Review by Robin Levin,
author of The Death of Carthage
”Soledad is a village in an unnamed country in Latin America where life has gone on with little change for centuries. Rosario and her husband, Anibal, eke out a living on a small plot of land. Their income is supplemented by Anibal’s work for Don Rafael, a large landowner, and by Rosario’s talented needlework. Rosario has ambitions to finish high school, but she is afraid to bring up the subject with Anibal. Everyone she talks to discourages her.
Everything starts to change when a mysterious stranger comes to town. Rosario is the first to meet him and she takes an instant dislike to him. The stranger, however, is handsome and charismatic and charms nearly everyone else in the village, including Rosario’s grandmother Providencia, the wealthy but curmudgeonly Dona Gertrudis, and, worst of all, Anibal. The only one who agrees with Rosario about the stranger is her grandfather Gustavo.
The stranger, it seems, is a revolutionary, a fugitive from the government and a man who has no scruples when it comes to using violence to achieve his political ends. The villagers find themselves unwittingly caught in a tragic cycle of violence between the repressive government and those who would overthrow it; a scenario all too common in Latin America in the late 20th century.
Disappearances begin to occur, bodies are found, Anibal disappears and Rosario finds herself persona non grata among the people she has lived with all of her life. Her only option is to flee the village. She finds an unlikely refuge with a distant relative of one of the villagers, Zayas, a vain and avaricious manager of a Casino in the capital.
Sleep of the Innocents is an intelligent and thought-provoking book which I recommend to anyone with an interest in the culture and the political problems of Latin America.”
Many thanks to Robin Levin, author of The Death of Carthage for her review of my novel, Sleep of the Innocents.
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Aside
Rossetti was interested in figures locked in embrace; cf. the embracing figures at the bottom of the Mystical Nativity (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As I’ve said before poems are not finished until they emerge fully from the creative haze. This one has gone through so many changes it evolved into a whole other poem; yet each line is exactly what I needed to say when I first started. Who needs a shrink when there is poetry?
Surrendering Eden
By Vespertine voices
guided, snow arrives at
sunset, howling a dirge
melodic thru fangs of ice.
Gossamer gowns, veils, crowns,
tempest gifts drape the garden;
fallen trees beneath the snow
recall their dance and weep.
In silence Dawn awakens;
shadows cringe escaping
her ricocheting light.
Radiance marks the hour!
Cariño, should we walk now
hand in hand, our halting steps
unsteady and much too slow?
Dare we turn to watch our
Footprints fill with ice?
Querido, it’s so cold!
Will we complete our crossing
still through this vale of snow?
— Carole Fragoza
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Every Sunday night, Two Worlds Indigenous Radio host Alvon Griffon shares the finest collection of Native
American music from traditional Pow Wow style to the latest from contemporary Native artists, NAMMY nominees and winners.
Two Worlds Indigenous Radio
http://www.wmnf.org/programs/two-worlds
Source:
http://www.uctp.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=369&year=2013&month=03&day=31&Itemid=58
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Posted in Discoveries, Opinion, Taino People
Tagged Canada, contemporary Native artists, ethnicity, music, Native, Native American, Native American music, Native American Music Awards, Pow Wow, Two Worlds, United States
“Just received from good friend and author Sandra Riley her new book “The Lucayan Taino: First People of the Bahamas” which is beautifully told and illustrated. Part of the proceeds goes towards the creation of a bronze sculpture by James Mastin a monument celebrating the Taino People around the world. To get your book and support a great cause go to: www.CrystalParrot.org”
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Aside
Here is another reworked poem. It seems they have a life of their own, as they periodically reawaken, demanding revision.
Frosty Footpath
Remembering Snow
Across the blanketed fields,
shivering whispers hiss,
a dirge of a long night’s
passing, through fangs of ice.
Snow has dressed the garden:
white gowns, lace veils, frosty
crowns; trees break beneath
the weight of their finery.
Dawn blinks; shadows cringe,
hastily retreating
from ricocheting light.
Her radiance stretches wide!
Shall we walk now hand in hand;
our halting steps unsteady,
and perhaps, much, too, slow?
Dare we turn to watch our
Footprints fill with ice?
Querido, it’s so cold!
Shall we complete our crossing
anyhow— through this vale of snow?
—Carole Fragoza Diaz
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Visit this interesting site to learn about the Taino people of both the past and the present:
http://www.powhatanmuseum.com/Tainos_Past_Present.html
This site’s introduction is beautifully written:
“The Taínos were the first indigenous inhabitants of the Americas to experience the Columbian Encounter. Although their numbers were estimated to be in the millions at the time of first contact, they suffered great losses due to exploitation, enslavement, overwork, disease and cultural disruption. They are not extinct, as so many writers have proclaimed. Today, many people of Caribbean origin claim descent from both the Taíno and Island Carib. There has been a resurgence by Taíno descendants to recapture their indigenous Caribbean identity. This page is dedicated to notable Taínos, past and present .”
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I am a storyteller who tells many stories; most of them, if not all, are true, but often at the end of a well-told tale, a listener will insist the story cannot be “real.” Listeners laugh and shake their heads when I insist otherwise.
The truth is I write fiction, but I tell truth, because stories of truth are worthy of being told. However, I tell truth with all the craft and polish of fiction.
There is a wide gulf between truth and fiction other than the definition we all accept: one is true or real while the other is not. Sometimes separating the two is difficult, even for educated adults. How wonderful it is that children, on the other hand, accept the story as is. They accept wonder and magic until they grow up and replace innocence with worldly sophistication.
Most people think truth is boring, but the children and I know that often it is even more magical than fiction.
I can create stories of fiction at the drop of a hat, but I tell stories of truth because it is easy; all one needs are strong powers of observation and a good memory. A sizable vocabulary helps, too. Fiction on the other hand is difficult to write; the plot and the characters must be created true—to life, unless the story is a fantasy. Each word of the prose must be crafted, honed and polished in the realm of the possible and plausible or readers will not suspend their disbelief and accept the fiction.
How strange is that? The fiction is crafted to shine with the mantle of the plausible, for readers to accept it as true. Truth is often homespun and wears a rough weave; to present it otherwise converts it into a fiction.
One of my favorite storytellers, Mark Twain, understood the differences between the two. That’s why his stories are still read today.
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to
stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”
—
Mark Twain
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Posted in Discoveries, Fiction, Life Experience, Opinion
Tagged Arts, E-zines, fiction, Literature, Mark Twain, Online Writing, philosophy, science fiction, truth
Although “The Paradoxical Commandments” are often attributed to Mother Theresa, I have read they were actually written by Kent M. Keith when he was 19, and a sophomore at Harvard College. It is said that Mother Theresa thought so highly of “The Paradoxical Commandments” that she put them up on the wall of her children’s home in Calcutta. When a journalist saw them on the wall, she assumed Mother Theresa had written them.
Who wrote those inspiring words is not as important as their message; therefore, I give thanks to both Kent M. Keith and Mother Theresa: Mr Keith for writing “The Paradoxical Commandments,” and Mother Theresa for bringing his inspired declarations to the attention of the world.
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may just never be enough; Give the world the best you have anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it’s all between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.
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The scam truck (Photo credit: jepoirrier)
This afternoon I received the first telephone call / message scam of the year. I have decided that every single time that I receive such a telephone call I’m just going to post the number on this blog, hoping to alert as many people as possible.
And how do I know for sure it is a scam? Try calling these people; they will ask for your name, your address, your telephone number, your credit card number and every other important piece of your information, allowing the thieves to steal your most precious possession, your identity. Once they have that information, your finances are no longer safe.
I have cut-and-paste the message I received on my phone so that you can see what a scammer’s calling card is like; don’t fall for it!
“Please call us @ 1-800-340-0539 We’ve been trying to reach you about your $250 Walmart Gift Voucher.
stop 2 stop, help 4 help. Msg rates may apply.”
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