What a great lady Marisa is! I felt a kindred-spirit-ness with her on so many levels, from starting out bewildered by American pop-culture and watching TV to catch the running jokes of Jr. High, to being a singer-songwriter, and a sensitive-yet-adventurous lover of life with a hunger for deep understanding and compassion across cultures. I even have in common with her that I started a women’s group in high school, though mine was targeted specifically at discussing sexual harassment at school.
All this commonality with Marisa made this a riveting read for me. On the flip side, I’m not much of an activist myself. Apart from the occasional peace vigils and “Pray for Peace” picket lines, I don’t get involved much with politics or even keep up with what’s going on very well. Marisa’s book was perfect for educating someone like me because it uses the narrative of her life story and friendships to give a human face to the conflicts going on in the world that we all should know about, even if we feel that we are too sensitive and must insulate ourselves.
I was particularly interested in reading her piercingly honest descriptions of moving through her own suffering and yet always coming out the other end ready to keep working, ready to connect with deep compassion.
This is a very beautiful work, and I highly recommend the book.
Marisa gets bonus points for being such a good sport with me putting her on the spot at the end of the interview to sing part of her song, “Loyal to the Sky”. I heard her sing it a capella on a youtube video right before the interview and I didn’t want our listeners to miss out. This lady is awesome.
Listen to her podcast here, and post your comments!
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