Meet my Italian sistar, Olivia Taglioni. We've been dancing together for months now and, from the first day we met, I have reveled in her powerful reflection. Through our developing friendship, I've also been confronted with my own incongruency - such as how magnetic power can mask deep insecurity. And, c'est la vie.
O. recently moved into a lovely apartment in City Heights that she shares with her three young daughters. My favorite part of spending the night with them is when O's 5-year-old climbs into the pull-out bed at 6:30am, suckling on her binkie, she drapes her light-as-a-feather legs over my curves.
City Heights is San Diego's most vibrant neighborhood as it is also one of the nation's most ethnically-diverse, with over 40 different languages - plus upwards of 30 different dialects - being spoken by its more than 80,000 residents, many of whom are refugees from places like Iraq, Somalia, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and more. Not too ironically (because we have yet to overcome our collective fear of that which we do not understand) you can hear the buzzing drone of a chopper in the video above.
Earlier this week, I spent an amiable afternoon strolling those same City Heights streets with another dear, sweet sistar who, only a few short years ago, had been seeking asylum herself. Now, we walk arm in arm towards rolling hills where, right in the middle of the city center, we sit down on the grass, create an altar and pray for our collective and individual dreams.
It's only a matter of time.
In'shala.
