Ivèrn
      weirdo
A newsletter by Mariona Miret · Language revitalisation
 - The English edition
 
 
Photo by Breno Machado at Unsplash              
A play with words in Spanish: getting naked (desnudarse) vs / + untangling (desanudarse)
 
 
I can't tell you how many times I've tried writing this! 
 
It's been a lot of missed trials, of initial frustrated energy bursts. Whatever I might say will not convey the intensity of the last months. Have you felt it too?
 
The weight of responsibility. Getting busy with things outside. Getting sick, feeling, withdrawing.   Stopping. Kind of setting of. Falling.        Pause, hold myself, breathe.
 
Doing more than I can. More than what is possible for my body. Comparing myself with others. I should be able to do more.
 
Deep change. Regeneration. Letting go layer by layer. Receptivity to pain.
Does it ring a bell in you?
 
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Do you let go of leaves in autumn? Do you change skin? Tell me, let's share.
 
Heeelloooo. What am I bringing to you in this newsletter?
-An Occitan poetry class about the topic of Grace
-A raw interview to Paulina Kamakine, woman-poet
-A contemporary dance video by Íria Llena
-A dreamy, creepy artwork by a Nigerian visual artist
-The first Occitan poem by Martine Ralu
 
Even though we're still in autumn, I've titled this newsletter ‘ivèrn weirdo' (words in Occitan + English - weirdo winter), like the title of a music playlist I have come up with that captures the inner autumn-winter which is the raw material which inspires this newsletter.
 
In other words: everything but Christmas vibes. December is the weirdest month: a sandwich month between the end of the year and the beginning of a new one, everyone wants it to be over (?), it's cold, there are very few hours of light… December's a weirdo.
 
The most important thing I'd like you to know is that the intensity of these months has brought a new direction to my inner compass which makes me EXCITED and in the next December newsletters I'll bring you important news about my offerings for 2023. Stay tuned!
 
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Playlists are my dirty pleasure. Listen to it on Spotify / if you'd like to download the cover: here! 
🎵 Songs in Occitan, English, Catalan, Galician, Spanish and Slovenian.
 
brief December agenda
 
Seminar "‘La Gràcia’, a Cosmogony of Ordinary Life in Occitan Poetry: Marcela Delpastre"
 
 
 

INTERVIEW TIME
 
Lately all the events related to languages which have been happening in my life have been physical (and I am thankful for it). In October, as part of the “Occitan Aranese Section” of Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs (Cultural institution), we organised Òc Cultura 2022 “Sens racinas pas de flors” (Without roots flowers don't grow), the second edition of this culture & arts Occitan festival in Lleida (Catalonia), my city. You can check the programme in Occitan and Catalan here.
 
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A LITTLE BIT OF ART wintery and weirdo
 
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Creation
 
 
Experiencing and vibrating.
Transformative dance
I recorded Íria dancing in 2020 for an online event about culture, language and the arts during lock-down. Her dancing has always inspired me, and while I was thinking about my own transition and inner chrysalis experience, Íria's words in this video came back to me - about the importance of finding a way (or a "language") to purge, cleanse and heal emotions upsetting us. 
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(Reflections knitted in movement)
"La dansa és una llengua més que em permet expressar des de la part més sincera i honesta tot el que amb paraules no sabria dir. És l’eina que utilitzo per expressar-me, és el viatge de les paraules, idees, sentiments que m’agradaria transmetre.
 
La dansa en confinament ha estat molt present. 
És teràpia; el meu cos em demana expressar-me a través del moviment, un moviment que en dies de confinament es va nodrir de noves sensacions i textures fruit de la situació que estava vivint i experimentant. Un temps per investigar i aprofitar, per guarir i sanejar aquells sentiments que es movien dins meu i que la dansa m’ha permès canalitzar."
"Dance is just another language that allows me to express myself from my most sincere and honest place everything I wouldn't be able to say with words. It is the tool I use to express myself, it's a travel through the words, ideas, feelings I would like to express. 
 
Dance during lock-down has been very present. 
It's therapy; my body asks me to express myself through movement, a movement that during lock-down nourished itself with new sensations and textures as a result of the situation I was experiencing. A time to investigate and to make the most of, to heal and cleanse the feelings that bottled up inside me and that dancing allowed me to channel."
Do you have your own rituals for this inner cleanse?
 
Talk "Oportunitats per a l'occità i les llengües d'Itàlia en l'era digital"
 
 

Listening and feeling.
Inspiring Youtubers
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One of the best videos by @HINDZSIGHT, a perspective to focus on the essential which I really recommend to you and I hope you can incorporate if you feel like it
 

I hope I brought something different to your day.
Stay tuned for more coming soon,
 
Mariona Miret
      Language revitalisation
 
In case you missed them, here are the last newsletters:
 
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