sometimes...

sometimes, at it's truest point, art touches it's viewer so close to his soul, it's as if, in that moment, the art can see right through the viewer, as if art can know a person better than the person can know himself, can speak truth he never saw, or give insight where everything was dull. i think music can do that too. i've never been a big music person. sure, i like to listen to it, love singing along to the radio in the car with the windows down driving all those around me a little crazy. but my true music education didn't start until a year or two ago, so i am just now figuring out favorites and what i really like and don't like.

music, like any other form of art, has some power.

these past few months in mali have taught me that more than ever. music can change a mood. it can become something more than just lyrics, it can become an anthem, as great and memorable music often is.

have you heard "home" by edward sharpe and the magnetic zero's? well you should. it's a favorite of one of the girl's in my stage, kat. she is an awesome singer and has some really cool music taste. she was singing this song from day one. it's kinda funny because at first the we all were split--it seemed some people loved the song, and some people wanted her to sing anything else! no one was shocked when she decided to sing it at the talent show we had in the last days of training. but i think that night a little something shifted. we all looked around and realized that for right now, this is home. these are the people we want to be home with. it was lovely to look around at these people who such a short time ago were strangers and now it was killing me to imagine not being so close to them. kat needed whistlers for part of the song, and like a choir, the boys on one side of the room were her whistlers. for me, it was a great moment.

it got even better. on friday, during our party, after they announced our name and played a gangsta song for us, they played "home". and so then, all 22 of us, whether you liked it or not, whether it was your favorite or became your favorite, we all sang the words we knew at the top of our lungs. we danced. we smiled. we laughed. we jumped up and down. in that moment, we were exactly where we were supposed to be. with each other.

peace corps redefines family and friendship, home and foreign. and then it is up to us to make it all ours. even so far away from what we comfortably call home, we make a new one.

welcome to our family.

 love, the goodfellas