Paris, 12th arrondissement
Dear reader,
I was present today at a conference held at the CNRS in the 17th arrondissement by Le Cahier du Genre, which is soon publishing its 50th journal around “Gender, Modernity and ‘Coloniality’ of Power”. I had the pleasure of assisting to talks by Maria Eleonora Sanna and Eleni Varikas, Paola Bacchetta, Irene Silverblatt and Clemens Zobel on the most varied topics, but what I bring to home and to the rehearsal room tomorrow is an incredible longing for precision of language and for narrowing down of interrogatives.
I am fully aware of how scattered my thoughts and body have been, and the necessity of gathering everything under one common energy is now clear. I wish I had been more accepting of this inner lack of cohesion sooner – because I know that the work ahead of me is so much more daunting because of how many ends I have to bring together. At the same time, I also realized today that I have been immersing myself in a universe from a completely different point of view than the ones I had previously experienced. So, it wasn’t wasted time, or wasted energy.
So, finally, here is what POST•M is about. It is about who we are, as multiple voices. It is about who we are as grandchildren and children of the generations who have preceded us. It is about understanding and stating that there is no one truth, that History isn’t and cannot be one voice. That citizenship is a collective business, and that as such collectivity and community need to be built in order to make this world a fairer and better place. Because I strongly believe we can do it, and that we will do it. POST•M is about witnessing the present which becomes past. And questioning what acting and witnessing actually means. What participating is. What building together is. POST•M is about accepting that not understanding is ok. That no answer is readily available. And that time is a necessary tool in thinking, developing, feeling. That today’s relations need to be more than about one place, one country, one time, one point of view. That plurality of expression is not only a necessity and a true reality, but the only way that our current society can express itself.
So let us please grow up, and be responsible. Let us see in the Other ourselves, and reach for Her/Him. And let’s stop saying that “this is happening because of this”, “no, it isn’t”. Stop saying no. Open your eyes, open your ears, and be there, for you, for me, for any human soul in the 7 billions that we are living on this planet.
With utter and most passionate love,
Nerina