I was excited for the first Day of the Dead procession in Portland on Alberta Street. I was hoping for a carnival atmosphere. It turned out to be pretty carnival like.It took place last night, which was also the Alberta Street Art Walk that takes place every last Thursday of the month. We had an art table set up at 23rd Street.I ran down to 14th Street where the parade was to start at 7pm. I met a woman and her daughter in white and black makeup who were making their way to the same place. They have been celebrating Day of the Dead in some manner for years.

There was no Mexican people presence that I could see, even though this holiday comes from Mexico. People on Alberta Street are mostly White, and like to be a part of different cultures. I met a woman who had on Navajo face paint. She said she practiced different Native American spiritual practices. She had no Native American ancestry. I guess I fit into this White people who are looking for a culture to belong to crowd.

I felt a little uncomfortable when people started naming the dead and then a woman asked all those names to come and be with us. There was a strong smell of incense in the air–like in an orthodox church. There were a lot of people in the parade–at least 50, I think. There were even more people at the end of the parade after others had joined. There were enough people that I was seeing new skeleton and death costumes throughout the night.

There were dancers, accordion players, people dressed in white on stilts. Photos of the beloved dead and lit candles were carried by many.

There were many onlookers–it was pleasing to see. There were onlookers who looked at us very somberly like they were trying to join with us but in a very somber way. Then there were others smiling at us and ooing and awwing.  People took pictures of me.

The parade ended behind a gallery. We went through an alleyway lined with photos of people who have died and candles, through an incense filled tent, and came out into a backyard. There was a little drink truck with pillows set out to make an outside living room. People gathered in a circle around the yard. The stilt people danced in the middle to accordion music. There was an altar for pets, and one for people. There was an contortionist boy performing. I was wondering where his parents were. I just worry about street performing kids.

I carried a picture of my great-grandparents, Stephen and Ana Duris from Slovakia (formerly a part of  Czechoslovakia). In this picture they are celebrating a wedding anniversary. Someone gave Ana a cabbage for a bouquet and gave Stephen lettuce for a boutonniere. My family said this was kind of a joke thing. I don’t know if it was a Slovakian thing. I colored the flowers in the photo yellow. I later realized that yellow marigold are a symbol of death in Mexican culture.

My great-grandpa, Stephen, held me when I was an infant, but that is the extent of my knowing them. I wish I could have know them. I haven’t lost anyone really close to me yet. I chose them as my dead to honor because I wish I knew them. They guide my life in a way because I seek my roots. I have this imaginary nostalgia about what life was like before the United States. What was it like before the Slovakian way of living and thinking was smudged out by the “American way”. I hope to go to Slovakia someday to visit the family.

I chose my clothing because it was colorful. The dress reminded me of a Mexican clown. But once I put the whole outfit together with boots and a head scarf, it looked like Slovakian traditional dress that I had seen on a doll. What a coincidence!

I got to talk to people during and after the parade. Everyone was really open and friendly. I started to leave the celebration alone but I ran into some friends! I hung out with them for the rest of my time on Alberta Street. They really made my night!

I’m the yellow arrow, and Brittany is the purplish arrow. We’re practicing.We’re on the left, roaring fiercely at the camera.

I participated in the Thrill the World again this year on October 25th. My friend, Brittany joined me and made it even more fun. Last year I showed up and was disappointed at the event but I found out that I wasn’t at the actual Thrill the World event. This year I went to the real one. It was held in the skating rink at Oaks Park.

Brittany and I met at our business in SE Portland and took off from there. We did not get lost on the way there! (We’re known for being a little directionally challenged). On the way back we got a little confused but the Thomas guide, that has been lonely behind the seat for a long time, saved the day! Yes I read a map successfully!

We covered our faces in my white goth make up then shadowed our eyes with my black eye shadow. We looked rather dead–which was the point. To add to the zombie look we had on cut up shirts.

There were about 60 other dancers there-all in good spirits, not staying in the zombie character at all. All kinds of zombie interpretations were present there. There were “I died at the prom” zombies, “I died as a bride” zombies, and “I died in the 80s, or 50s” zombies. I just kind of went for the grungy look.

We all practiced twice together first. Then at 10:55 we got ready to dance Thriller at the same time as thousands of others around the world. We got down on the ground in our “graves”, and waited for the countdown. First the facilitator had to call the Thrill the World office, or whatever it was and get the OK to start.

It was really fun to do this dance with a bunch of other people. After the dance ended we all cheered, many giving high-fives. It felt like a great victory. Then we continued to dance but free style to Michael Jackson songs. It was a fun group.

Here’s more information from Thrilltheworld.com:

On Oct. 25, 2008, 4,177 people from 10 nations (Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Scotland, United States of America, and Wales) simultaneously performed The Thriller Dance as part of the Thrill The World event, organized by Ines Markeljevic of Canada.

Sorry, I don’t have any pictures. There are videos on Youtube, but you wouldn’t be able to see me unless I pointed me out. I’m wearing a black shirt and am in the back on the left. Here’s the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohXO10kv6rw&feature=related

November 1st and 2nd is when “Dia de los muertos” is traditionally celebrated in Mexico. If you have a blog, would you join me in posting something about someone who you love, or someone whose life has guided you who is no longer in this world. If you like using art to express your self you could make an icon, or a collage or painting about this person. For more ideas see this blog.

I’ll be participating in The Day of the Dead this year by going to the Day of the Dead walk, and going to the play “La Carpa del maestro” put on by the extraordinary Miracle Theater/Teatro Milagro. I’ll also be participating in the Thrill the World, but doing the zombie dance from Thriller is not really what I call honoring the dead.

Another blogging idea: If you are interested in blogging or networking about social issues that pertain to human trafficking and slavery, make an account with One Voice To End Slavery ning site.

The movie Call and Response made me think of Phone.

Phone is a girl I met in Thailand during my seven month stay there. I volunteered at an outreach to prostitutes once a week. I think at that time prostitution was kind of illegal but not really. The country depended on the sex industry–or that’s how they looked at it. So even government workers owned some of the brothels.

Rahab ministry’s hair salon was in Pat Pong, a district known for its sex bars. In that salon I met Phone. She was 15 years old. She was friendly, spunky, cute, loveable. She called me P’Nun (pronounced Pee Noon). Nun was my Thai name, P is a word for addressing someone older than you who is a friend or a family member. She had my cell phone number. I remember her calling me once and being upset because she was sick and didn’t want to go to work.

Phone worked in a sex bar, but I don’t think she was servicing men with sex yet. She was new in the bar. She had to dance on the tables in a bikini. She didn’t like doing this. To do something like that in Thailand is very shameful and embarrassing.

I will never forget her saying to me, “P’Nun, would you take me home with you. I’ll be your maid.” I will Never forget, and have regrets. At the time I didn’t think there was anything I could do for her. At least she was connected to Rahab Ministry and if she asked them for help leaving the bar, they would have helped her.

I don’t know if she was forced into this. My impression was that she was from a poor family. She came to the city to work and support her family. Of course, this is where she ended up.

Call and Response:

My call is Phone!! I want to yell out her name.

But, what is the response. It’s been four years. She is now 18. Is she out of the bar? Is she OK. Is she alive?

I’m so, so sorry Phone.

 

Maybe you know the meaning of this saying “call and response”. I didn’t before I saw the movie Call and Response. I’ll tell you this much, it relates music to slavery. 

If you haven’t seen Call and Response, please see it. If you are interested in fighting modern day slavery, I know you would want to see it. It’s probably the most well done documentary I’ve seen on modern day slavery. It incorporates music which is a really unexpected way to address this issue. 

Some of the music artist in this film are: Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu, Imogen Heap, Talib Kweli, Five For Fighting, Switchfoot, members of Nickel Creek and Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, Rocco Deluca.

It’s absolutely beautiful and moving and heart-wrenching.
It’s totally not for profit either.

I saw it at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland and the director was there, so that was quite a special thing!

I don’t know how long the movie will be running, but this weekend was supposed to be the weekend that it’s showing. So don’t delay in finding a showing near you!

are crucial to reducing climate change. 

I  went to a climate change town hall meeting last night. I was reminded not to forget to be an activist against climate change/global warming. It’s easy to get distracted by what’s in the news these days: economic crisis and the presidential race.

The moderator of the meeting, Eban Goodstein who is the Co-Director of the National Teach-In on Global Warming , urged all of us to get politically involved by using any spare hour we have to volunteer for candidates who support green initiatives.

Why is this so important now? Because if we want to reduce the impact of global warming, action must be taken this year. What determines large scale change is the laws that are passed at the beginning of next year by the new president.Other political involvement that was suggested at the meeting was contacting people who are running for political offices to urge them to support green initiatives, and asking people who are running for political offices “What’s your climate change plan?”
For Oregonians, The League of Women’s Voters has information about state and national elections.

As Gina Cummings from Oxfam said, the devastating effects of global warming are not just something of the future but it is happening today. The poorest of the world are effected first by climate change, and of those the women are effected the most because in poor communities they are in charge providing food for their families. She showed us a video clip of women in a village in African that is suffering from drought. It’s hard for me to imagine that women somewhere in the world today are having such a hard time feed their children when right now I have such a full stomach. I ordered a copy of the film that the clip came from, Sisters on the Planet . It’s free! I’ll share my DVD with anybody near me. But you can order one on the oxfam site . You can also watch it on the internet.

In Oregon we’ve had a lot of record breaking days this year for temperature. Mel Kohn, Oregon’s state Epidemiologist thinks that there has been too many. He says we must prepare those most vulnerable to health problems for climate change. Last year (I think) during an 11 day heat wave in Europe, there were 70,000 excess deaths! He did a study in Southern Mexico (I think) where there was an outbreak of a deadly disease. This disease came about because there was an unusually large amount of rain. The rain caused there to be an excess production of a certain kind of nut. Deer mice feed on this kind of nut, and so it attracted more deer mice who carry this disease in their feces. So, as you can see, slight changes in climate can have detrimental effects on humans.

What I think I can do in the next 6 months: Use less heat by Gathering used Styrofoam to put in my window at night to keep the cold out, and wear warmer clothes inside; Continue to use our vehicle less; Continue to buy in bulk and use glass jars instead of buying packaged items; free myself of plastic shopping and garbage bags; Call and write politicians about Climate Change plans!