What we have here is a war–the war of matter and spirit. In the classical era, spirit was in harmony with matter. Matter used to condense spirit. What was unseen–the ghost of Hamlet’s father–was seen–in the conscience of the king. The spirit was trapped in the matter of theater. The theater made the unseen, seen. In the Romantic era, spirit overwhelms matter. The glass of champagne can’t contain the bubbles. But never in the history of humanity has spirit been at war with matter. And that is what we have today. The war of banks and religion. It’s what I wrote in Prayers of the Dawn, that in New York City, banks tower over cathedrals. Banks are the temples of America. This is a holy war. Our economy is our religion. When I came back to midtown a week after the attack– I mourned–but not in a personal way–it was a cosmic mourning–something that I could not specify because I didn’t know any of the dead. I felt grief without knowing its origin. Maybe it was the grief of being an immigrant and of not having roots. Not being able to participate in the whole affair as a family member but as a foreigner, as a stranger–estranged in myself and confused– I saw the windows of Bergdorf and Saks–what a theater of the unexpected–my mother would have cried–there were only black curtains, black drapes–showing the mourning of the stores–no mannequins, just veils–black veils. When the mannequins appeared again weeks later–none of them had blond hair. I don’t know if it was because of the mourning rituals or whether the mannequins were afraid to be blond–targets of terrorists. Even they didn’t want to look American. They were out of fashion after the Twin Towers fell. To the point, that even though I had just dyed my hair blond because I was writing Hamlet and Hamlet is blond, I went back to my coiffeur immediately and told him–dye my hair black. It was a matter of life and death, why look like an American. When naturally I look like an Arab and walk like an Egyptian. Giannina Braschi
There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first,...
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John Lennon
Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.
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Unknown
We are all the pieces of what we remember. We hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there is love and memory, there is no true loss.
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Cassandra Clare
Nobody sees anybody truly but all through the flaws of their own egos. That is the way we all see ..each other in life. Vanity, fear, desire, competition-- all such distortions within our own egos-- condition our vision of those in relation to us. Add...
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Tennessee Williams
We, unaccustomed to courageexiles from delightlive coiled in shells of lonelinessuntil love leaves its high holy templeand comes into our sightto liberate us into life. Love arrivesand in its train come ecstasiesold memories of pleasureancient histories of pain. Yet if we are bold, love strikes...
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Maya Angelou
More Quotes By Giannina Braschi
Banks are the temples of America. This is a holy war. Our economy is our religion.
The president, the secretary of state, the businessman, the preacher, the vendor, the spies, the clients and managers–all walking around Wall Street like chickens with their heads cut off–rushing to escape bankruptcy–plotting to melt down the Statue of Liberty–to press more copper pennies–to breed more...
What we have here is a war–the war of matter and spirit. In the classical era, spirit was in harmony with matter. Matter used to condense spirit. What was unseen–the ghost of Hamlet’s father–was seen–in the conscience of the king. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>The spirit was...
