Paganicon 2017

I don’t use this blog nearly enough. This year, I hope to change that. If there are specific topics that you might be interested in me posting about, please contact me (andezo at gmail dot com) and let me know! I’m collecting ideas to make this a much more regular space. Social media, which is useful for short-term and breaking news, is becoming increasingly less useful for talking about bigger subjects, and it’s time to return to the long form.

Today marks seven years from the major earthquake that killed many people in Haiti, including some of my own family members. Time continues its march forward. Some things change, some things don’t change. Haiti has (yet another) new president, but no less controversy. The US continues to meddle in Haitian affairs. The UN, which suddenly issued an apology for its causing the cholera epidemic post-earthquake (but most likely only because the outgoing secretary is thinking about a presidential run in Korea and wants to look good), sent more peacekeepers to the country this week, but didn’t bother to vaccinate them against cholera until a public outcry was made – and now only they are treated. (Nothing at all has been done for the Haitians who live where they are).

It’s heartbreaking and frustrating and rage-inducing to know what’s going on in Haiti (to be fair, we’ve got those feelings about places outside Haiti currently as well, don’t we?). It becomes a serious effort to stay focused and not let it get you into a pit of despair and anger that does nothing at all except feed on itself.

But that effort is important. It is perhaps even more important when the stakes are this high. Stay informed. Read from many sources. Check your sources. Check them again. Learn about what’s going on behind the clickbait and the headlines. Get out of your comfort zone. To borrow a phrase from the justice movements in the US: stay woke. Remind yourself and your world: we’re here. We’re not going anywhere. We will continue. Strength makes them see.

 

PS: I’ll be appearing at Paganicon 2017, and am also one of the sponsors of the Pagans of Color & Allies suite that will be open during the event. We’ll have Vodou programming among many other things. Join us if you can.