This place is a dream.
Only a sleeper considers it real.
The dust of many crumbled cities
settles over us like a forgetful doze,
but we are older than those cities…
Humankind is being led along an evolving course,
through this migration of intelligences,
and though we seem to be sleeping,
there is an inner wakefulness
that directs the dream,
and that will eventually startle us back
to the truth of what we are.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
--Rumi
What are you going to do about it when the world comes undone?
Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.
The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.
Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.
Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
--Arundhati Roy, War Talk
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The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough of is love.
---Henry Miller
There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.
---Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.
---Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.
---Emily Dickinson
| Zach
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What's going on in that beautiful mind?
I've discovered that seeing is one thing, understanding another thing entirely. What's happened to us?
I'm lost at sea. Help me find my way back to you.
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| Skylar
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I watch you fight your demon, and I don't know when to step in...
I'm trying to be the person you see in me. But I can only offer the person I am, in this moment. And sometimes I don't feel like that's enough.
I'd do anything to make you believe in yourself. In me. In us.
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| J
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When everything else in this world flickers and falters and falls...
You keep me awake and alive.
“Life damages us, every one. We can’t escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other.” ---Veronica Roth
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| Anders
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Sometimes we find what we need in the strangest places. You're an unexpected joy, another source of light and laughter. No matter what comes, we'll at least have the music. And for now, I'll hold on to the hope you've given me. And I'll hope for more.
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| Victor
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They hide in the wind, they never leave us...
"If you gave someone your heart and they died, did they take it with them? Did you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that couldn't be filled?" ---Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes
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| Alma
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A light in the dark. You shine, and you warm the people around you.
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| Wednesday
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Your gifts are exactly what we need. Don't be afraid to step into your power. Be the voice of what is just and right.
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| Raphael
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Thank you for bringing me a flicker of hope. Maybe if I nurture this tiny flame, it can grow into something more.
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| Riley
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A bright-burning kindred spirit, which is the last thing I would have expected to find in one of the Chorus... And a generous soul. Her light is sorely needed in this time and place.
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| The kid
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So young, to be that scarred. I never thought I had mothering urges, but they're awake and alive now. If only I could keep him out of danger. But there's no sheltering a warrior, even if he's ridiculously young to be fighting this war. I just wish I could offer healing for that wounded spirit. In the meantime, I'll offer whatever I can.
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| Aster
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Maybe the secret to being so happy in such a fucked-up world is... believing that it's all a game. Maybe that apartment of hers is my Second Life... I'm free of so many burdens when I'm with her.
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| Amane
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I don't think I've ever had a friend return to me before. It's a strange feeling.
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| Emma
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We're more alike than you think. Which came as a bit of a shock to me. I just hope I can help.
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| Jae
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What made that need? Who ignited the fire? And how can I help you to heal?
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| Graham
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I guess some things can't be left behind. Not entirely. Where do we go from here?
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| Franklin
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Heal me and hurt me. Except it isn't always the kind of hurt I like. When you walk away, I end up feeling more worthless than ever.
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| Kai
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If we can just build a bridge over the space between... I think we could work really well together. I'm not sure what your side of a chasm is about. I know mine's about being intimidated: you're so many things I wish I could be. Tough, and resourceful, and certain... at least on the outside. Maybe some of it's a mask, because you're hard to read, on top of everything else. But I desperately want to count you as an ally and a friend.
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| Preston
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I hope they haven't driven you away. You were one bright light of hope in a very, very bleak time. I need that light, and so do they... maybe even more.
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| Roland
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It seems like ally might be too much to ask... I'm hoping for friend, though.
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| Arthur
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Okay... It's mostly the white coat. Mostly. Some of it might be the crazy.
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| Aaron
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Goddamn arrogant Hermetic asshole motherfucker. Also? On top of being Hermetic (as if that isn't enough)? A total dick.
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| Alexandra
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Here be dragons. Ambition is one thing, but... I got a bad feeling about this one.
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| Shadi
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I just want to know why. That's the piece I don't understand. Maybe I never will.
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| Sera
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You don't deserve this.
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| Sandra
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I still don't understand. I can only hope that you somehow serve Gaia, in your way.
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- Music: Maya is a singer and guitarist, currently playing at coffeeshops and bars either alone or with a small group of others. The band's music is eclectic and often pagan: a fusion that pulls influences from folk. kirtan, world music, and fringe artists like Tina Malia and Suzanne Sterling. They do a few covers from those two and others, but most of the music they perform these days is their own, much of it written by Maya along with the group's string player. When she performs alone, Maya plays a wide-ranging blend of covers as well as some of her own songs. Much of that music is inspiring, hopeful stuff, about love and compassion, about nature, about raising voices and changing the world.
Song lyrics (originals and covers) available at:
stormandhawk.blogspot.com
- Pagan: She's a devout pagan, a priestess for a local coven of like-minded people, and interested in all sorts of occult subjects. Maya's part of the Reclaiming Collective, and she's put out word to Reclaiming as well as to university pagan groups, the Covenant of the Goddess, and a few Midwestern forums, letting others know that she's building a circle for healing work in the city of Detroit. She currently works with a small group of others, volunteering for cleanup projects and celebrating most Wiccan holidays with group rituals.
- Caregiver: Need help? Maya has been known to distribute peanut butter sandwiches to the homeless, volunteer at soup kitchens, and give her last dollar to a kid who needs bus fare. Interestingly enough, though... she seems to know when someone's trying to con her. And she sometimes finds the people who need help and don't say anything.
- Empath: She's very strongly empathic and perceptive, the sort of person who reads others out of habit. If something's wrong, if someone's upset, or if someone's bursting with joy, she's likely to pick up on it.
- Hangouts: Museums, coffee shops, occult hotspots and parks are favorite places. They're likely places to find her, if she isn't at home or working. She goes dancing as well, and frequents some pretty edgy clubs.
- Spirit Speaker: Maya is linked somehow to the spirit world. The Gauntlet is slightly weaker in her presence, and she often has her awareness open to the spirit world. She also speaks with spirits from time to time--outside a certain boundary in downtown Detroit, at least. The Umbrood sometimes recognize that she is one who can see and hear them, and they might try to interact if they need something. Spirits, medicine workers, and other Awakened will likely pick up a vibe of "hawk" around her, and even regular folks will notice it in her eyes sometimes, or the way she tilts her head.
- Community and Charity: Maya tries to follow the activities of nonprofits in Detroit. She is especially interested in helping those who might be pushing for education reform, or trying to get the arts back into public schools.
- Native American Ties: Despite her white skin, the Dreamspeaker shows up fairly regularly at the North American Indian Association of Detroit. She occasionally helps in the kitchen, keeping herself relatively invisible. Maya usually attends protests related to Native American issues, and goes to as many powwows and gatherings she can manage. She speaks passable Anishinaabemowin (the Ojibwe language), and maintains contact with Chippewa and Potawatomi in Grand Rapids, Saginaw and anywhere south of the U.P. (the Upper Peninsula, for non-Michigan folks). Although she doesn't have the means to prove her own native ancestry, she is an adopted member of the Bitterroot Salish (Flathead Reservation, Montana) and knows a few people on the reservation, having spent some time there a few years ago.
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Roleplaying is a cooperative effort for me. It's co-entertainment. I strive to be someone who's fun to play with, whose characters interest and entertain others... if I'm not doing that, there's really not much point, for me. So if something isn't working OOCly, tell me. If you're RPing with me, chances are a good chunk of my attention is on entertaining you---I get a lot of my "game fulfillment" from feeling like other people enjoy reading my writing. If something is wrong, if you're not having fun, or if you just want to go play World of Warcraft, let me know.
Maya is not sane.
She may have surprises in store. She may do unexpected things, that don't make sense to others OOC and/or IC.
I, the player, am (reasonably) sane, however, and open to communication. If there's a problem with RP, if you need to talk about something or need to know something to enrich your experience of RP, please page me or talk to me ooc. I like having an atmosphere of openness and trust with my fellow players, knowing that we're all here to create stories together.
Maya is also extremely perceptive.
If I ask something OOCly, please don't see it as bossing you around or powergaming--it's just asking for information that I need in order to write the next pose or know Maya's actions. If you would like a roll or staff adjudication, please feel free to ask for it. I don't mind at all. (Dice are fun.)
I'll sometimes ask if I can make a roll for something.
Please don't interpret this as twinkiness, "roll-playing" or an attempt to railroad the RP. Sometimes I don't have a solid feel for which way the character would go, because there's a conflict and she's on the fence about something; randomness helps resolve those moments for me, and makes things fun. Sometimes it's a perception roll (see above) and I want to "filter" how much information Maya gets, because it's important for her to fail, once in a while. This doesn't mean I want to get every last bit of information; if you want staff adjudication, again, please ask. I would rather work with staff than make another player feel resentful or pushed around in any way.
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If you know the universe is composed of many truths, why would you ever try to impose one way on the world? Consciousness creates. Plurality creates. Accept that there are ways other than yours, lives other than yours. All living things are connected, all realms are connected… and to limit one realm affects all. By confining other minds, we only confine our own. |
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Things are not always what they seem. I am not the enemy. And sometimes “kill” is not the best solution. (I’ll concede, though, that sometimes it is.)
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I’m a different person, now. And you’re an aberration, a wrongness in the wheel of life. Underestimate me at your peril. I will never be yours.
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The Enemy. The Trimurti gone mad, the widening gyre, the unstable equation.
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The mountains,
I become part of it…
the herbs, the fir tree, I become part of it.
the morning mists, the clouds, the gathering waters,
I become part of it.
The wilderness, the dew drops, the pollen…
I become part of it.
―Navajo Chant
Agape doesn't love somebody because they're worthy.
Agape makes them worthy by the strength and power of its love.
Agape doesn't love somebody because they're beautiful.
Agape loves in such a way that it makes them beautiful.
―Rob Bell
Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.
― Louise Erdrich
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| Full Name:
Maya Selene Novak |
| Occupation:
Pagan and folk musician, yoga instructor |
| Age:
Mid-twenties |
And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell,
and I understood more than I saw,
for I was seeing in a sacred manner
the shapes of things in the spirit...
―Black Elk
Song lyrics and quotes at:
stormandhawk.blogspot.com
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