fortify

We'll come back again and again and again and again and again.

huelga means strike

It’s time to revisit The Highwomen’s debut album.

We are The Highwomen
Singing stories still untold
We carry the sons you can only hold
We are the daughters of the silent generations
You sent our hearts to die alone in foreign nations
It may return to us as tiny drops of rain
But we will still remain

Every day, the news cuts a little deeper.

I was a freedom rider
When we thought the South had won
Virginia in the spring of ‘61
I sat down on the Greyhound that was bound for Mississippi
My mother asked me if that ride was worth my life
And when the shots rang out I never heard the sound
But I am still around

Yesterday, when I read Dolores Huerta’s statement, I felt myself disassociate. Cesar Chavez raped her twice and both rapes led to pregnancies. The New York Times exposed him as a serial rapist.

I was a Highwoman
And a mother from my youth
For my children I did what I had to do
My family left Honduras when they killed the Sandinistas
We followed a coyote through the dust of Mexico
Every one of them except for me survived
And I am still alive

I realized that the constant stream of information that is flooding in — without any accountability or justice — has led to me disassociate.

I was a preacher
My heart broke for all the world
But teaching was unrighteous for a girl
In the summer I was baptized in the mighty Colorado
In the winter I heard the hounds and I knew I had been found
And in my Savior's name, I laid my weapons down
But I am still around

I woke up this morning imagining all the ways that women could consolidate power and make some real changes. I’m constantly scanning for solutions. This is an especially tough challenge. But we have lots of guides to call upon.

I wanted to get back in my body and stop distancing myself from the pain. Music does that for me so quickly. When I need to fortify, when I need to feel connected to all women all over the world across time, there are a few albums that will do that for me. The Highwomen’s album from 2019 is at the top of the list.

We are The Highwomen
Singing stories still untold
We carry the sons you can only hold
We are the daughters of the silent generations
You sent our hearts to die alone in foreign nations
It may return to us as tiny drops of rain
But we will still remain

And we'll come back again and again and again
And again and again
We'll come back again and again and again
And again and again

In solidarity,

Merrick

And I'll take that ride again
And again
And again
And again
And again