1. Only four of us showed up last night. And one was a rep from the publisher. This must get disappointing for authors. I went with Ruan, a friend and parishioner, who is also a writer and poet (her chapbook: “thought-fish“). We went to go hear Marianne Elliott, yoga teacher, human rights lawyer, and writer of a great new book: Zen Under Fire. I like writer Susan Piver’s comment: “… if Eat, Pray, Love had happened in Afghanistan and the stakes were life and death.”
2. Because there were so few people, Ruan and I got to have some real conversation with Marianne before the reading. Marianne said book events are strange, “You’re throwing a party, but someone else is the host, you’ve never been to their place before, you don’t know how many people are coming, or who the guests are going to be.” And you only have a carry-on travel bag to take with you. And you do this dozens of times over the course of many, many weeks. Whew.
3. I associate Marianne’s voice with phrases I hear her say over and over again (in her New Zealand accent) in her 30 Days of Yoga video sequences, like “avoid clinching in your sacrum,” and “about 30 percent of your eefort”, and “a nice, juicy, tasty stritch.” It was good to hear that same voice talk about the land and people of Afghanistan, her work for the UN, and using meditation and yoga to cope with suffering in our lives.
4. Marianne, Ruan, and I also talked about spirituality, books, the definition of marriage, and the fact that NZ offers civil unions to both straight and gay couples. Marianne’s partner is a man, but they chose a state civil union (she feels strongly about the separation of church and state), and so the U.S. visa office doesn’t recognize them as having a legal relationship. Weird.
5. I wore long sleeves, expecting an uber air conditioned store. But Barbara’s had turned off the AC and opened up the front doors to let the breeze in, which made sense because the weather was nice. Meanwhile, I was sweltering. Next time: layers!
6. I learned a few things about the culture of humanitarian workers that shocked me. They do intense work around human suffering and violence but believe they can remove two things from their work: their emotions, and the fact of the self. You’re there to do a job, not to feel sad. You’re an independent observer, set apart from the people you’re serving. The UN and other NGOs that do political aid work don’t do any training around this stuff. As a clergy person, this blows my mind. We get extensive training in how to deal with our emotions in our work and the role the self can play in institutional interactions. So do social workers. Humanitarian culture, according to Marianne, is very different from development organizations (like Unicef or Doctors Without Borders). It’s DNA is military (i.e., UN), and leadership is only just beginning to consider some of these more sensitive issues. Hello people, emotional intelligence is a master skill – not a pansy diversion for wedding planners and, er, um, yoga teachers. Ahem! But seriously.
7. As you can imagine, there aren’t really many Mexicans in New Zealand. So, there’s really no Mexican cuisine, which was a blow to Marianne’s husband, Lucas, who immigrated there from California after coming to work on LOTR. He left film and opened a Mexican restaurant in Wellington called La Boca Loca. Apparently, for many years, some restaurants tried to create Mexican dishes by copying from photos. They saw pictures of tacos, and, not recognizing American’s love for bright orange cheese, sprinkled their tacos with grated carrot.
8. When we walked into the bookstore, it was kind of hard to find Marianne’s book. I had to ask where it was. It was on the counter. When I got to the counter, it was so covered with other stuff, I still couldn’t find the book until the casher picked it out. However, Barbara’s Bookstore is remarkably cozy and inviting, with bright orange poofy chairs and yards of fascinating books.
9. Perhaps, trying to get with the whole yoga teacher vibe, the assistant manager was wearing yoga pants and a spaghetti strap tank top, sunglasses perched on her head.
10. Even though this book event probably would’ve attracted more people somewhere in the city, I was grateful it was out here on the edge of the prairie, a twenty minute from home, and that I got to meet Marianne Elliott, who I’ve admired from afar for almost a year now. I look forward to finishing her book! I’d highly recommend her writing, yoga series, website, and definitely her book events.
