Greetings!

I woke up the other morning and thought of you all, remembering it was about time to reach out across the waves and wires to say hello, let you know what’s going on in my corner of the world, and maybe even hear back about what’s up with you.

I continue to play music most weekends, veer between a strong need to teach regular dance classes again as soon as possible while also wanting just a little more time to marinate in not having that responsibility, read library books like a mofo, nest with my loves, write, fret about my city and the land I call home and the living ones on it, keep the anxieties at bay through a messy meditation practice, work and practice and learn with and from my neighbors to protect the most vulnerable among us when things get icy, wrestle and grow with and away from the health weirdness that has dominated my life since 2021, and work on all sorts of projects that may or may not ever see the light of day.

You can read on for details about some of the above, as well as three new pieces of writing I’ve posted since we last connected here, some recent reads, and upcoming events.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Resistance & Rhythm: Songs of Women’s Struggle

Saturday, March 7, Berkeley Public Library, 1pm

Duo Pizzicato and friends will lead participants in several songs and a simple line dance at the Berkeley Old Time Music Spring Situation. Free. All welcome!

What Do the Women Say?

Sunday, March 8, Brava Theater, San Francisco, 7pm

Aswat Women will back up Sudanese singer Salma El Assal (if you know you know - she is A M A Z I N G) at this annual Golden Thread Productions event. The evening program features music, dance, spoken word, plays and wide-ranging conversation.

Duo Pizzicato & Friends at Vino Rosso

Saturday, March 14, Vino Rosso, San Francisco, 5-7pm

Come check out our Italian music ensemble in our monthly set at a truly sweet little spot. Have some wine, food, or just spend a little time hanging out and singing along.

Aswat Ensemble Spring Concert

Saturday, May 2, Aragon Theater, San Mateo, 7pm

Save the date - tickets available soon. We have a really cool program lined up!

WRITING

I have posted three new pieces since I last wrote you.

Festa dei morti @ Dia de los muertos

A few months ago I put a call out to a bunch of bay area folks of italian descent, in the broadest sense, to celebrate il giorno dei morti in solidarity with San Francisco’s longtime día de muertos celebrations. People were into it, and about a dozen of us met up on the evening of Sunday, November 2, 2025 to be in the streets with our neighbors, with another 20 or so pals, new and old, who couldn't make it this year cheering us on from afar. To say I was gratified at the response is an understatement.

(keep reading)

We Keep Us Safe

Both of my parents grew up in houses where non-English languages were spoken, and in a place that is one of the most linguistically diverse places in the world. Very few of my (fab) neighbors and I speak the same first languages. All my family stories include migration and movement across national borders within living memory. Many of my family stories involve borders crossing the places we already lived. My grandfather wrote a book that started with our immigration tales, because it had to. My family has always been, is, and will always be multicultural, in large part because borders are fake and free movement and migration are totally normal.

(keep reading)

Mediterranean

I have long had mixed feelings with using Mediterranean as an adjective for art and food.

I love the Mediterranean (as I understand it, which...read on for the many perspectives of that). I have felt connected to it as both a land and as a sea and as a word and as a concept my whole life, knowing it as a place where some of my ancestors came from, as a lover of Medusa and Circe, and as a student and a granddaughter of many deep art forms that come from countries and places that are considered, among other things, Mediterranean.   

Mediterranean is also a very safe word choice, as it represents a vague concept, often to the point that it can be meaningless. Mediterranean is evocative, but can mean whatever one wants it to mean, and often that glides over certain cultures, countries, and people.   

(keep reading)

READING AND WATCHING

• The Transgender Law Center does such good work. They are based right here in Oakland, but work nationally and across borders. The attacks on basic human and civil rights for trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people are worth fighting against on their own, full stop. No one deserves this crap! The fact that said attacks also do, are, and will continue to ripple out to take away everyone’s rights, especially lgbtq people, women, and femmes, is also a reason to take notice and make sure to stand up. Today it is bad, tomorrow it will be worse, so now is a good time to do so.

  
  In related news, there a trans bill of rights has been introduced at the federal level. Call your reps and tell them to support it.
  
  

• I’ve been watching the winter Olympics, and also watched a documentary on three ice dancing couples on netflix. The ice dancers/ice skaters doing their own hair and make-up in their hotel rooms before shows, warming up in lobbies and hallways, and making their own costumes is so recognizable as a once-gigging belly dancer. Olympic athletes - they’re just like us!

  Sidebar: Why can’t we just agree to do the Olympics in one spot each time, a place that already had infrastructure for it, maybe summer in Greece, because hey, they started it, and winter in a Scandinavian country, or Switzerland maybe? It would be easier, and would save money, limit weird politics laced with bribery, and be better for the environment and the local people and communities!
  
  

• My friend Kate has a really lovely blog where she thinks a lot about her relationship to dance. I particularly loved this recent piece. Lots I relate to and lots I also think about (if you’ve taken class with me, you may have heard me riff on ‘authenticity’ as a concept for dancers), as well as new ways for me to do so through her unique perspective.

  “But we have to keep centered on the reality that this particular learning journey is not some illusive mystery to solve: these traditions are held by people who are still living them with care, passion, and protection. It’s just that we’re far away.

  So if we aren’t to be concerned about abstract authenticity in this pursuit, what else is there? Not chasing a stagnant authenticity doesn’t mean that truth doesn’t exist. What really matters asks us to be even more nuanced in our perceptions and somatics.” - Kate Causbie
  
  

• I left goodreads and made a storygraph profile. Anyone else there?
  
  

• Bay Resistance is doing really good work. Check them out if you are in the area and find your neighborhood pod. We keep us safe.
  
  

LATELY

Thanks if you made it this far! I update my socials, mostly IG, fairly regularly. Would love to hear what you are up to, too, if you feel like sharing or chatting.

See ya next time!