F is for Fear.... Not

A fellow homeschooling parent asked Andy the other day under what circumstances would he be afraid to go to another country. When he tried to explain he was questioned further as to whether of not he was a tornado chaser. I laughed upon hearing that. Tornado chasing is not our style with a 12-year-old in tow. My answer to the question "under what circumstances would I be afraid to go to another country" is a country occupied by the United States. A country supported with excessive amounts of cash and weapons by U.S to fuel repressive governments and suppress true democracy and human rights struggles. With our daughter at this time I would not take the risk to travel, film and report from these countries. However, this is not the case in Venezuela. Venezuela currently under the presidency of Hugo Chavez may be one of the greatest examples of participatory democracy occurring in the world. Chavez has been led a stable government for 6 years and is up for re-election this December. The Corporate owned media of the United States wants you to believe Chavez is a fascist dictator that says irrational, crazy things. If you believe this you need to diversify your media diet. We are not going to use this space to condone Chavez at all costs. But we are going to investigate the Bolivarian revolution and film the different mission projects that have elevated conditions of the poorest people in Venezuela. Mainly we will listen to Venezuelans and find out why he has successfully won many referendums that repeatedly re-instate him to office. And why other candidates can’t get more than 3% of the votes in the polls. We are going to be open to those who don’t like him, be they conservatives or anarchists and we are going to breathe the air of revolution as we travel the country. REVOLUTION. A radical change for us it will be!
While in NYC for Brad Will's memorial a friend of mine Brandon, was talking about how Brad's death has made us braver. This is true. They have done the worst to Brad that they will do us. They can execute us but they won’t keep us behind their fences, locked in up with fear and eating their lies.

Books I'm reading: Truth, Torture and the American Way by Jennifer Harbury. Her first book Searching for Everardo is also a hard one to but down!
books I will be reading in Venezuela: The Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela, by Eva Golinger
Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of hope by Tariq Ali,
Eva Luna, by Isabel Allende and her new book, Ines of my Soul
and of course Lonely planet Venezuela, Culture Shock Venezuela and a Learning Spanish text book. Do you think these are too many books to carry in a backpack? Read along with me and we can have a reading group here on-line. Also if you have questions for the good people of Venezuela that you want to ask or ideas for our video project send it along.

Brad Will. Presente!

The Memorial at St. Marks in NYC for our friend and comrade Brad Will was a beautiful tribute to an amazing person and his values. I filmed the event so as never to forget his many contributions as well as the solidarity and love that flowed from our community. We will post some of the audio of the beautiful songs, poetry and testimony honoring Brad on Rochester Indymedia's website.

It was perhaps one of the most touching displays of affection and reflection for human life I have ever or will ever witness. It went beyond obligatory formalities and a creative impassioned spirit surrounded us. It was healing to cry folded together with friends and family of Brads as we viewed family photos and activist video of Brads life. I went to film from the balcony just as the event was starting so I could get a wide shot of how many people had come together to remember Brad. The moment I got up there it felt as if I had bumped into Brad. It was his view from above and his response, "this is amazing, to feel this much love." That connection gave me an electrical current like start and tears rushed out. Just then some one started singing the hobos lullaby song and I sobbed remembering how often we sang that for our daughter when she was a baby. Our brother has been killed and the grief is so deep. But a mama lost her child and that is unbearable. I left Brad to his birdseye view and brought him with me as I descended to join the mournful community below.

Amidst the tears and reckoning with what we have lost we laughed and celebrated what we were fortunate to know. The Hungry March Band led us from the church and down OUR streets to the Charas community center that had been disemboweled of community and left lifeless for some developers capitalistic wet dream. If only for a moment the doors opened and life celebrated throughout again. We continued to move in a puddle of humanity to Plaza Cultural Armando Perez park where we gathered around a metal drum fire and formed a sacred circle with more tales of knowing and honoring Brad. We carried Brad into the night with our singing and dancing, talking and drinking. I took a train conductor hat off the table of Brads personal belongings that were distributed among us. I will tip that hat to the inspiration of Brad and the inspiring feeling of our loving, solid community at its best, wherever I may go. Love and solidarity and a kiss....
dawn
heres my new email address: artemiswill@gmail.com