Cancun Dispatch: 9/3

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Just when I thought I was done for the night yesterday, Lisa nabbed me on my way back from dinner. She wanted me to help write a couple of paragraphs on direct action for a handbook the organizing groups -- including those who are extremely nervous about direct action or actively opposed to -- are publishing. It's a delicate mission, with three of us trying to work on it at the Convergence Center while others are gathering for a late-night scouting mission out on the island that is probably going to involve tequila at some point. They are in an exuberant mood, and it's hard to concentrate on the nuances of a political message when surrounded by exuberance, so we go home and finish there.

I get up early this morning for our 9 a.m. ecoteam meeting. We trek down to the Convergence Center so that we can be accessible to anyone who's not staying at the house, but nobody else shows up. We are irritated, knowing we could have stayed home and met leisurely over breakfast. We are all a bit on edge. My anxiety about getting everything done is making me pushy and it comes off patronizing and then feelings get hurt, but Abby and Erik and I know each other so well and truly love each other so much that it's not hard to resolve. And the work is underway -- still gathering tools today and doing redesign and beginning this afternoon to put things together.

The day whizzes by in a whirl of meetings and technical frustrations, summed up in the moment my phone went dead because I had used up the money in its card while on the phone to my tech support in the U.S. to find out why my e-mail isn't downloading. But on the other hand, I had a very satisfying moment plunging out the stopped-up toilet. It's one of the things I'm good at, thanks to my ex-husband Eddie the plumber, who taught me the technique, and it felt good to solve an actual, real-life problem.

We are making more progress on action ideas. When we break into small groups this time, our group, which includes the students from Mexico City, decides to conduct its meeting in Spanish, with translation only as needed for the gringos. It works well and creates a much more exciting atmosphere. Lisa communicates with such expressive body language and such a perfect mix of minimal English and Spanish that we are all laughing -- everyone understands perfectly and no one knows what language to translate into. The actions are hard to plan because, of course, there is so much information we don't know.

Sounds like a job for divination, I think, and ask if everyone is comfortable if we do a quick Tarot reading. They nod, and I pass the Tarot cards around as we talk, and everyone shuffles. I lay out a simple, three-card reading about our ultimate plan. They all come out right-side up, which is a strong "yes." They are, for those of you interested in such things, the eight of cups -- a hunched figure heading out into the mountains under a yellow moon -- the King of Swords, and Justice. I take them to mean that we should look to nature for help, that we will meet major police and military power (it doesn't take a psychic to predict that!), but that the powers of Justice will prevail.

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