a letter to comfort my grieving compas in Austin

Feb 13, 2008 1:19 PM
Subject: raulrsalinas--passes on, becomes legend, leaves legacy!!
Body: To comfort those who mourn at the desk, reading of raul, today:


i need a hug. i miss my austin peeps, so awful bad
right now. those vibrant fertile 1990s moments.
of our early wisdoms and onset of commitments.

i'm listening to a raul cd right now, and am thinking
of calling in sick today. i have to honor my elder,
my mentor. i am sick of sucking it in. there is so
much to celebrate and mourn and remember.

read his poems out loud to someone today, this week.
play his cds out loud. let his voice ring to infinity.....

i am feeling so much the increase of burden and
responsibility, as i started to feel back when GLORIA
ANZALDUA died, and i wept at my computer, feeling
so much the pressure to continue in her steps but with
my feet, the bad-ass chingona with challenging exhalations
of righteous word and interrogating thought. the art
that dashes the darkness, the performance that pokes
holes in unholy dominions.

and since i've lost la GLORIA, we've lost so many others in
recent times (Trinidad Sanchez, Jr., Sekou Sundiata), and
this has created a great accumulation of a sense of
carrying on, but doing it BIGGER and friggin BOLDER
and without question. i am here, in north texas,
treading some of the hardest ground there is to tread,
and i miss my compas, the equally-revved and righteous
open-minded envelope-pushers. i often step alone,
but at the same time i am accompanied by the memories
and messages, example and legacy, of so so many great
people i have had the ultimate-est privilege of walking
and working alongside.

i bless your steps, comadres y compadres,
and i hope you bless mine.
we have so much walking to do, and may we do it
with the deepest conviction of knowledge and aspiration
to change what must be changed
overturn what must be overturned
recognize what must be recognized
redeem what must be redeemed
reclaim what must be reclaimed
rejoice in what must be, what must be.

love & the deepest prayer for your
continued health
& happiness,

Tammy