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TRUE STORY: What's a Chicana from San Antonio doing in Rwanda?


La Vicki Grise is 30 years old, a hometown girl and performance artist who's in her second year of graduate school in the Performing Arts en Los Angeles.

You may know her for The Panza Monologues, produced by Irma Mayorga.

Vicki is the future of theatre. When you turn off the television after a long hoping of some truth, confused because it leaves you feeling not pretty enough, not rich enough, remember, remember, that people used to gather around and tell each other stories. And there was always that one woman who could make you laugh - and cry.

She told your story, and made you see how yes, you were necessary to the world.

Postcard from Vicki Grise

I am in Amsterdam now at my new office - the open bare biblioteek. The city is laid out in a series of cocentric circles with canals and bridges cutting across them on every block. The old buildings, lined right up against the other, lean forward and they look as if they are supporting each other. Everyone rides a bike and I am camping next to Gaasperplas Lake. I run every morning underneath trees that create ceilings of green that block the sky. I love it here.
I'm writing to let you know that I posted my first report from travels to Rwanda this summer on my blog site: www.vgrise.blogspot.com While I was in Africa I believe I was so overwhelmed by the experience I had a difficult time being on a computer even when I did have access.

The first post is on our first days arrival and Bisisero, the site of Rwandan resistance to the Genocide of 1994. In the following weeks, I will also post notes on:

1. Marambi - a community that refuses to bury their dead so that no one can deny what happened on that land
2. Butare - where Sistah Hailstorm and TIWAEIS (Vanessa) rocked the mike and had the audience on their feet
3. and finally Hope North, Uganda - a site of refuge for children fleeing the war in Uganda.

In Rwanda, we were told again and again - go home and tell people what you have seen here.

credit: photo, Vicki Grise, www.evelynstreet.com, The Panza Monologues, by Vicki Grise and Irma Mayorga

Comments

Anonymous said…
shame on you babara you should have written this story while vicki was fundraising! readers take note you can still send vicki a couple of bucks via paypal through her blog. god bless!

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