Preparing

Dear Peoples,

Thanks again everyone for your generous support. I am making my way to Rwanda and Uganda this summer.

Currently, I am focused on creating a performance for a festival that Erik is starting in Kigali. We have performers from Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, San Fran, Seattle, Belarus, LA, and elsewhere. We've been talking much about art and social justice but this will be the first time that we've brought performances over. Curious to see - who comes? what do people respond to? The work we've seen in East Africa tends to incorporate song, dance and storytelling - intensely physical, beautiful work. And there are fabulous Rwandan performers and creators, but theater does not have as strong an institutional presence in Rwanda as it does in, say, Uganda or the US.

The piece I am putting together is a continuation of my thesis project at CalArts, The Angel of History, a book length poem about the wicked 20th century by Carolyn Forche. I'm attempting to pick up her question of language or art's ability to respond to atrocity - what can be said?

I found a quote in a book of poems suggested to me [Death Notices by Meg Hamill, a good read about US' relation to loss in Iraq and the work of sustained looking] and, well, I thought I'd share it:

"So long as we see ourselves as essentially seperate, competitive, and ego-identified beings, it is difficult to respect the validity of our social despair, deriving as it does from interconnectedness. Both our capacity to grieve for others and our power to cope with this grief spring from the great matrix of relationships in which we take our being. We are, as open systems, sustained by flows of energy and information that extend beyond the reach of concious ego. - Joanna Macy"

I'm glad to be going this year since the Dean of my school, Erik Ehn, is leaving to take a position at Brown. He's the quirky inventor of the whole machine. I imagine this could effect the future of the program. Reminds me to be grateful for what's in my hands at the moment.

Thank you all so much for being a part of this adventure. I'll keep you updated as I prepare for the trip. Oh - also, new address if you are still interested in supporting:

Emily Mendelsohn
4 Prospect Hill
Branford, CT 06405