostitute, CEO... mother...

the lists of diversities, the beautiful neverending, amazing diversities of womyn could go on... and on... I love it all... even if i do not like the situations for all of these woman, i still love them all.

We are woman... we are strong, and powerful, we can be independant, we can be reliant, weak, naive, protected, vocal, activists... but we are all one- we are all the same- we are- we are all women... all around the world... internationally... from village to mountain to city, to sea... in the air, under the water, on the land... we are everywhere...

and thank the greatest Mother for that, she whom gives us the life... to live these beautiful lives as women...

Happy International Woman's day DIVA'S!!!!!

el camino...

life´s path....

do we ever really know?

do we ever really know?

really....

for all you planners out there,

can you ever really control it all?

the tricky and very lovely part about it is there is not a clear path...

because it is always changing...

we lose a brick here....

add a pebble here....

it grows new little sidepaths....

drops down a bit, a little closer to the centre...

but it is always changing....

and we are always navigating through it...

and we are sent all these lovely little surprises along the way...

and how do we incorporate them into our little paths?

we become like the water... the flowing entity...

that our imaginary paths exist on...

can you picture the path?

can you picture the water... can you imagine flowing like the water?

in and around and through and over and under...

life...

you are the navigator...

you are the experience - r...

and you actually are also...

the path...

orchid woman...

oh the orchids are so beautiful, so perfect...

their folds, their colours...

their detail- their perfection, the protector petal...

5 beautiful petals, one amazing centre...

you must be gentle with them, that's why she has her protective folds....

she only opens for certain periods of time, she spends much time waiting and preparing for her beautiful arrival...

mother earth nurtures her mother plant so when she is ready to emerge...

she blossoms into perfection...

she is so equisite in colour, in smoothness, in pattern and shape... in texture, in beauty, in smell...

and when there are many together... the perfection is even more breathtaking...

what an amazing specimen...

what an amazing being...

I am so honoured to have been in your presence... to have seen your perfection...

allowed my senses to play with your amazing beauty...

thank you mother earth for your creation...

the orchid woman...

to sleep, or not to sleep...

I´m in the bust station- Tiburtina- in Roma...

not sleeping...

i was... and i just awoke to some man stinking like poop...

nooked right behind me...

not touching... but miliseconds after waking i was up sitting on my bag...

he is in the same place... eyes covered by a dirty shirt.... i am in the same new spot...

my bag- attached to my other 2 small bags by a lock... passport safely attached to my body...

my ´passport´ to the world...

i do not know why i need such an object...

i thought the world was free...

the earth does not naturally have a price- nor any boundaries...

and so i sit here... awake- listening to the shiffling of some cards... another more privelaged man shuffles all night....

i ´sleep´ here.. because well... i can not sleep for a couple nights...

i have come from a comfortable sleep- and i will go to a comfortable sleep again in a few days....

to travel and survive in europe is expensive...

the most expensive part is sleeping.. and transportation...

today i hitchiked here to Roma, was fed by different people, and am sleeping in the station....

almost a free day...

minus the cappucino , cafe machiatto and croissants i ate today for breakfast... look at these luxuries i had...

i have the choice to have these luxuies... i have made this choice to stay in europe- to see, feel, experience more of this world- very much on a budget...

but i have the freedom to make these choices...

i may not have much money anymore- in fact i am very much in debt... but there are SO many people waiting for me to come to their homes... to share with me...

to give me a place to sleep...

where no man will come and almost curl right into me...

in my innocent moments of sleep...

i am not hurt, scared or harmed by this...

i have had much worse, and more invasive things happen to me during my adventures that have at times challenged my faith...

but it never falters....

my faith in all that is life is strong...

with all the bad comes the good...

and it´s all real...

and this i ALWAYS want to see, experience and understand...

it looks like it is maybe around 4 am now, and i just saw a nice-sized cockroach roaming the patch of space i recently occupied in my sleep... and so i think i have lost the desire to sleep...

maybe today- as i roam the streets of Rome... i will find a patch of grass...

and me and Patchemama´s earth will have a little natural snuggle...

this appeals to me...

sleep is so important... to keep the sanity, to give clarity...

so i am thankful to have this semi-freedom to choose right now... to sleep or not to sleep...

and i am thankful that ´normally´- i have safe shelter in which to make this choice in....

we spend hours every day in sleep...

imagine if you had no home, no personal space...

no constant, safe, temperate, clean-ish space to sleep...

yeah, reality...

it´s not always an option...

to sleep or not to sleep...

the haves, and the have nots

the haves and the have nots

its so ridiculous....

i just saw a fur jacket- i think the price was 6000 euros approximately...

imagine....

there are people who strive towards having that jacket.... dream about it....

just imagine how beautiful you would be...

imagine how others would look at you....

what they would think of you....

the absolutely most fashionably modern woman...

in her fashionably modern designer fur jacket.... exquisite...

6000 euros...

moments after, i asked a cleaning woman for directions- a woman clearly defined by her clothing...

it was not the language that prevented us from connecting...

she did not even look at me- she knew I was trying to communicate with her...

it was the way in which it was 'acceptable' for her to act... she works for those who come to this piazza de spagne in rome...

people do not speak to her with a smile, looking her in the eyes... with a question....

her reaction was like that of a potato bug...

she reacted almost by curling up... hiding... retreating....

what´s wrong with a world that a woman, a human being, is so used to being treated as an inferior?

what is wrong with the world when there are pèople buying fur jackets completely for the legitimation of their being... when really it has absolutely nothing to do with their true depths...

why is this okay?

how can this be?

from one moment to the next...

you see the haves...

you see the have-nots...

we all see it... in different settings, places, extremes...

lives, realities, human beings...

how is this okay?

how did our ideals come to this?

...it hurts my heart...

and so now, i sit in a beautiful church...

to seek refuge for my soul, and for my heart for some moments...

to reflect...

and be thankful...

it is my first time kneeling in a pew...

i have always wanted to pray like this...

humbling...

and so i pray...

thank you for allowing me to be somewhere in between the haves and the have-nots...

i am lucky to be in the balance....