These past days have been spent in Aspen, Colorado where the mountains compete with the sky for your attention, oft winning. I was drawn to the Modern Middle East Literature discussions and wide open space to write.
And if I were to write of this week in the valley of the Rockies, where would I begin?
Would it be the way the woman's heart - on display in her words via her tongue and her history - drew me in and reminded me of the power of speaking the truth anyway?
Would it be the laughter and tears at the tales of family, compassion, fear and repression? The bravery of women driving in Saudi Arabia, or writing of Sex and the Ummah? The power of hip hop revived like the first time in the videos of El General?
The humanity of questions of stereotypes and confusion? The search for a language for change, the power of poetry of old to ignite a collective voice, envision another future?
Or simply the pure unfettered beauty of story and lyric in the pages we read or heard?
While the last bits of snow leave Aspen this week and I prepare to return to the edge of the continent and the spiral of busy work, I can say the smooth green of the Rockies were nothing compared with the lyrics that will remain in my mind. And the stories. Of modern day revolutions and quests to be free. To be self. To be just, I hope, in the end.
White flakes from the cottonwood trees fly with the wind's song. Maybe they're embers of John Denver's Aspen (I saw Annie - as in "Annie's Song," by the way). Maybe traces from another part of the world, to remind us that peace can coexist with madness.
So I thank Aspen Summer Words for providing the stage and I praise the gods of this grass and these hills at 7908 feet that allow a safe wandering through the messy humanity we are all trying to sort out. Whether in Libya or the bedroom, the cubible or Cairo.
I can't recount for you the inspiration or the stories, for they are not just mine to tell and it must be your own search. But here are some head starts, courtesy of the festival's agenda found here, or from my shortlist below.
ASSAF GAVRON's ALMOST DEAD (CROCATTACK in everywhere but the US): A bus bombing in Tel Aviv told via the perspective of an Israeli & a Palestinian suicide bomber.
RABIH ALAMEDDINE - one of a kind storytelling by San Francisco based writer. Read any and all.
BEIRUT 39 - New writing from the Arab World.
MONA ELTAHAWY - follow the revolutions with this columnist and see for yourself.
Other highlights?
The morning light turning the black off a bird's feathers blue as Nikky Finney took the other path.
Sin camera, forced to take the slowest version of a walk to watch mountains turn clay colored with the descent of the sun and count the flickers of the aspen trees and their white grey bark wave goodbye.
Finally detoxing and getting words to consummate into stories.
The locals that shared their stories and space, let me bum WiFi without a purchase, told their stories of Woody Creek life or writing dreams, or left me in peace to crawl onto roofs for my own personal view.
Hotel Aspen's oh-so-sweet swimming pool, breakfasts, gracious discount for writers, and laidback "whatever you want" hosting skills. You made my day.
Reading Rocky Mountain High on a boulder while the Roaring Fork River played bass.
Getting on a little flight and a body bumping ride from Aspen to Denver with Derek Green, great soul and writer Khaled Housseni, and poet-of-the-songs-of-my-conscience seatmate Nikki Finney and thinking "Wow. So this is how God's going to let me die." All that was missing were my favorite minstrels.
Airport bar drinks, laughter, commiseration, inspiration, and chips with the storytelling likes of Derek Green.
*Arabian Spring is a phrase encompassing lands of North Africa and the Middle East (and is often referred to lately as the Egyptian or Middle Eastern Spring). Check out your local and foreign news sources for more on recent events in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Iran.
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