The Power of Words

 

This is a picture of Dona Varin Cheverez-Cheverez, a full blood Taino Indian woman from the mountain town of Morovis in Puerto Rico. She is working with the traditional Taino ceramic bowls. Gallery

I recently presented a workshop at the Power of Words Conference in Vermont.  It was an incredible learning experience, both from a business perspective as well as personal growth.

I will be writing a full recap on the conference, but I would like to share an experience from a workshop conducted by Marianela Medrano-Marra, Writing the Crosscultural Experience. 

To introduce us to the crosscultural experience, she asked the group to participate in a quick exercise where we rolled our r’s to get in touch with the legacy of romance languages, and to feel the expression throughout our whole bodies. The exercise seemed simple, but I quickly realized it wasn’t as comfortable for the whole group as it was for me. It turned out to be quite a nerve-racking brainteaser for some people in the group, awakening my understanding that the crossculture experience isn’t as accessible as I originally thought.

Everyone did give it their best effort, and we all found it fascinating how difficult rolling the r’s can be. The exercise set the stage for discussing the various meanings of culture, its roots in language, and traditional stories that sustain culture throughout generations.

Marianela talked about indigenous people and their significance in history. Then she mentioned the one indigenous group I rarely hear mentioned in any of the classes, workshops or history books I’ve read, the Taino Indians.

Most Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans originate from the Taino Indians but they are seldom highlighted, let alone embraced as a culture of beauty, deeply rooted in tradition and ceremony.

She continued with slide images of different groups of indians and the vast cultures that span our history. After silently taking in each image, we were asked to write a poem describing our impressions through our five senses. 

Poetry has never been one of my interests. But here, I could feel my culture in a real and tangible way, swelling and forcing me out of my comfort zone. 

This is what I came up with:

The room is full with the richness of my ancestors

Larger than life and grounded in body

My native tongue courses through the soul of this sacred space,

its energy alive and pelting us with its freedom.

My ancestors

con color y amor

open their arms

and invite us to paint stories with words.