Quiara provides many descriptions of the female bodies she grew up around. How would you describe the bodies you grew up around? What was the body language of your family spaces?

Quiara provides many descriptions of the female bodies she grew up around. They were various ages, shapes, hair textures, and skin colors. Cooking and dancing gave these female relatives frequent opportunities to express themselves in a physical way, and their body language helped shape Quiara's worldview. How would you describe the bodies you grew up around? What was the body language of your family spaces? Was there a "laying on of hands" in your community or family?

There really wasn't a lot of body language among the women.Body language in spaces was mostly driven or often driven by the mood of the men. If they were happy, the space felt good. If not, we did a lot of tiptoes. There was not a laying of hands.

My personal experiences were the complete opposite of Quiara's. I grew up in a very prim and proper home environment. I rarely saw anyone without their clothes on. We were not demonstrative or high strung; there was no drinking or carousing or other aspects of "letting our hair down." Quiara's descriptions of the women in her life, whether family or friends, were, to my mind, graphic and somewhat flamboyant.

Our body language was not as free as what Quiara describes. Especially for me, I remember a painful sense of modesty during puberty. I'm not sure where this came from since my parents were not what I would call prudes. However, at family gatherings like reunions and such, where libations flowed and music played, people were definitely much more free.

I think the body language was also a metaphor for language for Quiara. There were so many different languages in terms of verbal communication, it seems that the body language was a unifying language.

The bodies I grew up with were similar to her descriptions in all shapes and sizes, some flamboyant and outspoken and others quiet and low key.