Seeking Sisu
Sisu (Finnish) Noun: A special strength and determination to continue on in moments of adversity.
Brain Buster: our annual tradition. Jamy, Peggy, and I put our heads together and invite three more women to join our team. We angst over a name, then a costume, and finally get to work.
One year we called ourselves the, “Tequila Mockingbirds” fashioning a black bird hat with orange beak and wore a cardboard tequila bottle around our necks. Despite the fact none of us are drinkers, the next year, we were the “Smartinis” and glued a plastic martini glass to a headband, winning us second prize in the costume category. This year, we combined Brains and Beauty in our new name, the “Cerebellas.”
Brain Buster is an AAUW (American Association of University Women) scholarship fundraiser for our local college. Each team pays for a table, donates prizes, and plays trivia with a “Quizzard” leading the categorized questions. I always leave feeling uplifted, energized and ignorant. It is a clear case that they didn’t pick the questions for which I knew the answers!
So, what does this have to do with my new favorite word, Sisu?
This year, as I looked around the large meeting hall, filled with 150 or so players, kitchen help, prize room folks and registration crew, I was elated to be part of this community. The college president, retired educators, musicians, artists, tax accountants, psychologists, college students representing their club affiliations, and a few grandkids mingled in the refreshment line and jostled for prizes when called up because they were at a table with someone bilingual or who had come the furthest.
This gathering includes some who have lived here for decades. Those of us in that category know the backstories of our collective history.
We know the people who founded WeCare, an organization much like Planned Parenthood, that rose up after an attack on the aforementioned clinic.
We know the politically active who walk in our July 4th parades, rally others to join protest marches and attend school board meetings to stand up for teacher rights and curriculum.
We know the local Peacemaker group who marched against the Central American, Iraqi and Gulf wars, petitioned for Gay Marriage and now stand vigil as our democracy is being torn.
We know who established our Lakes Country Music Festival, a well-known event with locals opening their homes to worldclass musicians offering opera, the Classics and some down-home venues to stages and streets throughout August.
At Brain Buster, all of these stories are cloaked under face-painting, light-bulb hats, bathrobes (Sleepless in Seattle team), Central Lakes College hoodies, and our “brain” headbands covered in flowers, resulting in a Frida look – so we added a unibrow.
With our plates of popcorn, brownies, and clementines, we return to our tables, hunker together to whisper our best guesses to Peggy, who scribbles them on our answer sheet. Jamy resumes her role of shouting out wrong answers. We giggle. I doubt some of my answers, give in, only to discover I was right! Then, we remind ourselves that everyone is a winner at this game.
The gathering between a surreal moment blurring “real” life and the game. Life is full of trivia, people dressed up in “costumes” debating over “right” answers. Every day we make choices, some thrown at us and others requiring critical thinking. Outside these walls, the answers might be life-changing. Inside this room, answers bring laughter, groans, and camaraderie. Inside, a traveling trophy is awarded, we wipe off our unibrows and reenter the frigid afternoon.
I hope this cellular memory of a community full of Sisu will buoy me through the days to come. How beautiful to be united in a worthy cause – joining our energy, empathy and talents in the highest form of humanity.
Outside, we will need to embrace our Sisu, our strength and determination in these moments of adversity; having grit, bravery, and resilience – refusing to give up
How will this moment in U.S. history be portrayed? (Billy Collins; The History Teacher poem)
What are examples of Sisu you see in your surroundings today?
Sisu indeed!!!
Stay warm&
Carry on
Best,
Carla
Morning! Is it the Ice Age or just a Chilly Age at a 22 below on my thermometer. Still planning on joining a rally today, but in my snowsuit.
Calling that big body of water the Gulf of America is the least of it. Gulf of the AMERICAS would have, at least, recognized the entirety of the continents.
Carry on, amiga! Abrazos, Jan
Sisu is the boost we all need during these dire times. We do as we are able. “Small steps . . . that’s what gets you out of the swamp,” says Great-great-great-grandmother Hephzibeth. Jan, thank you for sharing your spot-on thoughts once again.
BTW – I noted a slight error in your newsletter – It should be Lakes Area Music Festival not Lakes Country Music Festival.
Thank you, thank you, Lauren. After I reread that, it just didn’t feel right. Even though I added opera, classical and some descriptors that do not fit “Country Western” genre, something felt off.
My personal awe of the Lakes Area Music Festival is the coming together of community. . . the hosting, the volunteers and moreover, the worldclass musicians. The grassroots beginnings flourished into seminars, classes, children’s music appreciation and affordable. . . yes, affordable tickets. It is a gem. Again, thanks for pointing out the REAL name so that people can look it up and plan to attend their events. Not just in August anymore!
Brain Buster looks like such fun ! What are some typical questions ?
Thank you for the concept of sisu so needed just now to carry on. A friend today was telling me how she wanted to do a certain thing to resist but it just seemed like it wouldn’t result in the change she wanted because the counterforces were too great. I told her if you only want perfect results, or even results within your lifetime, you will remain paralyzed. Just do something, even small things that contribute to the swing of the pendulum and the goodness of the world that IS there even in the darkness. Blessings !
As to Brainbuster questions. . . They include obscure quotes; identifying men’s beards from photos; Foods from exotic places; and this year, a Category on Dogs and Cats. I insisted that a certain song was sung by the Three Dog Night and shrunk back when doubted. I should have trusted my gut!! It is a job for all six to agree. Good thing, as any of us alone wouldn’t get five points in two hours. It takes a village!
Ah, dear amiga mia. . .
Yes, we just have to keep saying that each of us count. We are living in the world where folks in power are going along (out of fear or power grabs) with the “Emperor” who has no clothes. Sadly, their world vision is disrupting everything, as per the example of the dysfunctional family. My disbelief in the rapidity in which Google gave us a “new map” and one unelected man is running roughshod over all government entities feels like nobody is calling out the fantasy. Will it be a child (the youth) who point out that the Emperor is NAKED?
Having said that, I am writing and calling politicians, not just my representatives. On President’s Day, even my little town held a rally, not to name call, but to call out names. Please reassure your friend again that it matters. Bendiciones a todos los que usan sus voces. Yup, use your words. Hm. Brings me to Don Miguel and his Four Agreements. Onward.
Thank you for this .everyone can do what they do best sisu sisu