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this is Marti's Cloth.    a Cloth that Marti made.   It began during Acey's  30 days of Collage.   It was paper with a fragment of cloth.  Yesterday, it changed.  I'm sorry for the quality of the image.   It's just taken with the phone camera off the laptop screen.  I don't know how to do better.    The image clarity its self,  but the color is not true.  The color is wonder full.   Her grandmothers were Curanderas.  with big skirts.   She referred to that today.  I will let her put her own words about this in the comments.  But i looked and heard those words about their Skirts….and i loved the image.   Yesterday was  a hard day for a lot of Us.  There is that sinking feeling that yes,  it can get worse.   And i heard Marti's words  and thought….to whatever degree We each might have that bent,   we need to find,  shake out and put on our Curandera Skirt.   Begin wearing them daily.  No matter how  things go….We are all here in this world  for the long haul.     This morning i see on the news feed that Ms. Pelosi,  who i have  a few differing thoughts about,   Ms. Pelosi ripped paper.   She shook her skirt.   

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25 responses to “the long haul”

  1. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    This is a story, a long one but grace asked me to give words to the photo of my cloth/paper collage:
    Before I tell you of this cloth/paper collage, let me say that I see myself as pretty even keeled, steady but this week, I’ve been off kilter, dithering here and there, muttering, trying to tamp down my rage. It is my normal process to begin each new year with one of my dyed cloth collages but nope, none yet this year. Yesterday I thought I might have it because I felt like ripping cloth in frustration and I did. Was going to make a weaved cloth, using my cloth strips, weaving myself together, wishing it could be to weave our country back together.
    So I made the weave early this morning but it didn’t help, in fact, darkened my mood even more. Went to stand outside in this very early cold morning, 14 degrees here in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, cold for us. Breathed in, breathed out and then SHE spoke…
    When I came to New Mexico, I discovered books written by Rudolfo Anaya, fiction as well as many important and wonderful essays. Rudolfo Anaya was not an author that I knew much about and was astonished when grace told me that he is considered the father of Chicano literature and taught for many years at New Mexico State University where he holds the title of Professor Emeritus. Imagine my joy to learn that he lives in Albuquerque so I wrote him a fan letter because our childhoods had similar experiences, i.e. in learning how to speak English and in finding the world through the doors of our libraries. To my everlasting joy, Rudolfo wrote back and a year later, I was able to meet him in person and have a good conversation with him when he was honored by the city of Albuquerque. His most famous fiction book, a book based on his childhood is called, Bless Me Ultima. Ultima is a spirit filled wise woman who is a Curandera (healer.) Both of my Spanish grandmothers, maternal and paternal were the wise women of their respective villages in Spain and both of them were Curanderas. They died before I was born.
    You are probably saying at this point boy is Marti long winded and what does all of this have to do with collage? well one of Acey’s collage prompts slipped right into my bloodstream. She asked us to depict our guardians, our totems and so for me, Curanderas came rushing into my head and heart and although Ultima is a fictional character, I like to think my grandmothers embodied her so it was only natural that I work with her to create this collage. The idea of place, personal dignity and Spirit are all here in a figurative and literal sense.
    To describe this collage: The skirt of my Totem/Spirit Guide is made from cloth that I have dyed and is meant to look buckled to suggest movement. The skirt cloth represents all that the earth gives and you can see this in the striated shades or rust and brown made by using grapevine bark, walnuts, a rusty bolt. Her torso is a basket, wide with a slit so that spirit can come when called, when needed and so Ultima rises up. This is a photo of the actress Miriam Colon who portrayed Ultima when Rudolfo’s book, Bless Me Ultima, was made into a movie a few years ago. My guide has a green cloth braided strip around her waist made from the alchemy of plunking cloth into a copper pot and using a splash of vinegar and red onion skins to get that elusive green color. She is girdled from left to right by cooked frijoles (beans), Indian corn, a Hatch chile on the top and a drawing of a corn stalk on the left. The yellow cloth strips, her arms, were dyed with the Spanish Broom that blooms in our backyard every spring. The uplifted arm is holding a clay jar signifying herbs and potions that a Curandera would use. A lavender piece of cloth is pasted behind it for lavender is a healing herb and a soothing color and the top piece of green cloth is because to me, green is the color of life.
    When I held this paper collage this morning, it pulsated in my hand and I knew that I would begin a paper/cloth collage collaboration that would fittingly become my first cloth of 2020. SHE came when she was needed because I needed to feel strength and determination. I needed to feel the swish of my ancestor’s skirts. Normally I feel them when I dance but this was not a dance, this was a stance to say, WE are here, WE are standing and facing, WE are old, We are wise, WE are Women of substance and WE will do what is needed.
    I no longer own any skirts or dresses these days, my wardrobe consists of sweat pants, indigo and black jeans and one pair of old, very old green corduroy pants that if I suck it up, I still fit. But here and now on this day, Feb.5, 2020, I commit to all who come here that I will purchase a used swirly skirt, adorn my self in it on Nov. 4th, swish my way to the polling place, give a good shake before I get down to busines and WE shall see…
    Now I’m getting off to put some stitches into my first 2020 cloth.
    Thanks for “listening” and thanks grace for posting the photos and letting me tell my story.

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  2. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Marti will love her cloth .. Grace you have such a gift for giving. The last few days everything out of Washington has been beyond crazy. Mostly it’s all just very sad.

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  3. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i hope it is clear?….this is a cloth that Marti made?????

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  4. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i went back and fixed the ambiguity

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  5. Angela G. Shipley Avatar
    Angela G. Shipley

    This is just so beautiful—and causes me to feel so much hope—on a day that I feel is so very dark in our Country. Thank you for sharing this story of hope, and courage, and wisdom, and strength with all of us.

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  6. Acey Avatar
    Acey

    thank you Marti. so so much. Your Curenda collage came on just the right day and now this one too.
    You get yourself that skirt !!!

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  7. Acey Avatar
    Acey

    Grace – go up into this post and edit it with a link to Nichobella if folks want to see it better. I’m going to link to this post and suggest scrolling to first comment to read Marti’s story. As some still go there, the locals, and I’d like them to be inspired, too

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  8. ² Avatar
    ²

    Marti , dank u thank you for your story of life , a lot of respect for your courage , i see you in that skirt , more respect !! big hug ” and stay in your own energy and let emotions flow and find there own place “

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  9. Mo Crow Avatar
    Mo Crow

    (((Marti))) may the power & love of your curanderas and all the wise women of the world unite in hope for the seven generations of all life on our beautiful broken world

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  10. sparrow Avatar
    sparrow

    “We are
    all here in this
    world for the long
    haul…”
    yes we
    iz
    loveyou grace

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  11. Laura R Avatar
    Laura R

    Beautiful cloth and story by Marti. Thank you for sharing. I have read Bless Me, Ultima. Twice.

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  12. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    For those of you who would like to see a clearer picture of my Curandera cloth, Acey has kindly posted it on her blog:
    https://sparklinglotusink.typepad.com/nichobella/2020/02/marti-reponds-to-recent-events.html

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  13. Liz A Avatar
    Liz A

    There and back again … how we weave our way through the ether

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  14. jude Avatar
    jude

    story, such a gift.

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  15. Liz A Avatar
    Liz A

    I had skirts such as these, still have the cloth of their cut up selves … will now use that cloth, feeling your words as I do.
    And yes, I will watch for the perfect skirt for November … will share it when it comes to hand …

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    Acey…i don’t know how.
    below, Marti put the link
    maybe that’s the first shake of the skirt i need…
    to learn how.

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  17. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    Marti…these words
    “Place, personal dignity and Spirit”
    These.
    WE ALL have these. ALL OF US

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    Angie…so so happy you are here

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  19. dee Avatar
    dee

    I would expect nothing less from Marti with her lineage, her craft, and love of the world. I think we should all get ourselves some colorful skirts!! This truly inspiring me on a very bleak New England day.

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  20. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i love you, sparrow

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  21. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    thank you Marti. I am determined to learn

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  22. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    story. in whatever form. IS the ultimate gift.

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  23. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    mine is denim.

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  24. Jan Rowan Avatar
    Jan Rowan

    Thank you Marti for these words….so powerful….

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  25. Linda Avatar
    Linda

    thank you so much Marti and Grace.. Hopefully we can stand together and make a change.

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