We Might Be Giants

Alice McCullough

It’s about 5,000 miles, give or take, from my home town to this golden state

I could tell you so much about that place

But there’s quite a lot to translate.

You see, where I come from, we’re forever going on, about everything being ‘wee.’ Do you know what I mean? Wee. Like, if I was to ask you to pass me that drink, I’d say, “Here, pass me that wee glass.” Even if it was a big glass, I’d call it a ‘wee’ glass.

Wee, of course, means tiny, small.

But we use this word to describe anything at all.

And nowhere did I experience this ‘wee’ talk more, than the first time I woke up in a psychiatric ward – I was a teenager - a ‘wee girl’.

“Here’s your wee meds, here’s your wee bed, rest your wee head. No, you can’t have that wee pen, pet, ‘cause you might hurt yourself.”

It takes on a different meaning when you’re out of your comfort zone, assumed to be small, vulnerable and alone. These ‘wee’ meds I was on, gave me side effects that were.. less than desirable, such as paralysis of the neck, being unable to speak, and excessive drooling. At 18 years old, through no fault of my own, I had literally become a drooling mental patient.

Interesting - to see how I was spoken to, and how people behaved around me differently when some thought me to be brain dead or ‘not all there.’ But I was. I was there.

There is a hill overlooking Belfast, called Cavehill. If you look closely, there is a face hidden in the landscape. This hill inspired Jonathan Swift to write ‘Gulliver’s Travels.’ Gulliver wakes to find he is a giant surrounded by wee people. In another chapter, he seems to be a wee man in a land of giants. It was not Gulliver that changed, but the environment around him. Not his own condition, but the conditions of the places he visited that rendered Gulliver disabled on his travels.

A person is only ever considered small in comparison to another person.

What remains gigantic for each of us is the breadth of our internal worlds. What multitudes we all keep hidden.

In my life, I’ve not always felt small. I’ve changed, grown, problem-solved, relapsed, felt small again, been through it all again, and evolved.

Without Art, and more importantly, the artists who create it, I would be lost in a world at odds with the sheer size of me, the expansive multi-verses I could recite given half a chance but keep sedated for fear of expanding my mind too far and ending up back in hospital.

But just the other day, in Sacramento, I swear - a giant saved my soul. I got lost walking the length of myself, went round in circles in my own private hell, I almost went off track. And then - I saw the Man in Black.

I nearly cried when I saw him 15 stories high, he says, “Keep painting Folsom Prison Blues and yellows and greens and violet hues across the sky. Go high, and don’t come down til you’ve raised the bar in every town that still has bars with people behind.”

The fact is - we’re not too big, we’re not too small. Our bodies, our minds, our voices, the ways we think, the very senses we use to relate to the world are just different to the ‘norm’. So, too often we are made to feel foreign in our own country, on our own planet.

We need, more than ever, artists who have the audacity to represent this difference. We need to be radical in shifting perspectives and push to the forefront the artists who see faces in the landscape that are not yet written into history, but need to be.

Some days, we might be giants in a land of wee people, and some days we might be wee people in a land of giants, but through it all, we are not alone.

Song Lyrics

Vanessa Ochoa Performing 

Todo Pasa by Carla Morrison

Spanish Transaltion

(Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Mi vista es distinta

Es muy triste y contamina

Quiero dejar de creer

Estarme sola y no ver

Me siento cada vez menos viva

Derrotada y confundida

Sin saber qué hacer

No logro entender

Que, aunque aquí todo está muy bien

Mi mente no deja de correr

Que todo pasa (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Que la vida, de repente, me alcanza

Que estoy cansada (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Mi mente necesita de calma

Que todo cambia (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Mi mundo siente que se va a acabar

Porque esto ataca (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

En silencio parezco dudar

La vida es un proceso

Cada quien construyendo su reto

Y al mismo tiempo

Uno siente rincones inciertos

Miro al cielo

Pido al mundo respuestas a esto

Que me está comiendo

Pero debo escarbar mis adentros

Que, aunque aquí todo está muy bien

Mi mente no deja de correr

Que todo pasa (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Que la vida de repente me alcanza

Que estoy cansada (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Mi mente necesita de calma

Que todo cambia (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Mi mundo siente que se va a acabar

Porque esto ataca (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

En silencio parezco dudar

La rudeza de mi mente sutil

Sin darme cuenta, puede dejarme aquí

Quiero ser fuerte, no dejar de competir

Esta lucha es solo contra mí

Que todo pasa (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Que la vida, de repente, me alcanza

Que estoy cansada (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Mi mente necesita de calma

Que todo cambia (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Mi mundo siente que se va a acabar

Porque esto ataca (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

Pero sé que lo voy a lograr

English Transaltion

(Ah ah ah ah ah ah)

My view is different

It is very sad and contaminates

I want to stop believing

be alone and not see

I feel less and less alive

defeated and confused

Without knowing what to do

I cannot understand

that, although everything is very good

My mind won't stop racing

That everything happen (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

That life suddenly catches up with me

That I'm tired (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

My mind needs calm

That everything changes (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

My world feels like it's going to end

Because this attacks (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

In silence I seem to doubt

life is a process

Everyone building their challenge

And at the same time

one feels uncertain corners

I look at the sky

I ask the world for answers to this

what is eating me

But I have to dig inside

that, although here everything is very good

My mind won't stop racing

That everything happens (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

that life suddenly catches up with me

That I'm tired (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

My mind needs calm

That everything changes (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

My world feels like it's going to end

Because this attacks (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

In silence I seem to doubt

The rudeness of my subtle mind

Without realizing it, it can leave me here

I want to be strong, not stop competing

This fight is only against me

That everything happens (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

That life suddenly catches up with me

That I'm tired (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

My mind needs calm

That everything changes (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

My world feels like it's going to end

Because this attacks (ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah)

But I know that I will make it

Elizabeth Campos Performing

Creo en mi by Natalia Jimenez

Spanish Transaltion

Ya me han dicho que soy buena para nada

Y que el aire que respiro está demás

Me han clavado en la pared, contra la espada

He perdido hasta las ganas de llorar

Pero, estoy de vuelta

Estoy de pie y bien alerta

Eso del cero a la izquierda

No me va

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh-oh

Creo, creo, creo en mí

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh-oh

Creo, creo, creo en mí

No me asustan los misiles, ni las balas

Tanta guerra me dio alas de metal, ah-ah

Vuelo libre, sobrevuelo las granadas

Por el suelo, no me arrastro nunca más

Ya no estoy de oferta

Estoy de pie y bien alerta

Eso del cero a la izquierda

No me va

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh-oh

Creo, creo, creo en mí

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh-oh

Creo, creo, creo

Todos somos tan desiguales

Únicos, originales

Si no te gusta, a mí me da igual

De lo peor he pasado

Y, lo mejor está por llegar

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh-oh

Creo, creo, creo en mí

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh

Creo, creo, creo en mí

English transation

I've already been told that I'm good for nothing

And that the air that I breathe is different

I've been nailed to the wall, against the sword

I have lost even the desire to cry

but i'm back

I'm upright and alert

That from zero to the left

Does not go with me

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh-oh

I believe, I believe, I believe in me

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh-oh

I believe, I believe, I believe in me

Missiles and bullets don't scare me

So much war gave me metal wings, ah-ah

I fly free, I fly over the grenades

On the ground, I will not drag myself anymore

I'm not on sale anymore

I'm upright and alert

That from zero to the left

Does not go with me

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh-oh

I believe, I believe, I believe in me

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh-oh

I believe, I believe, I believe

we are all so different.

unique, original

If you don't like it, I don't care

I've been through the worst

And the best is yet to come

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh-oh

I believe, I believe, I believe in me

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, uh

I believe, I believe, I believe in me

Gala Planning Committee

• Zoya Awan
• Dylan Bulkeley
• David Casey
• Lorraine Casto
• Crosby Cromwell
• Christine Danho
• Heather Delamorton
• Amanda Dinapoli-Hornick
• Sheri Farinha
• Merrill Friedman
• Laura Gómez
• Claudia Gordon
• Eric Harris
• Mark Harris
• Andy Imparato
• Janni Lehrer-Stein
• Jo Linda Johnson
• Madonna Long
• Malcolm McFarland
• Karen Mercado
• Christina Mills
• Hannah Peskin
• Melody Pomraning
• Rylin Rodgers
• Martha Santana-Chin
• Sandra Smith
• Sarah Triano

Staff Member Contributors
to the Success of the Event

• Victor Alvarez
• Tho Vinh Banh
• Elizabeth Campos
• Jonathan Cardenas
• Gregory Cramer
• Christine Danho
• Heather Delamorton
• Erin Dorn
• Adeyinka Glover
• Michelle Johnson
• Vanessa Ochoa
• Jenny Olson
• Anna Leach-Proffer
• Mathias Rauls
• Tony Rubino
• Nicki Schedler
• Sawait Seyoum
• Rayann Smith
• Sonja Villareal
• Alice Ximenez