love and loss and Haiti

I didn't know him, really, but a friend in my community, Flo McGarrell, was killed in the earthquake in Haiti and it is sad. And another friend had a terrible death in her family this week. And the loss and devastation in Haiti is just unimaginable.

If you want to give money to help support those in Haiti, give it to Partners in Health. They've been working in Haiti for more than 20 years, training Haitian doctors to deliver HIV and tuberculosis care. They are coordinating care at the main public hospital alongside the Haitian Ministry of Health and triaging people for surgery. In addition to the pictures, I was particularly moved by their statement, along with six other human rights organizations, urging international aid groups to respect the human rights, dignity, and sovereignty of the Haitian people during the aid process. Already, just like with Katrina, there are reports of looting in the New York Times when people are just searching for food, and of U.S. military planes being given priority for landing while Medicine Sans Frontiers doctors and medical supplies being diverted from the Port-au-Prince airport to Santo Domingo. WTF!!!

In memory of Flo, who was doing an artist residency in Haiti, you should checkout his awesome website: http://www.gowithflo.net/. He worked as the art director for an incredible movie, Maggots and Men. It's a beautiful, stunning re-telling of the story of the Kronstdat sailors' uprising in Russia in 1921, told with an all genderqueer, mostly male transgendered cast.

There is a lot of love and beauty and tragedy and death and loss in the world. It is nothing new, really, and yet, with each milagro, with each loss, we are struck as if by freezing water, time slows and our hearts gush open, as if life were hitting the refresh button, again and again. And we mourn the loss. And we hold on tight to those who we love and who are around us. And we are reminded of so many other losses, so many other premature deaths. And we worry that those who are close to us will soon die too. And we are reminded, once again, to be grateful.