Day 8. Today is not about resisting or celebrating… #SOL19 #SOLSC

March 8th:

Today is not about resisting or celebrating. It’s about achieving, and getting our words out, and never, ever give up.

Since we were little, they told us to keep our inside voices, to be “feminine”, and not to raise our voices too much. I think it´s time to change that. We can do it politely, with care but do it. Your voice counts, your voice is valuable. “Your silence gives consent.”

Today I am marching for all the women that came before me and all the ones that are going to walk after me. I want them all free, alive, treated with respect and equity.

I am marching for my mom. I wished I understood earlier that many of her flaws were a way of hiding some of my dad´s. I wish she were here today, and we could march and talk about what means to be a woman. It took me too long to accept that I was one.

I am marching for my aunts Blanca, Marisi, Tere, Anamara, Cecilia, Ángela, Chabela, Lucy, Mabel, Elenita, Beatriz, Carmen and Uchi.

I am marching for all my women cousins that are too many to mention or count. For sure I will forget one.

I am marching for mi abuelita Käty and mi abuela Matilde, and my own daughter (who has the same name as my mom´s mom) and all her women friends who are somehow also part of me.

I am marching for all my women friends around the world, especially the one that I left behind in Chile and the US, and the ones that keep me going here in Spain.

I am marching for all my nieces: Chelsea, Francisca, Jenna, Claudia, Shelby, Sofi, Morgan, Luzma, Madison, Maca, Aubri, Nena, Kathryn, Georgia and Milena.

I am marching for my sister Isa, and my sisters-in law Laura, Vivi, MaryAnn, Alejandra, Marji, Colleen, Mariana, Quinn, and Wendy.

I am marching for my mother-in-law who raised seven children (one of them very stubborn hahaha) on a ranch when things were not easy and she was widowed at 46.

I am marching for all men who still think supporting women´s rights is against their masculinity and own rights. I hope they realize that We Should All Be Feminists.

I am marching for all the men who believe in us and march along with us.

I am marching in memory of my cousin Trini,  who was a strong, faithful, loyal, funny and resilient woman.  She was my best and closest friend in high school and college. We were so close that people thought that we were twins, and we were so proud of that. We fell in love with the same things, careers, and similar boys. We both were heart and hard headed women, and enjoy to laugh about ourselves. Trini raised six amazing human beings, and inspired thousands with the Montessori school Ciudadela in Santiago, Chile that she started in 1996, when she was pregnant of her fifth child, her daughter Ángela.

I am marching for her, and her daughters Mapi, Cata and Ángela that I bet they would have loved to march with Trini today. I am marching with Trini in my heart and in my skin because I am wearing a t-shirt that belonged to her. She was running too fast that left us all behind too soon.

Whom are you marching for?

#8M #IWD2019 #bewareoffastwomen #teextrañoprimadelalma

Trini and I, mellizas forever

I am marching today wearing a T-shirt that belonged to my cousin Trini. #bewareoffastwomen

Because I miss my daughter today and always

“Quien calla otorga” – “Your silence gives consent.”