I knew Sali only briefly...... both traveling with our best friends, we crossed paths in the winter of 06. A crew of us drove south to PueblaMexico, three of us rode trains back to the states.
We were tres mujeres, we were young and fierce and stupid and free and luckier than hell. I always say I don't know how we made it out alive... And now we have lost her.... My mind has been dumbstruck since I heard the news. Unable to truly believe that this dancing, singing, firecracker has been taken.
I have this epic picture of Sali lodged in my brain from that trip. It came at a moment when we had been pulled off a hotshot in the middle of a desert in mexico, by what seemed like an entire army of train cops. They didn't know what to make of us. Three crusty white girls who hardly spoke spanish.... they wanted our passports they told us we couldn't ride that train. We had to watch our ride pull away as we crowded into a pick-up truck with a dozen men we didn’t know. Sali sat in back with our packs and the army. As we pulled into the station I turned around to see her. She sat in the center of that truck bed, surrounded by men in black uniforms, with her banjo slung across her lap. I can’t describe to you how beautiful and epic a vision it was. This beautiful dirt encrusted gypsy woman casting a spell over these curiously confused and ever so official men. Hitting those strings and humming those notes, as the dust rose and we held our spines straight and ready incase they tried anything….
She was a fierce and beautiful piece of this world. And she will continue to be so as we carry her in our hearts, ours songs, our stories…..
Love and salty crusty tears… Dinah B
RSS Feed