June 19th in 2020 – early days of Memorial Mural:
Immigration On Friday morning of September 20, I am spending a couple of hours for my naturalization interview in the federal building on 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco that houses the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Then later at 1 pm, in the oath ceremony, I am reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Standing, holding up my right hand like everyone else, repeating the words after our master of ceremonies, I am engulfed in a chorus of immigrants’ voices from all over the world. Out of maybe 80, only two are Caucasian. The man leading us through the 20 minutes ceremony, is most likely a judge, but without his robe. He is an elegant, kind, and personable elder. We can hear the genuineness in his voice, and we are genuine, too. As we pledge allegiance to this country, the English sentences might ring slightly different for each of us. In another minute we will be citizens of the United States. Something in me is expanding. I am swearing to be a responsible an...
It's amazing to see what the garage doors looked like before. I'm so used to the memorial now...
ReplyDeleteyeah, Nicky, the garage doors look like they were waiting for this memorial mural – it's a permanent feature now, the front of house is not imaginable without it, so interesting.... i also love how you are dancing even as you are measuring and sketching the lines on panels, up on your toes, your whole body involved :)
ReplyDeletedancing & bare feet!!! painting this mural is definitely a dance…remembering squatting low, gliding with the lines of the pencils, walking back and forth to look at the wall, reaching high, each paint stroke is a dance.
ReplyDeletealso the repetition…the sketching & layers & layers of paint brought deep meditation with each letter, word, & name.