Sunnyside Up (the existential cafe)

Met with a Presbyterian church group yesterday. While I was reading the story I got a little choked up and had to pause several times. I have been doing this for months and this is the first time this has happened. As I was reading the stories I was also remembering peoples’ repsonses to the stories– sadness, despair, hope, anger. And I felt overwhelmed.

At some point in the process I knew the work would be shared with others, yet when I started the paintings and stories it was largely for myself. A way of sitting with my experiences and honoring my friends in Palestine. Now, the stories have been shared and I am sitting with that. Right now, I don’t think I can be articulate about the “that”.

It’s raining, again. (We had about an hour of sun this morning.) Two women walk by the cafe with their heads held high, seemingly unaffected by the rain falling on them, gazing straight ahead, eyes wide open. I’ve been told that my umbrella gives me away. Folks here don’t use umbrellas.