Left a piece of my heart south of Cuba this month. Left it in a place of violence and extreme poverty, but it is absolutely safe and well-nourished. That's because I've met the angels of Villa Esfuerzo in the Dominican Republic where 15 of us joined those angels to build a bridge of impregnable things. Things like sweat and tears and music and laughter and love. I wake up at night now and feel children clinging to me. And it is not hard to conjure back the face of an ancient 25-year-old woman hosting some of us in the gloom of her one-room tin and cinder block dwelling while her five children peek shyly at us from behind divider curtains. "Us" is another story. Incredible people who shared the week’s work of building onto a church school while tearing down walls that should never have been built. We all felt it -- the haunting urgency for connection that superseded the project -- discussed it every night, shared insights in incredible conversations, and came to know (without the need of a translator) that the children's voices we heard were singing, not in Spanish, but in the language of hope.
Lots more I could tell you about this place of occasional running water and electricity -- like shaving my head in the endless rains (which my fellow team members found endlessly amusing and photographed)... roosters crowing all night... the tarantula hunts... swimming over reefs of stumps in the Caribbean -- but I'd much rather you go to the poignant stuff, the inspiration, the PEOPLE stuff in my column at Storytellersunplugged this month. Seriously. Click this link and read on: http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2010/07/16/thomas-sullivan-skinny-dogs-skinny-chickens-skinny-people-or-how-to-blow-the-cap-on-your-own-deep-water-well-and-free-your-imagination/
Flew home to discover that my daughter had just gone into the hospital with failing kidneys and liver. But this was by design and she had the cure. Against all odds Colleen carried her first baby to within 8 weeks of her due date, and I now have a grandson named Seamus James, mother and baby doing fine. It's in our Sullivan genes to get on with life as soon as possible (I was born in a hospital lobby), so Seamus’s early entry is standard, but does that make him minus 56 days old? I've always joked that I didn't start at zero.
Music continues to crank up its volume in my life. Had interesting conversations with the featured talent at both concerts I've been to since returning from the Dominican. Also am spending 2-3 hours a day playing T-sax outdoors, doing improvs with CDs -- some sweet, but mostly classic rock 'n roll. No one will ever mistake me for a musician (I don't read music, never had a lesson, and never play the same thing the same way twice), but it's a hoot when people gather to listen or ask if I sell CDs or want to hire me for a gig. Couple of bands have brought up the possibility that I might play with them, but I'd be kicked out in no time, cause I'm all over the map, kidnapping the melody, commandeering rhythms, counterpointing everything. It's a bit unusual; I probably hit one note in three and bend the rest into something south of honky-tonk and north of the blues. It's fun, nothing more. Well...there’s the putting-your-soul-through-brass aspect, but if I could put that into words for you, I wouldn't need the music to do it. Unforgettable moment at Weaver Lake Park the other day. I'm just as apt to play alone under a picnic shelter, rain or shine, as I am to have an audience, but for some reason there were about 150 people listening that morning. One of the groups -- about 30 kids from Small World Learning Center and their mentors -- suddenly broke out dancing. It looked like a 60s Sandra Dee beach flick starring munchkins. Try getting that out of your head. But then, who would want to?
Wish I had video of the Sandy Dee spontaneous chain reaction to show you, but alas, we were all in the zone and the moment. However, there are other pictures this month. At the end of this Sullygram are some Dominican shots as follows: 1st one is my friend Bruce and his son on either side of me at the work site. Next is the Circle Dance some women started one day where they call out your name and you have to do some signature moves (read about it in the SU column linked above). Then an exposé of holding hands with a Spanish knight in the historic mansion of Christopher Columbus's son Diego while Bruce plays it straight. Another worksite candid shot caught me gold-bricking behind a hard-working 14-year-old named Grant from St. Michael, MN. Next some local lads rescue me after I screwed up their crafts project. Followed by a scurrilous paparazzi photo of an attempted decapitation with a straight razor in the rain. Then a team photo on the roof of the school. The last two -- baby & barbed wire and two little girls in the school – speak for themselves.
Wishing you the summer of your dreams. And if you’d like to plant some inspiration, I'm hoping you will help me spread the good tale of the village where I've just been, because it is the story of many places around this globe. Here's the link again: http://storytellersunplugged.com/thomassullivan/2010/07/16/thomas-sullivan-skinny-dogs-skinny-chickens-skinny-people-or-how-to-blow-the-cap-on-your-own-deep-water-well-and-free-your-imagination/
May I also invite you to follow me on Twitter? It’s just something fun you can peep at anonymously. Simply click this link anytime: http://twitter.com/thomassullivan . Your thoughts are welcome, your attention valued.
Thomas
“Sully” Sullivan
http://www.thomassullivanauthor.com
http://twitter.com/thomassullivan
