The Best Medicine

If You Need A Reason
by Sylvia Curbelo


The way things move sometimes,
light or air,
the distance between,
two points, or a map unfolding
on a table, or wind, never mind sadness,
The difference between sky and room,
between geometry and breath,
the sound we hear
when two opposites finally collide,
smashed bottle, country song,
a bell, any bridge, a connection.
The way some stories end in the middle
of a word,
the words themselves,
galaxies, statuaries, perspectives,
the stone over stone that is life,
never mind hunger.
The way things move, road,
mirror, blind luck. The way
nothing moves sometimes,
a kiss, a glance,
never mind true north.
The difference between history
and desire, between biology
and prayer, any light
to read by, any voice at the bottom
of the stairs, or the sound
of your own name softly, a tiny bone
breaking near the heart.

*le sigh*

"Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the heavens so fine

That all the world will be in love with the night

And pay no worship to the garish sun."

                                                                                                    (III ii 1)

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be okay.

Life is messy. We mess up. We have great moments. We have horrible moments. We have brilliant moments. The goal is to allow and admit them all. To be willing to look bad, silly or goofy. To not aim for perfection, but rather express ourselves as we are, strong, scared and in human form.

Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

I'm tired. I'm being pushed to my limits. I'm stressed out. I'm frustrated. I ache. I'm cold. I want a pause button so I can scream at the top of my lungs and resume with my life shortly after. But, I love what I am doing. I am eager. I am excited for the possibilities coming my way. I am so grateful for all of the things I am getting done. I am being tested and I am excited to prove myself. God, I am so lucky I can't even stand it! As you can tell, I am a whole bunch of shimmering contradictions right now, but what else can you expect from a gemini?

I just need to breathe. Everything will work itself out. I tend to get tangled in the details of the fabric. I replay the events over and over in my head and analyze every little movement. Its annoying and unavoidable, but part of being a human. Or maybe just a woman. I was beating myself up over it this week; so, I'm letting go of all of that shitty emotional baggage. It's heavy.

L'amour.

“You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She’s not perfect - you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break - her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there.” 


- Bob Marley


Pour habiter en la chaleur de votre coeur et toujours l'appeler la maison. Cela est ma destinée. 

The Passionate Shephard To His Love.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

by Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me, and be my love;

And we will all the pleasures prove

That hills and valleys, dales and fields,

Woods or steepy mountains yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,

Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks

By shallow rivers, to whose falls

Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee a bed of roses,

And a thousand fragrant posies;

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty lambs we pull;

Fair-lined slippers for the cold,

WIth buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy-buds,

With coral clasps and amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherd-swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May morning:

If they delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me, and be my love.

I've been thinking a lot about London lately, and wanted to share some love that reminds me of home :)

Still in Love With London

-Steffanie

Love is Louder.

Tonight I heard that there has been another person in my community that has committed suicide. I don't know her, or her family, but I still find myself effected by this untimely loss. It's not only upsetting that this poor girl was bullied, but infuriating! How could someone torment another person so endlessly and not see the destruction they are causing?! One part of me hopes that the people who instigated all of the bullying has this death on their conscious for the rest of their lives...

...but on the other hand, I am grateful for all of the love and support the Chaparral community is showing for one another. Chaparral has always been a welcoming and caring community, which makes this incident even more unbelievable. Our principle has always said "take care of each other." My senior self always thought it was tacky and sappy, but his parting words are greater than even he really knows. If this girl had been shown how much people love her before her death like they are now, imagine how differently her life, and ours, would have turned out? We have to take care of one another in this crazy life experience; because, let's face it, we can't always make it on our own.

Enough is enough! Instead of broadcasting hate, anger, and disapproval, is time to start shouting love from the rooftops. Love always has, and always will be louder.

Rest in peace to those recently lost, and prayers to everyone effected by the losses.

Love,

Steffanie

Go Forth and Prosper.

Let's celebrate! We're young, we're happy, we're single, we're shit-faced, we're well-protected, we're healthy, we have better-than-adequate access to capital, we take what need and we use what we take. Life is good, my friends.