)(( hannah mello ))(

3 Women & Map-Drawing.

My Aunt Judy.
My cousin Larkin.
My cousin Kelsey.

Three women in my family who have value for people & for ideals, but in practical, life-lived ways. It's who they are. Who they are. You can feel their values for life and people.

On the phone just now, I found out that my cousin Kelsey is ending the age of working for celebrities in the LA world. She is going to start at a non-profit hospital instead.

What I respect the most about Judy, Larkin, and Kelsey is that they all 3 are highly educated-- not just institutionally educated, but SELF-educated about politics, art, issues, humanitarian needs, etc. in the world. And and and, they are very much in this American context -- very much IN their own contexts-- but do, act, and participate in the AIDS walks, conversations, fundraisers, and actual lives of people, whatever need be.

All 3 of them are absolutely gorgeous women physically. They dress in very elegant, and occasionally even trendy (but more often classically or redefining-classics with epic flair of jewelry or colors). They are up on music and literature-- not popular stuff necessarily (Kelsey more so, since she's worked in the entertainment industry for years)-- but current stuff. They are all artists-- Judy having studied it and taught it, Larkin the professional musician, Kelsey in film/television. They are women of the here and now.

Judy in Marin. Larkin now in Santa Fe. Kelsey in LA.

Dr. Chris Smith at Uni talked about our "maps of the world". Our maps that are in our minds. He said that we, as openminded and free people, must be continuously redrawing our maps of the world and throwing out old maps in exchange for the new.

As knowledge &
understanding &
perspective &
experience bring
new geography,
our world looks and
functionally IS
different.

AND, because the world looks different, strategies & organization for change will be set in motion in more relevant ways...

Cinema, I'm convinced, is one of my mediums of map re-drawing.
It's always been that way for me. Films have planted seeds of thought that have grown over the years into entire life themes, ideas-- ruminations that have overtaken me.

To name a few:
- Motorcycle Diaries
- Life as a House
- Crash- The Last Kiss

A few nights ago, I saw "Blood Diamond". The film deeply deeply moved me.

That day had been quite a context for seeing the film too. The museum had been slow, and so one of my co-workers encouraged me to dart over to one of the special exhibitions that I hadn't seen yet. "Daring to Resist: Jewish Defiance in the Holocaust". What struck me about the exhibition was the passion of individuals to take INITIATIVE. There were actual letters (many many) that were courier-ed from one ghetto to the next, initiating communication & news flow. There were film documentaries about how the community took initiative to start theaters, schools, clubs, write songs, and more in order to not only keep on existing, but to survive-- to live.

Then, I saw "Blood Diamond" that night.

2 scenes & their themes especially struck me at the end:
-- how the DiCaprio character called the one in his life who cared for him before he died.
-- how all Hounsou's character cared about in the diamond negotiations was his family.

The human themes of what is elementally, humanly, most important. And, the most important things not having anything to do with power, money, control, hierarchies.

After the film ended, I felt compelled to call a friend. This friend is dear-- who also shares with me a right-now ache about this generation and the needs we are needing to confront. She was shopping with her mom when I called :) gotta love the time change-- and so, as I waited, I penned some words of response. Here they are below... words from my heart as response...

_____________________________________________

"I'm not writing this cause I'm a twenty-something that has youthful energy and ambition and emotionally just "wants to be somebody".

Ok, maybe, contrary to self-understanding & awareness, I am. I hope not, but, sure, because of my humanness, that's more than an option. I don't want that to be the case. If there are threads of that truth, I care about pulling them out.

I'm not writing this cause I'm overwhelmed with the needs of the world to the extent that I can't live the life that my context has for me (America, middle class, 20-something semi-professional, college graduate, world traveler, having a sense of humor & artistic interest, in a multi-cultural/multi-demographic metropolis).

I am in my context.
I am embracing my role within my particular context for this season.
I find value in my everyday.
I find purpose in my 9:45-5:45 job--
I value value value the opportunity to be in the lives of priceless individuals that I am so so grateful to know and intersect with.

I don't have overpowering angst.
I don't have overpowering ambition--
lust for power or control or creed or calling.

I JUST CARE.
I care about THIS GENERATION.
This slice of history.
Other slices of history had individuals that cared. I want to be one of those that care in this particular slice.
THIS PARTICULAR SLICE OF HISTORY.

I care.

I don't have a role-- extensive qualifications or connections
I just have
One body
One lifetime
One mind.

But to prove that this is not an emotional high-- I'm going to go to bed tonight, sleep well-- and do my laundry tomorrow, call my grandma, and then go to work, go to work, go to work everyday. AND EVERYDAY-- EVERYDAY-- I am going to keep learning and exploring and growing/expanding and ...

I do not want to be counted under the trend.
I do not want to be an emotional piece of headless-heart.
I do not want to be a "humanitarian" for the title.

I confess-- in the big scheme, I know nothing.
Relatively, practically, tangibly, I know basically nothing.

I know nothing about
genocide of the past.
I know nothing about
oil trade.
I know nothing about
the war in Iraq.
I know nothing about
global warming & pollution.
I know nothing about
healthcare.
I know nothing about
corrupt politics.
I know nothing about
human trafficking.
I know nothing about
blood diamonds.
I know nothing about
orphans in Romania, China, Africa, elsewhere.
I know nothing about
American international policies and military muscle.
I know nothing about
the AIDS virus and fight.
I know nothing about
clean water and starvation.
I know nothing about
everything of weight and importance in the world today.

BUT,
BUT,
BUT,
I AM SOMEONE FROM THIS GENERATION
THAT WANTS TO GIVE MY LIFE
FOR CHANGE.
FOR HUMAN LIVES.
I mean it.







________________________________
________________________________


SO.... in conclusion...

a toast. A toast to 3 Women.
Auntie Judy & Larkin & Kelsey.
Who they are-- and their way of being in the world.

A toast to this one body, one lifetime, and one mind that I call my own.
I take all 3 as a gift that I can turn around and give.

Cheers to the fact that Change is possible--
Cheers to the value of human lives.

posted by )(( hannah mello ))( @ 8:50 PM