Chat nº 4 | Part 2 of 2 (complete)
Farasha DesertSiren
10/04/2014
RedLalita: So, first of all
thank you for your attention.
Farasha DesertSiren: Thank
you very much for having me!
RL: On your relationship
with the mermaid theme. You could tell when was the first time the issue
mermaid caught yor attention?
FS: I grew up in Southern
California near the ocean. I used to spend a lot of time swimming and dreaming
there... I imagined a safe undersea world inhabited by beautiful mermaids.
RL: Are you there?
FS: I'm here... My cat
decided to knock over his food off the conter. He always seems to know when I
have business :D
RL: Hahah! Cats... The same
here.
FS: Instinctively I was
always drawn to the freedom and powerful yet gentleness of the mermaid.
RL: Then, because of your
mother you heard about mermaids first.
FS: My mother used tell me
that I was part mermaid because I was a water baby.
I always seemed to find
places of work in California with images of mermaids...
RL: When you was a kid you
really believed you are a mermaid?
FS: It was more by instinct
and the fairy tales The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan. My mother knew that I
loved the water and encouraged my vivid imagination by calling part mermaid!
RL: It's so beautiful!
FS: My childhood was
challenging and in order to control my environment I created my own underwater
world called ‘Myrthia’. In my imagination I was always a mermaid. When swimming
I would hold my feet together as if I had a tail.
RL: Only in your
imagination or you actually went swimming?
FS: Hehe... In my
imagination I was a mermaid. While swimming I would pretend to have a tail.
RL: Where is Myrthia?
FS: Myrthia is an utopian
underwater world I created when I was about 8 where there was racial equality,
no bullying, and happy families all inhabited my Mer-people.
RL: A perfect world!
I suppose in your teens you
did not share much of your world mermaid or you found a way?
FS: No I was a bit of a
misfit. I felt I never belonged. It's not that I wasn't popular. I had friends.
I was a pretty good actress to try to fit in.
Yeah, I pretty much hid
that I preferred the enchanted world of mermaids, faeries and genies.
RL: But Myrthia was still
there for you, right? I hope so.
FS: Yes! As an adult I can
have another childhood where I can make being a mermaid a career!
RL: I have to tell you that
I believe you are even a mermaid. When I was teen my dream was meeting a real
mermaid to have her as friend and talk about the ocean and mermaid life. I would have known you back then.
FS: Thank you. I know
anyone can be what they want to be if they believe in their dreams!
Do you live next to the
ocean? Or near?
RL: Yes, I live close the
ocean.
FS: How do say your name?
RL: My name is Karuna :)
FS: And you're a
bellydancer too?
RL: Yes, i'm bellydancer
and fusion bellydancer.
FS: Beautiful! You're
spiritual person, love it!
RL: Oh thank you.
You make me thinking about
my childhood... I identified my self with what you told me.
FS: In Brazil you have the
ocean mermaid goddess, Yemanja.
RL: Yes, here we do not
think about Yemanjá as a mermaid but as the grand Great Mother, the goddess of
the ocean, the mother of all other gods (african pantheon) and living being.
FS: I believe we're
attracted to mermaids as children because they represent the great ancient
goddesses, represents protection.
RL: I prefer think about
Yemanjá as a mother of all of us and the mermaids are the lucky people who can
live there in the ocean close to her.
FS: I like to study world
mermaid mythologies. Especially from the Africa diaspora.
RL: Yes, sure, many times
in my life I walked close the ocean to find protection and solution for my
difficulties, and always I felt protected and ready to grab life with hands
FS: Yes, the Ocean is our
Mother and we forget that she is the primordial womb where all life began.
Humans for get that by not giving her the respect and care that she deserves.
RL: Yes you are right.
So how was find a way to be
a mermaid with a career? how did this happen? you wanted to find a way to live
as a mermaid or you realized that you could bring your world of imagination for
an outside life?
FS: In 2005 I started using the
name Desert Siren when Bellydancing. Still not quite ready to come out of my
shell to live out my dream as mermaid, I hesitated. Although at home I have
mermaid statues and paintings everywhere. I always knew that I wanted to have
some kind of act performing as a mermaid. In 2011 I attended the Mermaid Awards
here Las Vegas! I met and saw people who were making a living as performing
sirens. I said that's it I'm going for it and ordered a tail the next mont,
created a website etc! I knew being a pro Mer was my destiny along w dancing!
RL: This is fantastic!
FS: I know mermaiding is
becoming big in Brazil too?
RS: A little less.
Here is not so easy to have
this way of life, it seems that in your country a person can really be whatever
they want and live the way they want, you'll find your place there. Here there
is a resistance to things that are beyond the 'normal', which are very
different.
I know only one famous mermaid
in Brasil, and in tribal fusion bellydance many dancers identify with mermaids
but within a context of thematic research without this background as your
having an intimate history with the mermaids and the ocean.
FS: Really? I always figured
that Brazil was pretty liberal..
RL: Hahahah! Well... I think the concept
of liberal varies from country to country.
FS: Got Cha!
RL: When a person is very
different here, is considered strange, exotic, and you can not have a normal
life, work, family ... Then you always have to keep proving it is capable of
doing what society expects 'normal' people do.
FS: It really is the same here.
Creatives, dreamers and non-conformists are not valued like doctors lawyers or
accountants. A normal predictable life is what is expected of you here - that
is the American Dream.
RL: I started writing all
confused now, my English is failing, hope you still can understand me.
FS: Yes I do! I hope my English
isn't failing, LOL!
RL: Hahah! Because you speak as
mermaid often.
FS: Yes. Myrthian and some
Mermish.
RL: Great, I want to learn to
speak Myrthian and Mermish.
FS: You already now how to
speak the universal language of the Merfolk :D
RL: Wee!
What was the greatest moment that you had enjoyed
doing as a mermaid, something professional or not?
FS: I made a mermaid appearance
and I a little girl came up to me and hugged me while crying and asked me if I
was Ariel's cousin!
RL: Oh so cute.
FS: She was very sweet :D
RL: And what you said?
FS: Yes I was Ariels's cousin
and she says hello.
RL: Beautiful!
FS: Some children are
frightened when they see someone sitting w a fishtail on, but she walked
straight over to me.
RL: There are mermaids are not
as gentle as you,there are the terrible myths of mermaids, this terrible side
inside you somehow? I mean, something that is reflected in your way of looking
at life, your achievements.
FS: Just like bad human there
are not so nice mermaids. Mermaids are the embodiment of the ocean... Sometimes
raging waves can drown you or gently rock you to sleep . The power of a woman.
RL: Yes, sure, i like it.
I have a very important
question to ask you because I waited my whole life for this answer. Tell me,
Farasha DesertSiren, you are a real mermaid?
FS: Yes, I am a real Mermaid.
RL: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssss!!!!!
You made my day!!! J
A second, i need go to jump,
I will be back in half minute... - (half minute later) -I'm back!
FS: Jumping?
RL: Yes to celebrate you!
FS: How sweet! Let's jump &
Celebrate you too! I hope I can make others feel happy too
RL: I'm sure you do.
FS: That's part of the dream to
create beauty and inspire people to dream. Live their Dream.
Part of my purpose is to
create beauty and inspire others to live their dream.
RL: It's a wonderful way of life. Before we
finish our conversation, has a special message to say, something that you want
to communicate?
FS: Hmmm...I guess I would say
to the people who feel like they don't fit in. Cultivate that awkwardness, the
sensitivity and the weirdo in you and make it a strength not an affliction. The
pain of feeling different is where your beauty lives. Wear your individuality
proudly as a heart badge of honor ;then pay it forward by encouraging others to
Live their truth as a dreamer, healer, painter, poet, singer, dancer or
mermaid!
RL: Very nice words.
I always make a joke at the
end of the chat: talk like a mermaid!
FS: Brrrrerrrmrrr mere zzzz
Brrrrr translation :means thank you very much for chatting with me :D
RL: Hahah! I knew, I understood, I'm Merfolk.
J
Thanks for the chat, it was
really fun, you are very sweet and inspiring.
FS: Hehee!
Thank you so much! Talking
with you was a lot of fun.
RL: Was really good. Thank you
sweet mermaid. You realized my dream, meet a real mermaid.
FS: Yay!!! Mermaid blessings to
you!!
Mer Farasha Website: http://www.mermaidfarasha.com/