updates in may

ha ha ha...
1. did you know that mercury was in retrograde? april 17-may 11? were you feeling it? the retrograde was in taurus...

As the planet of communication, Mercury retrograde tends to breed a certain level of confusion. Mercury rules our "lower" mind--how we perceive and interpret information that we receive from our environment, and how we relay that information to others. Mercury has rulership over such things as speaking, negotiating, buying and selling, listening, formal contracts, documents, travel, the mail and shipping, and so forth. All of these areas of life are affected when Mercury is functioning in a sluggish state. Decision-making is challenged during Mercury retrograde. Needless to say, it is not advised to sign contracts, engage in important decision-making, or launch a new business. Delays and challenges are more probable with Mercury retrograde. It's a time when being careless with money, our personal information, or paperwork can be costly.

There is a positive side to Mercury Retrograde. This period is best used for re-organizing and reflecting. We look at the world a little differently--through different filters--and can come up with some very important inner revelations. It may be difficult to communicate them under this influence, but not everything needs to be rationalized. Mercury retrograde periods can be times of heightened inner awareness, when meditation, benefiting from keeping a journal, reworking old plans, and reviewing past work are favored. Minor breaks in the mechanical aspects of communication can actually re-connect us to other means of communication, such as when there is an unexpected power outage and we're forced off the computer and television, finding different and often satisfying ways to entertain ourselves.

2. so border home lands of course hit snags during the mercury retrograde. here is the snag: trying to create a pdf file that create space will accept. but, we are beginning to think that create space says that the file is not clear enough, not because of the level of dpi's that we use, but because well, i use grainy images. i like copies of a copy of a copy.
so we are going to go with what we got. stop mai'a from being a perfectionist. we will be offering a free e-zine version of the zine as well. which will be easy! i just have to figure out more techie shit (yeah, check the sarcasm!)
this has been frustrating and exciting. i admit i am a subversive by calling. and so figuring out ways to subvert the police state's censorship to be able to say and show what i want, well, is exciting. the frustrating part is that i am not techie. i am busy. and i hate excuses--so i am working on being gentle with myself. continuing to push forward and not fall into self-blame and guilt for not getting stuff out as soon as i would like. its okay, somedays im not superwoman ;)




3. our sister's tattoo was/is an incredible success. everyone's support for aaminah during this time just reaffirmed what i said last year which is: if we build it, we will come. radical love is powerful. and building community across borders is not a theory, its a daily practice, a daily prayer from us, to us, by us, for us. i love you aaminah.
i realize that aaminah will thank those who supported our sister's tattoo in her own way. but i want to as well, because you have no idea how everytime i opened my email and saw another notice that someone had contributed a bit of their hard earned money for this type of community love, it made my day. and i want to say thank you. more about that surprise later...

4. i am just starting to tackle the outlaw midwives project. the submissions have been amazing to go through. oh my god! seriously, y'all are brilliant! and i cant wait to show what the final product looks like. it is a deep project. one thing i would love to know from any and all of you is: what resources helped you/supported you during pregnancy, birth, and post partum? if you have any books, websites, list serves, organizations, etc. that you reached out for or that reached out for you...let me know...i would like to create a resource section for outlaw midwives as well.

5. here in cairo today it is 115 degrees today. yeah, its like that. and its not even june yet.
hope you guys have a great spring!

love,
mai'a