Endings and Transitions

Its 3.30am in the morning, and I just finished cleaning up the house after tonight's CRUDE screening. Courtney, Aliyah, Mateo and I headed out after for a good couple of hours on Courtney's last night here. Its been two days of debriefs, evaluations and farewells which of course, like all endings, make me very sad. Its more of a transition for me I guess, although a very short-lived one. Courtney and Andrew leave tomorrow and Paulina comes in on Monday, but only for a week before AW staff leave for the staff retreat. By then, Aliyah would have left for home too. Of course, Upasana and Marisa will be around, but there's nothing like having all on board in the office to bring the energy level and enthusiasm up. I really dislike endings.

Things have come full circle with tonight's screening. As some might know, CRUDE was what introduced me to Amazon Watch and the cause for indigenous rights in general, and today, at the (almost) end of my time at the beloved AW, I saw it again. I don't think many things can increase my respect and admiration for AW much more (esp. after Paulina's interview with CNN yesterday), but seeing Amazon Watch (Kevin, Atossa) featured so prominently in the documentary reminded me once again of the mighty presence of this organization I hold in such high regard.

I will really miss Andrew, our practical-joking and swearing boss and sole trooper at the DC office. I definitely feel like there was so much more I could have gained from him, but didnt really take the opportunities I had to do so. (As is the case with a ton of other things around here, but thats another story). I had a pretty good talk with him today though, a good advice-giving, mentor-mentee session...No new revelations, just many affirmations of what I'd maybe figured out or had discussed with people about before. I'm guessing I have another debrief with Paulina next week, and tomorrow I fulfill my rapporteur duties of typing and disseminating our evaluation thoughts/have another time of reflection about the internship.

For now, though, it is 3.50am and I am going to get the rest I need.