Week 13: Moving on

By Caitlin Reed

Today I gave my presentation on The Queer God, by Marcella Arleuas-Reed. Everyone gave a presentation on a different book about “first-world” liberation theologies. It was kind of hard to do because everyone is excited getting ready to go to El Salvador - we are leaving tomorrow morning. My head feels like this week has been three weeks because so much change has happened. We began the week still in our homestays. I personally love (ed) my homestay because I was staying with a woman who is a dance teacher and since we both love to dance, we were able to connect in a lot of great ways. She and her family live in Ahuatlán, forty minutes from CEMAL on the ruta 3. The first time I went there I felt like I was going far away because it is enough away from the city that there are barrancas and fields. In the mornings the bus follows the horizon lines of mountains while the color for the day is still working itself out. From my morning bus rides, I have also discovered that some of my favourite 6 AM morning smells are hair gel and perfume or cologne because by afternoon or even late morning the smells have washed away into the seats of the bus, and other people come in and sit on the smells until finally they are so everywhere that they can’t be smelled anywhere.

We ended our homestays with a convivio on Wednesday night where the students who did independent study presented their projects. I was one of these students. We began our presentation by coming out and lighting three candles then Tannia said a prayer or offering before she began her monologues. All of her carried through her voice, and some people felt her and cried or smiled softly. I smiled softly because I love to see her express herself and am excited to listen. After Tannia was finished, I presented my project which is on danza folklorico, something I am involved in at my university in California. For my project I talked about the evolution and modernization of the different danzas and bailes, and then I performed two songs:“La Cabeza del Cochino” de Yucatan and “La Faceta” de Chihuahua. I was very nervous to perform. Very. But after I finished speaking and began dancing I became more calm AND nervous! The kind of calm that makes you happy and the kind of nervous that makes your steps tight—exactly the right kinds, and immediately I wished the two dances I was worried about before could turn into ten. That’s how good it is when you finally perform.

After me was my gatito Christy - she did performance art and it was hanging in the air until she cut it down. She cut down a tree - a tree made of careful marks, and ticks and circles. Circles covered the floor when she was finished and people reached for the carefully marked pieces to take with them, something from the moment. I have seven in my journal. I loved this night, because sharing yourself is falling. You let yourself fall and be picked up by two, ten or forty different ways of looking. Falling is letting go and holding on at the same time, which if you’ve tried to do on a bike or with another person is difficult.

After this night we ended our homestays. I am sad about this because it has been my favorite part, and I miss how my family sits on their chairs and talks about what they love.