Heartbreaking Bravery

Photograph by Nicole Rapkin

Returning once more to the A Year’s Worth of Memories series is Athylia Paremski, who runs the extraordinary Steep Sounds and constantly, vocally supports the artists she loves. There’s an inherent lightness to both her personage and her writing, a quality that’s exemplified in even the smallest of actions. Everyone that meets her seems to be immediately drawn to her and she, in turn, provides a welcome (and welcoming) source of grace and comfort. Here, she takes on the second installment of the Odd Castles-presented Our Hearts Are Beating showcase, the Silent Barn, and a whole host of artists. Read it below and remember to fight for the important aspects of your community.

++

October 19th was a crisp fall Monday. A very clear and warm autumn sky, I remember as the bus pulled into the city. I’ve lost track of how many bus rides I’ve been lucky enough to take between Boston and New York City these past few years, however I always remember my surroundings and the faces around me when we drive down, or is it up, through Manhattan. A young individual across from me, engulfed in music pouring out through red headphones was ever so gingerly eating a hamburger clutched in a pair of black fingerless gloves.

I looked down at my neurodegenerative diseases notebook and out of the corner of my eye I caught the loveliest flourish of rainbow light. A pair of lancet styled windows with multicolored glass posed next to a giant gold cross stared back at me from a church on a corner. I kept thinking about miracles and the miracle that is not only the support, love, dedication, and pure hard work behind the rebuilding of the Silent Barn, but the miracle and wonder that is the Silent Barn and everything it is, stands for, breathes into countless environments, and simply inspires.

Knowing I was going to step foot into an atmosphere that was just incredibly reopened for shows and community support less than a month after a dreadful fire, for the second Odd Castles showcase no less, left me feeling the brilliance of that last remaining hour of daylight beaming on those rainbow pieces of glass. Our Hearts Are Beating part 2, basking in the glory of its first counterpart showcasing the magnificence that is R.L. Kelly, Poppy Red, Uxvie, Emily Reo, and Yohuna, offered again the perfect opportunity to celebrate a phenomenal group of women and their art.

This time, Fin, Shakai Mondai, Yohuna, Uxvie, Emily Reo, and Qualiatik took to the stage respectively and each took us to different and truly mesmerizing worlds. The rest of the evening was brimming with hugs, fresh air, the magnificent DJ work of Cascine’s Andi Wilson, kind conversation, chai wine, dancing, and incredible light. Echoing in my mind are the lyrics of Lontalius’ “yr heart is beating”, an absolutely beautiful ballad of love, hope, sacrifice, just the trembling odds and ends and in-betweens of life I suppose.

To know, to remember that somewhere, everywhere, there are people beautifully existing right now with hearts pumping in all different sorts of rhythms; that thought glimmering in all its comfort, eternally captures what the night felt like for me.

That, and every time Emily Reo sings “Spell”.

-Athylia Paremski