I am bringing you a recap of the past 12 months
As per usual, the summary is: change, change; everything changes, all is changing, and I am determined to continue to let myself be carried away to whatever direction the wind of change blows. How are you going through Christmas? I'll confess one thing to you. To me, the calendar feels more and more strange as time goes on. The conventions we have around time socially are many, and this year I didn't feel Christmassy at all neither did I feel like celebrating New Year's Eve. What the heck is "new", actually? Time is cyclical, inner change continues and goes to happen and has its own rhythm beyond the âexternalâ calendar. For this reason, what I wish for you, instead of âHappy 2024" is: Merry Christmas and Happy Continuation! |
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The biggest work change for me this year has been the transition from being an entrepreneur to starting a job at the Catalan government as a language policy officer. Integrating this change has been an actual process within, since the grief of leaving a personal project which was a dream for me is big (and the issues of identity and attachment around this are not few!), but the truth is that I am not abandoning it, it just transforms into another formula, since I will continue to do some language projects in other ways, as a freelancer. Revitalising languages is still my North star, and I am receptive to new things that life may bring. It never ceases to amaze me how many layers and meanings I find in my soul incarnating in a body that was born somewhere (Catalonia) with a complex relationship (and tension, and richness) between its different languages, as a collective and in myself. And how all of this is evolving. Sometimes I feel like explaining to you some of these meanings that take over my thinking process, and wheeeew! it has already changed. When I want to explain it, it is already taking a new form. I'm already at another place personally, and I don't see it the same way. It is for this reason that I don't feel comfortable in social networks (and I only focused on one - Twitter!), because of the constant internal movement, and also because the more seriously I get into it, the more I find it hard to live in the present, and my most important value is friendship, prioritising relationships, caring for human interaction, including with myself. And for me, that exists outside of screens. Perhaps I will dedicate a newsletter to my difficult relationship with social networks one day. I also realise other things, and one of the biggest is the obsession I have with generating an impact on people towards social change. And the illusion of believing that if I don't control the way I want to influence, I won't be able to. And once agaaaaaain life makes me see that I already have an impact, and a lot, especially in the micro sphere, in the personal realm, in intimate conversations. Talking to people about language and emotions, their stories, beliefs, fears and expectations linked to languages, every day opens up a new universe for me, and sharing my perspective as it is at this precise moment is always transformational. People tell me that. It is the micro-activism that I consider the least, the activism that is not seen, and the one that sets the most change in motion. And I realise that I am really comfortable here, and like throwing a stone into the water, the waves it generates expand to new people and horizons, and cause more and bigger waves. When my obsession/shadow distracts me from how I don't generate enough impact and how hard it is to change the world because nyaaa nanya blaaa blabla jkllsdrjdpapql... I've forgotten that in reality, I'm also where I want to be. There's still a lot to do, yes, but I'm enjoying the journey. And I want to enjoy it more. I want to share myself through art, music, poetry, I want to create more, and worry less about whether it sounds professional or not. Whether my brand is more or less polished or offers as flawless an image as I would like. Carrying this weight is very tiring and no one asked me to... |
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Is there a weight you'd like to drop too? Do you feel like you are growing and changing? What dreams do you have right now? Share it with me, I love reading you. |
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Christmas recommendations |
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(click to listen to the song) |
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I have started to share my voice in public. I've always sung, but I was afraid to share it, and I didn't feel such a need to do it either. It's been about a year since I started singing in public in special occasions, and the fear of judgment has evaporated: turned into serenity, tenderness, and the joy of being very present when I sing. Traditional Occitan music makes me be more rooted in myself and I simply let myself feel and open the channel for the voice to come out however it needs to. Should I do it more often in 2024? I want to create, to create and to share it⌠voice and dance ;) |
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January: Retreat âCuidar l'activismeâ for activists of minoritised languages of the Iberian Peninsula (a chronicle-summary in Catalan, send me an email if you want more info) . . February: I receive the honourable mention at the Prize of Young Influencers of the EuroregiĂł Pirineus-MediterrĂ nia, in the Occitan category (now the second call of the same Prize is open). A summary of my project âInternacionalizar l'occitan sus Twitterâ (in Occitan) April: presentation at the CIAJILLC Conference âJoves investigadors: noves recerques en catalanĂstica i llengua d'òc" at Ais de Provença, with the presentation Lo Prèmi Ostana e la Chambra d'Ăc: promòure l'occitan en Italia e dins lo monde ("the Ostana Prize and Chambra d'Ăc: promoting Occitan in Italy and in the world") . Interview to Aragonese language activist Silvia Cebolla for Nationalia Online listening circle for speakers and activists of Catalan, and 2nd circle for indigenous language speakers and activists in English July: roundtable at HIGA, the Summit of Young Speakers of Minoritised Languages at Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country (Spain) speaking about my enterpreneur project and about mental health. Full video here August: MAK Festival of the Molise Croatian in Italy, I recite Catalan and Occitan poetry + aliances with the Ostana Prize are woven (audio here in Italian, minute 50) Escola Occitana d'Estiu (Occitan Summer School), presentation on my enterpreneur project of language revitalisation + Listening and sharing circle about language grief in Occitan . September: I start a new job at Generalitat de Catalunya as a Language policy officer . My Catalan translation of Wole Soyinka's poem published by Jalada Africa October: Ăc Cultura âJo sò er auteâ festival, a festival of Occitan culture I organse in my city, Lleida . ELEN General Assembly (Sardinia), representing Chambra d'Ăc and presenting about the Ostana Prize and our conclusions in recent years December: open mic at Rodautors in Lleida, I participate with poetry and singing in Occitan |
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If you missed any of the last newsletters⌠|
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Thank you for being part of my journey to revitalise languages. Your support is very important for me. Together we are stronger. Mariona Miret |
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P.D. I hope you had a beautiful New Year's eve celebration! I was in Sweden (Stockholm) for a swing dancing festival. Hasta luego cocodrilo đđ |
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