Los Inviernos de 2012

Norway House, Milwaukee WI, 01.07.12

There is a certain part of me would much prefer to be writing about Pablo Neruda, or Federico Garcia Lorca, or the death of Che Guevara in Bolivia in 1967.  The incessant fluttering of migratory birds fills my ears to bursting, and my brain to trembling, and my heart with a searing wanderlust. A Winter wished for. A Winter in hiding, a winter that migrated with the birds. The winter’s white has vanished like stars that have escaped my trembling fingers. No wonder there is a certain part of me that wants to grasp and clutch at little divergent threads as if to weave them into a hopeful warmth, a warmth that hopes for cold silent nights where the moonlight shuffles over the crisp snow.

But for this descending series of moments, I’ll let the ghosts of those migratory birds dream of Salvador Allende and  theories of José Martí and Pedro Albizu Campos. I’ll let those ghosts read poetry to the lonely while I stand vigil, waiting on a winter that will never arrive in the manner that we’d wish for.

Instead, I will let the only true souls left in this crestfallen world take center stage.

Before they do, a few facts that won’t get in the way of the truth.

The Dairyland BJD Winter Meetup 2012 was held at the Norway House in Milwaukee WI. There was a record attendance, that totally smashed last year’s record. We had 110 attendees, which is over 11% of our membership.  As always,  for those of you keeping score on Dairyland BJD, Fat Nakago is the Whose Shake Is This equivalent of LOL FangSensei.

So now, let us lay our weary heads to rest on the laps the only true souls left this world, our dolls:

 

 

 

el final

 

 

 

Gracias a ustedes, señoras y señoritas

I must give my thanks to the volunteers who made this Winter Meetup a success. My wife, Emily, ofcourse, and our friend Molly O’Sullivan who along with me run Dairyland BJD….actually Molly and Emily do most of the work running it day to day. But especially this year, we couldn’t have set up the hall for 110 people without the help of Sarah, Ellis, Erika, and Kasey. Thank you all so much. And finally, we would not have recovered or survived without the gracious hospitality and wonderful pizza served at Maria’s Pizza. Maria’s is absolutely the BEST pizza in Milwaukee and if you don’t go there at once, I will see to it that you are plagued by the aforementioned ghosts and the vicious whorls of migratory birds.

But enough about us. Let the winter begin.