Thursday, March 31, 2011

Excerpt: I went white... entered another form of incarceration~

I am incredibly grateful for all the love and support I have received. I hope that you are enjoying my story. I am having a wonderful time sharing it in this way. To be able to write this memoir I have allowed myself to be completely vulnerable, raw and open. I am exposed~

People have asked me... "Is there a moment when you pause and consider sharing certain details from your life story? Don't you wonder what people will say? Don't you care how people will feel?"

My intention is never to hurt those I love by sharing my story... but this story isn't about them. This memoir is a gift for my daughter and to all those people who will read it. Yes there will be people who won't like what I have to say, there are people who will be angry at me... but I know that there are experiences that I MUST share. But its not about them... its bigger than all of us... as long as I continue to tell this story from the most loving and honest place then I have done what I have been called to do.

Thank you for following my story as it unfolds... this process can be grueling. I will not stop. Thank you for backing my project... how kickstarter works is that I only get the money raised if the full amount is reached. Please help me reach my goal.

Enjoy today's excerpt:




"I was so lost... I 20 years old when I became instant wife and mother~
I entered another form of incarceration~
he was molding me into the person he wanted me to be~




Please support my kickstarter campaign... only four more days left: http://kck.st/ebjRM9


FINDING YOUR FORCE: A Journey to Love~


Peace, light and LOVE~
Always, Alicia


*Please note... once my campaign ends... I will only be emailing excerpts to those who sign up. My access to internet will be limited. I need to protect my creative space so I will be completely off radar*

SIGN-UP to mailing list: FYF Excerpts and memoir updates~

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Excerpt: Crawling in MY Skin~

Linkin Park inspired excerpt~

"I wanted gentleness, tenderness, the touch that only a woman could give me... but her un-callused hands were filled with poison and it was seeping inside me with every touch."

Please support my kickstarter... only four more days left: http://kck.st/ebjRM9







FINDING YOUR FORCE: A Journey to Love~



Peace, light and LOVE~
Always, Alicia


*Please note... once my campaign ends... I will only be emailing excerpts to those who sign up. My access to internet will be limited. I need to protect my creative space so I will be completely off radar*

SIGN-UP to mailing list: FYF Excerpts and memoir updates~

Excerpt: Born to save me~

In just four days my kickstarter campaign ends... the ending brings excitement because I understand that I MUST go there... and I will.

Thanks again for walking with me. Please share my story with the world.

Here's today's excerpt~



TO SUPPORT MY PROJECT PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK: Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love~


Peace, light and LOVE~
Always, Alicia

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Excerpt: "I wanted you to know the truth..."

"I wanted to tell you an authentic story about where I've been..."

"I wanted you to know where I came from..."

"I wanted to give you all the information so you could form your own opinion..."

"Leaving you a memoir... a roadmap to my soul."




FIVE more days...

As we get close to end... I am sitting here grateful... grateful to be able to share my work in this way... grateful to have the support of those who believe in my work.

This journey isn't always easy... but walking it every single day is so very necessary~


TODAY'S EXCERPT: please click on link: "I wanted you to know the truth..." Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love~



Please spread widely... Thanks again everyone... To support my kickstarter campaign visit: Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love~


Peace, light and LOVE~

Always, Alicia

Monday, March 28, 2011

Walking through the darkness~

About the craft of writing... my journey... what it takes to do this kind of work... being brave enough TO GO THERE~

To support my project please visit: Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love~



This journey isn't always easy... but it is so worth all of the pain.




Peace, light and LOVE
Always, Alicia

Excerpt: "Mommy, where's daddy?"

As I get closer to the end of this campaign I get more excited at the next place I am heading. After weeks of marketing and promoting I am looking very forward to delving deep into this memoir to get to the end. I am excited because I know that in just a few more weeks my story will be COMPLETE. Thank you for backing me. Please continue to spread the word of my project. What I want most is to share my story and hopefully inspire others to be brave enough to share their own.

SIX MORE DAYS... all things are possible~

Peace, light and LOVE~

Alicia

For today's excerpt:

"Mommy, where's daddy?"





Click on link: Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love~

Thank you all for supporting my project~

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Excerpt: I would stay because mami said, "Its what we do!"

Seven more days until my campaign ends... Thank you all for visiting and following my work... Please spread the word~

To support my project please visit: Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love~



Peace, light and LOVE!
Always, Alicia

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Excerpt: When I decided I would be all in...

For video excerpt please click on link:

Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love

Finding Your Force is a love letter to a daughter… a memoir about how a mother moves through the darkest moments of her life from overcoming abuse to finding her self-worth. Writing not only saves her life but also is the key to finding her voice. Santos is being called to stop running, dig deep within the ruins and really look at the chaos she has endured. In this raw and vulnerable story, Alicia shares how she has adapted, been burned, has burned herself, been pillaged and then found a way to build herself back up again.

Peace, light and LOVE...always Alicia


Please support my KICKSTARTER at: Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love

Friday, March 25, 2011

Book Excerpt: The moment I KNEW... that I was a writer:

Here's an excerpt from my upcoming memoir Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love

The moment I KNEW... that I was a writer:





Support my project:



PLEASE SPREAD TO MESSAGE WIDELY... ONLY 9 MORE DAYS TO REACH MY GOAL...

Thanks to everyone for the love and constant support.

Peace, light and LOVE always,
Alicia

Oprah Campaign - Day two Writers Block and How Writers pull themselves out!

Dear Oprah,

I just finalized and approved the copy for MY FIRST BOOK~ this is a huge moment for me... looking forward to meeting you soon~









Writers BLOCK an intimate conversation with Alicia Anabel~




Part of being a writer is paying close attention all the details... being in tune with the FIVE senses... and not ignoring what's right in front of you. Here's a conversation with Alicia on FEAR, inspiration, the writers journey... as she returns from South America to begin editing her memoir.





How WRITERS pull THEMSELVES out of the HOLE?

A very real and honest conversation with Alicia Anabel about insecurities, fears and the grueling work that is CREATING, answering ones call and tending to the work. Looking for distractions to not get to the page... avoiding at all costs having to LOOK in the mirror... the courage it takes to face the words and get them on the page...

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Campaign to be part of OPRAH's book club~

Beloved OPRAH,



Alicia Anabel's first publication, her memoir, Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love to be chosen as one of Oprah's top books to read for 2011. TEN days to get this video to OPRAH~ Let's spread the word!!!

Project info: Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love~

Womyn 9: Fearless and Full of LOVE~

What are you made of?

I wanted to write a quick blog today about WHAT IT TAKES… and WHAT YOU ARE MADE OF… yesterday I spent the day promoting my upcoming book… my memoir Finding Your Force but in between all of that… things kept entering to stop me from doing the work I needed to get done… things were happening around me that got me thinking about ALL that has prevented me in the past from getting to this point.

FEAR… I received several calls and emails from people all day yesterday… all talking about the same thing… FEAR… and the question I was hearing is… HOW THE HELL DO YOU DO IT? Are you ever afraid?

During yoga yesterday my mind was racing… I could not find my center. I could not get quiet. I could not get still. So many things to do.. so many things undone.. so many concerns… so many worries… and all of this going on in my head when I should just be getting to the point of BEING and KNOWING…

FEAR is a voice… Fear is this horrible voice that doesn’t empower… Fear doesn’t show up to help me… Fear doesn’t lift me… Fear is that voice in your head from your PAST… telling you YOU’RE not good enough, YOU’RE not smart enough, YOU’RE not prepared enough…. YOU’RE not WORTHY OF having all you desire…

Do I get afraid?

HELL YES… absolutely…

How do I deal with my fear?


I move forward anyway…

I know what it is to be paralyzed and stuck… allowing fear to completely control my direction.

I also know… that WHAT IT TAKES for me to get to where I know I will be… it is moving despite all the fear.

And when I forget who I am and all that it took to get here… its reminders like this note that I received just last night before shutting my eyes to go to sleep:

“My dear Alicia, I have to say that I often think of the pain that you have endured throughout the years. To purposely relive them is very brave of you. You are a powerhouse of truth, a person with BIG COJONES. I am proud of the fact that you see the ugliness in this world and refuse to let it make you give into its clutches. What happened with this very ugly ugly person was on another perspective symbolic of your ability to stand up to fear and say...."Fuck that shit....I will survive, I will overcome, I will share my truth so others can be empowered too......NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY LIFE FEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!! My power comes from a higher place. A place of peace, love kindness, humility and so much more. Fear is afraid to love. The light always outshines all things..... Sorry, that is just the way it is. This is who you are. I love you so much and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you will succeed. Oh... scratch that.....you already have! SO excited for you. Sending you waves of love. Your amiga always.”

To my very best friend… you are the woman I honor today… thank you for being in my life… you have been LIGHT for me when I have been lost… you have loved me through every dark moment… I have known you almost 20 years and you have been consistent and CONSTANT in my life. Courtney and I love you very much. You are a healer… much of what I know about the spiritual world I learned from you… you are a great teacher with incredible gifts. So many people have gained so much from knowing you… and I know that you have so many more people to touch. Thank you for your presence in my life. Thank you for saving my life on more than one occasion. I am blessed to know you… and grateful you are my best friend, soulmate and spiritual sister.

I love you,
Alicia

PS. Thank you for dealing with and helping me through all my “DAYS FROM HELL…” I don’t even remember the last time I had one of those…

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

EXCERPTS from Finding Your Force: A Journey to love




Hi everyone,

I am (11) days away from reaching my goal and beginning the final stages of completing and publishing my very FIRST book.

Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love is my memoir. It’s about how one woman moves through the darkest moments of her life, taking you through her journey as a writer and mother and ALL that is found out and discovered when one goes digging. This has not been an easy journey. I have spent the past ten years building up enough strength and skill to write this story and I am HERE! Now I AM READY. Now I am strong enough to share it with you. I am in the process of editing down my manuscript of 1068 pages.

My hope is to reach my goal. I know that in so many ways I already have. My wish is that you will back me with any amount… please share my project with your friends and family. Spread the word. I am excited to begin working with an editor and self-publishing my book.

For more information on my project please visit my Finding Your Force kickstarter page at: http://kck.st/ebjRM9

The result for me will be the same… I will continue writing, growing, sharing and LOVING… Thank you for your support.

Peace, light and LOVE~
Always ALICIA

Here are some excerpts from Finding Your Force:

“Today I woke up, got ready to start my day and froze.

I put on a movie – sat back down… dressed in my dressy black slacks, pretty black shoes, white button down blouse, favorite necklace, in my business attire… slowly putting on my jewelry, my hoop earrings, my rings and bracelets that are like my armor. My pen in hand… my pen that serves as my sword and I am frozen. Frozen in this moment~

Thinking about all I’ve been through in my life… yet I know that there isn’t enough time in this day to really go there and write about all of it. I am being called to GO THERE… to relive a moment… to really look at where I have been… what I’ve been through… how did I get to where I am today?

So much of my journey has already been documented in my blogs. But this time it feels different. I am not being called to write the same thing over and over again. I am being called to look at it with fresh perspective, new eyes… self awareness. It’s real easy for me to go back and read where I came from… harder to go back and relive it... open the wound again… feel it again. Allow it to bleed again… revealing a different truth… and this is what frightens me. The truth can be ugly!

I’m on a new journey today. I’m about to start a new chapter in my life… Alone…Blank pages…Afraid the ink will run out…Maybe I’m hoping that it will run out…So that I don’t have to explore… I am the archeologist in my life…Being called to an expedition… an excavation…The great big dig…I am examining the ruins…The ruins of my life~”


Another excerpt:

“I remember lying there thinking… “God, please let me out of this alive…”

That night I lay in my daughters’ bed… and I cried all night… I was so thankful she was with her father and didn’t hear or see any of it…

Was this really happening to me?

Did this shit really just happen to me? I never thought I would ever allow a man to hurt me? Not like this? I cried all night. I wanted to kill him… I was terrified… horrified… I was so scared… I went to people I knew who could get me a gun…. I wanted him dead. But they wouldn’t give me one… people kept talking to me about my daughter… and what about her…

The months that followed were torture… a living HELL….

He would come to my job with threats… he threatened to kill people I love if I left him. I was living in terror.

One day we were in my car driving. He didn’t know it… but I was driving his ass back to Boston… when he realized what I was doing… he pulled on the wheel… threatening to drive us off the road…

“Do it… I will fucking kill us right now!!!!”

He was trying to get me to stop.

“I will drive us off this fucking cliff before I allow you to hurt anyone I love!!!”

And I fucking meant that shit… at this point I wanted to kill us both.

He tried to grab me by my neck again… he ripped the cross from my neck that I was wearing. I cried… saying… I can’t do this….

The threats continued….

I finally allowed him back into the apartment to get the remaining items that belonged to him. We were in my bedroom. We were alone. He started to get angry… telling me that this was so easy for me… who the hell did I think I was…

He pushed me on the bed… face down…”

Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love – in bookstores July 26, 2011

To back this project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iwasborntheplay/finding-your-force-a-journey-to-love

Saturday, March 19, 2011

NYC Latina Writers Group: Writers Circle~ Back to Basics~

Good morning ladies,

Guess who’s back?

We are going back to the basics.

What does this mean?

We are going back to the original format of the NYC Latina Writers Group sessions.

The session will be held on March 26th - from 9am – 6pm.

Location: Alicia's home (email for address)

This is an intense all day writing session with Alicia.

We start the session with prompts then immediately move toward work on our own projects.

What to bring: bring things that will make you comfortable all day, nourishment, and come ready.

Writing is not a race… but together we will get what we need to arrive at the finish line.

We all need support.

The full day session fee is $25.00










Come write in a safe and nurturing space~

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Womyn 8: A Warrior Resides~

This next womyn could be compared to Napoleon… only because she packs a mean punch in her petite body~

She is fearless~

She is STRONG~

LOYAL~ if you are lucky enough to have her in your life she will have your back forever.

Her ability to see through people… to see the truth in people is just ONE of her many gifts.

Its her HONEST… straight from her core feedback that is were this warrior resides.

She holds nothing back~

She has been writing poetry for over 20 years… yes you read that correctly… she may look 20 but NO… she has two sons in college… and a young daughter…
She is an inspiration to me~

I am lucky to share a bloodline with her~

Her writing is honest, raw, and powerful~

At the same time she is able to tap into her inner child and create work and art that warms your heart and makes you smile or laugh your ass off~

She is a POET without the need to be called that.



To me she is one of the most brilliant writers I have ever read/heard.

She writes about LOVE in this piece
: He gave Me God


Once I lay
Void of hope and grace
He came
With bouquets of promises
Sewn from all my misfortunes
Sets of perfect smiles for every occasion
He brought
Ideas I wanted to make into
Perfect realities
And he gave me God

Watered all my imperfections
Creating beautiful broken flowers
Which don't quite grow for the perfect eye
But for the stable one
Who really sees

He gave me God
Not in a book
Or stone idols
But in his action
Being
Staying
Without fear
When all I saw was shadows

And in the waters of my discontent
He bathed with me
And it was just us
The God in him
And me

She writes about battling an illness and NEVER letting it stop her~
The Process of Getting Clean


…and about the lessons found in the journey and how one always has an opportunity to begin again... EVERY... DAY~


Start Anew....


As I sit here and think about this past year there is so much that has happened and although there is a reason for it all and a lesson at every step I wonder if it really needed to go down the way it did. This is not about regrets or resolutions because I don't resolve to do things I just do them, most of the time unplanned so this is just thought.

So much has happened this year to me, for me and against me and I must say I am grateful that I have not had the mordacity to ask "why me"?

I believe mostly because there are many going thru worse things with their heads held high and there for so shall I ( ooooh a rhyme :) ) and also because with the hard times have come many blessings. Besides I will not be brought down by worldly things…
Dialysis is at times easy at times hard so I ride. Sometimes I look at the process, the needles and the meds and become a bit disillusioned as to how far my battle may be although I know I am ready and able to fight it. I have great reasons to win as well and I will. One day I will be sitting here writing about way back when and this will be a distant lesson full of ups and downs as all of life is.


And so today… I honor YOU… Ellie “Bloo Writer” Estrella, your work, your love, your support, your laughter, your strength, your HEALTH~




To read more of her work visit: BLOO WRITER

Peace, light and LOVE~
Always Alicia


If you have ideas for people I should write about please send them my way~ IWASBORNTHEPLAY@gmail.com

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Womyn 7: Beyond Fierce~

This next woman is a force…

She is BEYOND FIERCE~

She is a leader~

Her work is ALL ABOUT promoting women of color~

She is passionate about the development and recognition of women.

She has dedicated her life to changing the way the media portrays women of color.

She isn’t waiting for Hollywood to open its doors to us.

She is coming with a bulldozer~

Elisha Miranda is an award-winning novelist and filmmaker, whose work has garnered critical acclaim for her ability to integrate issues of popular culture, race, feminism, politics and visual aesthetics into unique hybrid narrative forms.
From her debut novel about a multi-racial, all female hip-hop crew which was written under her pen name, E-Fierce, THE SISTA HOOD: ON THE MIC was recently optioned and heading to film… which Elisha will write and direct. Destined for greatness!

Elisha holds an MFA in directing and screenwriting from Columbia University. Her short films CORPORATE DAWGZ and BLIND DATE have screened and garnered awards nationally and internationally. Currently, she is in development with her feature script OUTSIDE THE WALL about a Puerto Rican graffiti artist struggling to be the next Frida Kahlo. OUTSIDE THE WALL garnered many awards, including the 2005 Tribeca-All-Access Award, The Astraea Foundation, National Association of Latino Independent Producers Lab 2004 & 2005, NALIP Writers Lab 2004 & 2006, VOY Picture Lab finalist, Sundance Screenwriting Lab Finalist, Creative Capital finalist and a finalist at the Outfest Screenwriting Competition.

After years of working on issues of multi-cultural education, youth empowerment, police brutality, anti-isms, the prison industrial complex, immigrant rights, and HIV/AIDS, Elisha received the prestigious Community Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of City Planning and a BRICK DO SOMETHING AWARD.

This is a woman who is WALKING HER TALK! And as she is walking… she is taking her sisters by the hand… one by one… ensuring that we all have an opportunity to get there… she understands that none of us can get there alone… and so she serves as a model for her community.

Elisha was feature in HISPANIC MAGAZINE'S, "Emerging Latina Voices in Filmmaking." She really believes that WE are the ones who should tell OUR stories and has created spaces like Chica Luna Productions, a community-based organization that supports young women of color in popular media and SISTER OUTSIDER which aims to create commercially viable, and culturally relevant content across a range of media platforms including print, internet, theater, film and television that appeals to a multi cultural audience.

Their motto: At Sister Outsider Entertainment www.sisteroutsider.biz we believe that Multi Media + Multi Cultural + Multi Lingual = Quality Entertainment of the 21st Century.

But of ALL her accomplishments… for me her greatest gift is her love for womyn… her LOVE and her commitment to tell stories that authentically portray who we are and where we come from. She cares about the future of her SISTERS of ALL colors~

So as she embarks on Hollywood my wish for her is that she continue to do GREAT WORK… continue to SHINE… continue to FIGHT and continue to stay true to who she is…. We are all watching… and we are all incredibly proud of the work you do!

With love, admiration and respect~
NAMASTE hermana~
Alicia

For more about this incredible womyn please visit:



www.thesistahood.com
www.otwmovie.com
http://www.sisteroutsider.biz/miranda.php

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Womyn 5 & 6: It’s not about getting there FIRST~

Friday, March 4, 2011

It’s not about getting there FIRST~

Today I wake up a playwright…

I woke up at 6am… I couldn’t sleep…I am so incredibly proud. I feel so blessed. I am so very grateful. What an honor… what a wonderful opportunity.

This is an opportunity to do great work… to be inspired… to inspire others… to be able to show little girls that they CAN… do anything… that their dreams CAN come true… I am so very grateful. This is an amazing time… the universe is shifting… bringing things into alignment revealing to me that good comes when there is constant movement… it isn’t about getting there FIRST or FASTER… it isn’t about greed or envy… it isn’t about wanting more after you’ve arrived at the destination… what its really about and what I understand today is that its constant movement.

It’s moving forward…its non-stop MOVEMENT. It’s acknowledging the beauty in receiving the gifts… its practicing constant gratitude for even the most minor milestones…like sitting at my desk to write one page… its gratitude and constant movement… I will not stop! I cannot stop… We can’t get comfortable where we are… I must keep moving…

Today I wake up a playwright and that isn’t something I take lightly – it feels amazingly beautiful to have my writing acknowledged and included in the ONE Festival – which will showcase at TEATRO LATEA this April. This moment is truly one of the greatest moments of my life. I am thankful for all the people who hold me up in LOVE… in prayer… who keep me in their hearts.

THIS moment is shared… this craft of writing for me has always been a gift to me… My writing is my gift to YOU… so thank you to every single person who has ever read my work and to everyone I know and those I don’t know... I LOVE YOU~

We are on a beautiful journey together... and I am so grateful… to share it…

“Profound commitment to a dream does not confine or constrain it liberates” ~Paulo Coelho

“Even a difficult winding path can lead to your goal if you follow it to the end” ~Paulo Coelho


Thank you…

Thank you for your support - - writing can be such a lonely craft… I am so incredibly humbled by your love. I have 28 days to raise $10k and I believe that all things are possible.

To you I say MAKTUB~

Maktub is a word often used in the book, The Alchemist… Maktub means… “It has been written,” so when I use the word MAKTUB… I understand that the universal law says that what is meant for me will be mine. And with that I say thank you… thank you for your generosity – thank you for your love… thank you for helping me to get one step closer to realizing my personal legend… I am so excited to complete my memoir and share my story of love with you.

Saturday, March 5, 2011


Today I am thinking about success… what it takes – the constant determination and hunger to go for it…

To go for what you want.. I am thinking about the email I received from MYROCK… yesterday – he is someone who has shown me what the payoff is in HARDWORK and WORKING HARD… he sent me the most beautiful email congratulating me… it was about how he just sat back and watched me several months ago while I was work-shopping my play…

I had a one week run of performances in October 2010 – five different women playing the lead in my one woman show called I WAS BORN… they each had an opportunity to deliver this beautiful story.

In ROCK’s email he talked about watching me… the night of one of the performances.. it was about how in the midst of one of the most darkest moments of my life. When I was facing an incredibly frightening circumstance due to poor choices… I still managed to move... he wrote:

"I just watched you. Watched you prepare the room for the performance, run the sound, run the video, take notes, basically make sure the show went off properly, that you took care of your responsibility to the task at hand. That was the night I understood how powerful you were, and so I am watching you build from here now, watching you get stronger with each step that you take, and I am proud of you."


That that was when he knew how strong I really am…that was so wonderful to hear… because often times we forget where we come from and all it takes to keep going - - its an inner strength… that requires constant movement... constant pushing... constant building of stamina… constant faith… to ensure success… and to Rock WILK I say thank you… thank you for being here for ALL OF IT~ I have learned so much from WATCHING you~ ILU~

And success IS what I want… it’s what I will have… because I am doing the work… I believe in my work! I believe in what I am here to do and I will not stop… I want to finish my novel. I want to finish my memoir… and share it with the world. I want to share my story because what I understand about this thing that I am doing… is that its NOT my story at all… I understand that my story is a universal story… it’s the story about the human spirit… how we deal with adversity… how our most darkest hours can at the same time be our most finest hour. Its about the importance of constant movement… we are figuring this all out together… and my deepest desire is to reach my kickstarter goal. So that I can share this story with you.

So for today… I am the woman I choose to honor today~



Thank you for walking with me …

To support my project: Finding Your Force: A Journey to Love~

*Only backers will have access to my project updates... I will be posting excerpts from my memoir*

MAKTUB~

And so it is~

Peace, light and LOVE

Always ALICIA

Friday, March 4, 2011

Womyn 4: She is Of the SOUL~

I wrote about this next woman before leaving for my trip to Argentina… and today it is my honor to share what she symbolizes for me.

January 31, 2011

It’s the day after the most amazing spiritual retreat… waking today feels amazing.. I feel amazing… I feel strong… luminous… ready… really strong… yesterday’s retreat was intense powerful and draining…

How does she do it?

How does she process the pain?

I felt everyone’s pain. I felt each one of their spirits inside me... 11 women entered me… all at once.

I felt so much pain, so much shame – so much fear – the heaviness of generations of hurt... a lifetime of dolor… there were pains that were deep down… I felt an unwillingness to face the truth… and I am not necessarily speaking of women in the circle.. I speak for me… I know there are past pains I haven’t had the tools to face…there are things I haven’t wanted to deal with… issues that I believed I wasn’t equipped to face.

She however is equipped… she has dedicated her life to helping women do that inner work that is so incredibly necessary for our healing.

She is the Founder of the DeAlmas Women’s Collective~

Gloria M. Rodríguez started DeAlmas as a community based organization in 1998.

Literally meaning “of the soul,” DeAlmas is dedicated to providing women the opportunity to reclaim and honor their divine feminine gifts through spiritual and personal transformation.

She facilitates workshops that empower women to use their inner strength as a foundation for social change and global healing.

My Dear Gloria~

You are strong... you are a blessing… you held each one of us... I felt you rubbing my back… wiping my tears… touching me without touching me physically… what I felt yesterday – felt like more than just ONE woman’s story but the cries of every woman in the world. And being able to get that place of allowing ourselves to be vulnerable is such a sense of strength…

Thank you –

Thank you for being the gift of serving… for answering your call to support women… your love and dedication was felt…

For me personally…

Today feels like new years day…

Today I start fresh with new perspective.

I am more open, more ready… better equipped… to face this day and everyday differently…

To face each day with love, in love, as LOVE.

Thank you Gloria, I truly love you...

Thank you for blessing me…

I wish for you all that is good~

All that is love...

All that is you…

With love and in gratitude…

Your sister,
Alicia



“This work is Revolutionary in an evolutionary way~” Gloria Rodriguez

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Womyn 3: Goddess of Abundance

Her opening when she enters a room... “Yooohoooo!!”

She’s a bright light~
PURE LOVE~
Honest…
Brutally honest… in the most real/loving way~
You ask her for an opinion get ready for her response.

To me she is Goddess Abundantia~



The Roman Goddess of Abundance and Prosperity. Her name literally means "plenty" or "overflowing". She represents the idea of abundance or riches personified and deified. Her symbol is the cornucopia, the mythical horn of plenty.

This modern day Abundantia is overflowing… with love, her time, resources, generosity, and kindness…

She is truly one of those GOOD PEOPLE~

Do you have someone in your life like that? Some one who is naturally just FULL of information and wealth of knowledge? Do you have someone in your life who gives ALL of herself to everyone? Someone who out of the blue sends you exactly what you need in the exact moment you most need uplifting or a sign or a message? Whether that come through a daily horoscope, meditation, affirmation… something that could help you develop as a person… she is the definition of ABUNDANTIA~

Abundance comes in so many forms… in ideas, music, people we meet… in the form of manifesting our dreams~

Abundance also comes in friendships~

Jakira Torres is someone who is not only a friend, but she is my sister.

She has supported and helped many people with promoting their careers… (myself included).

She never says no.

She is always there when you need her most.

Volunteering her time and resources for the greater good.

Her smile opens the most closed heart~



She is one the best people I know.

Today Jaki – I honor you. Not only are you an amazing human being but you are someone I consider to be my sister.

You are remarkable.

Keep pushing, keep moving, abundance is already yours.

I love you~

“Abundantia, help me to be like you, knowing all my desires are met in all ways. Replace any worries I may have with joy and gratitude. Thank you for your gifts, guidance and protection. I am truly grateful and fulfilled for I know I am completely taken care of now and in the future.”

Peace, light and LOVE~
Always Alicia

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Womyn 2: Prophet of Human Possibilities~

Who said this?

“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning."

“A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after.”

“God may be in the details, but the goddess is in the questions. Once we begin to ask them, there's no turning back.”

“I've yet to be on a campus where most women weren't worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children, and a career. I've yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing.”

“Like art, revolutions come from combining what exists into what has never existed before.”

“Pornography is about dominance. Erotica is about mutuality.”

“Pornography is the instruction. Rape is the practice, battered women are the practice, and battered children are the practice.”

“Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself. “

“Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry.

“The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving.”


She is the Prophet of Human Possibilities...



I could go on and on and on quoting her…

The label feminist gets a bad rap. Some people have a real negative response to the word… or in identifying themselves as FEMINIST. Some people feel that all feminists are lesbians and/or that all feminists hate men. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The woman I have chosen to honor today has spent three decades championing the movement for female equality.

We need a new word for trailblazer, warrior, and pioneer, womanist and FEMINIST. She is the definition of HUMANIST.

She has authored countless books and articles:

Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem
Moving Beyond Words
Marilyn: Norma Jean
The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions was the first published collection of her essays. She was written on sexual harassment, genital mutilation, and unequal pay for equal work…

Issues she stands firm on:



Pornography
Female genital mutilation
Same-sex marriage
Reproductive freedom
Abortion rights
Sex education
Domestic violence
Equal pay for women

Gloria Steinem, born March 25, 1934, has been an important figure in the U.S. Woman’s Movement or Feminist Movement.

“Steinem actively campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment, in addition to other laws and social reforms that promoted equality between women and men, helping to strike down many long-standing sex discriminatory laws, such as those that gave men superior rights in marriage and denied women equal economic opportunities. She also founded and co-founded many groups, including the Women's Action Alliance, on which she served as chair of the board throughout the 1970s, the NWPC, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Ms. Foundation for Women, Choice USA, and Women's Media Center.”

In a keynote speech she delivered in 2009, titled Connecting Across the Generations: http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/gloriaspeech.html

She focuses on learning from our differences. Acknowledging that there are in fact differences.

We are living in a world—that wants to pretend that sexism, racism, ageism doesn’t exist. Not only does she talk about acknowledging these differences but welcoming them. Seeing these differences as a way to learn… seeing “Difference is a gift.”

“… we are going to be able to learn, because we are not all the same. You can’t learn from people who are exactly the same. Difference is the source of learning. Maybe we should put it on a t-shirt – “Difference is a Gift” so that we understand and don’t fear, so we are able to go up to the person most different from us and ask them the question we most fear asking. So really we can expand and learn.”


Expanding and learning… we spend so much time focusing and debating about how things shouldn’t be different… that we should all be the same… putting us all in these boxes: black, white, Latina, lesbian, hetero, middle-class, lower-class, male and female… she challenges us to learn from our differences. To expand our beliefs… And be the change that we want.

“… to learn from difference, and at the same time, in perfect balance with difference, understand that we are all human in a universal sense. We live in a world of either/or. So it is about shared humanity in perfect balance with difference.”


Shared humanity in perfect balance with difference…

I think that is what her life work has been all about… striving for that perfect human balance… its not about hating men… its more about human kind being balanced… being equal… across the board… striving for that balance on the pay scale… in the workplace, at home… in society across the races and cultures… a HUMAN BALANCE~

In her speech she talks about the Prophets of Human Possibilities…

“And I also must say that I am in favor of changing society to fit people, not changing people to fit society. But the fact is that we all find whatever solution we can. And I think we have prophets of human possibilities among us that have come about because of cruelty and punishment and restriction, who know that our humanity is shared. Who know that the labels are really quite artificial”

She puts all of her hope and faith in those of us who know struggle, pain, discrimination, hate, and abuse… she’s talking about humanity not having a gender. And I think this is something that we need to think about as we live this human experience.

“The truth is that all the so-called feminine values that we crave and that we need to develop, are also present in men. We all have the full circle of human qualities. It may be that men need to become more expressive, more empathetic, more nurturing – that’s their progress. And we need to become more daring – that’s our progress. But we are each trying to complete the full circle of humanity.”

In a world filled with women fighting for scraps… jealous… envious… wanting to get there first… gossip… power struggle… fighting against each other. Instead of learning from one another… instead of working and building together…

“Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke. That's their natural and first weapon. She will need her sisterhood.”

“This is no simple reform. It really is a revolution. Sex and race because they are easy and visible differences have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labor in which this system still depends. We are talking about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen or those earned. We are really talking about humanism.”


So today I honor Gloria Steinem for her body of work… for her constant fight toward arriving to a more balanced/full circle of humanity.




“The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving.”

To learn more about Gloria visit: http://www.gloriasteinem.com/

Peace, light and LOVE~
Always Alicia

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Womyn 1: La Xicana (31 Womyn / 31 Days)

So today I woke up wanting to honor womyn who have made significant contributions whether they be to humanity, society, community, culturally, spiritually, or politically… womyn who have transformed or affected my life. Some of these womyn will be new to you… others you may already know a little about… but ALL are worth mentioning and honoring.

For each day in March in honor of Womyn’s Herstory Month I will pick a name at random from a hat and tell you why I HONOR HER~

31 Womyn in 31 days~

Day 1: La Xicana

She’s known as Wonder Woman~
She’s fierce~
Fearless~
Born in LA~
Raised in Mexico~

This brave woman left everyone she knew and loved… leaving the beautiful sunsets of the West Coast and took a risk. She risked it all and moved to New York City. A city than can be incredibly overwhelming.

She landed in El Barrio/Spanish Harlem. It wasn’t long before she made it her home. She chose careers that aligned with who she is and surrounded herself with children and community. Once there… she immediately discovered what was missing. She knew what she must do and give to this community.

Books~

Lots and lots of books~

She had a vision
A dream…
Her personal legend~

Her vision was one that would ensure that the children and families of El Barrio would have access to books. And with that vision La Casa Azúl Bookstore was born~
Aurora Anaya-Cerda’s vision has become a reality… her dream come true~

Ms. Aurora Anaya- Cerda is an active member of the East Harlem community as a participant and supporter of cultural and educational events. A graduate of UCLA, Ms. Anaya-Cerda has a double Bachelor’s degree in History and Chicana/o Studies and a minor in Education. She was awarded the Juanita Centeno Leadership Award and the UCLA Women for Change Leadership Award, both for outstanding dedication and service to her community. Aurora recently received a scholarship from the New Start Fund, awarded to women entrepreneurs in New York City.

The inspiration behind the bookstore name:

“La Casa Azúl Bookstore is inspired by Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. She painted using vibrant colors in a style that was influenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico as well as European influences. Many of her works are self-portraits that symbolically express her own pain. Her "Blue" house, located in Coyoacan, Mexico City is now a popular museum, donated by Diego Rivera after Kahlo's death in 1954.”

Today, I honor you… your efforts, your dedication, your undying love for community and I wish you continued success~

Please visit La Casa Azúl online: http://www.lacasaazulbookstore.com/



Peace, light and LOVE~
Always Alicia