"Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. I'll meet you there." ~Rumi

Hello again my dear friends and family.  A couple of weeks ago I had the hugest privilege of attending a play at the Riverside Theatre (on campus, right next to my student housing!) called "I Once Knew A Girl: Unheard Stories of Women".  I wandered over to the play with some girlfriends, not even suspecting what a heart-wrenching production I was about to experience.  The stage was simply set, with only a white staircase and white screen in the background, and was acted on by six adult women of various ages.  These women, in their own unique ways, had survived Northern Ireland's Troubles (the civil wars between Catholic Republicans and Protestant Unionists) and had written the play to tell their intense stories.  I thought the program put it very eloquently:

 "It is a delicate and sacred work to liberate these sometime painful and deep stories.  Through the creative process, these six women performs who come from very different backgrounds, have together created a beautiful and loving space where trust sisterhood and respectful listening have abounded.  In that way, they have created a model of what the strength and power of women working together in peace can look like."

I was incredibly deeply touched to hear their accounts of domestic abuse, rape, women's involvement in the guerrilla warfare, loss, confusion, betrayal and so many other tragic themes of that era.  It's one thing to engage with a play when the actors are acting out fake experiences, ones that are distanced from their personal lives, and a completely new thing to know that each woman is revealing the innermost secrets of her life. So, so powerful.  I approached the six women after the play (completely bawling I might add lol) and tried to tell them how much it meant to me.  All I know, is that there is a such pure power in allowing others to experience the things you have experienced---and that witness, I believe, can allow for understanding and has the potential to change communities drastically and stop wars before they even start.