BOOKS
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Senderos Oaxaqueños \ Oaxacan Paths by George Colman
a bi-lingual collection of the stories told and the different paths taken
by twelve men and women of Oaxaca. 183 pages with illustrations.
To read a selection, click here
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"As a high school teacher certified in Spanish and English, I find Senderos Oaxaqeños to be a perfect text for the classroom for a number of reasons. First, the stories are authentic representations of the lives of a wide variety of people who use their own words to tell their stories, and students respond to the stories with more interest because they know the people are real and living in Oaxaca. In this way, instead of the teacher telling the students "how it is", the students can read about the lives of these Oaxaquenens and develop their own opinions and insights into what constitutes the society there. Because there is such a wide sweep of various social and economic representations, the stories / interviews expose students to the breadth and depth of a southern Mexico city."......Kathy Burkland |
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"Senderos Oaxacqueños / Oaxacan Paths captures life in a world transforming, but not yet transformed, and so freezes in time a moment when modern forces change -- the administrative state, capitalism industrial and global, linguistic imperialism, and all the rest -- remain contested in the daily lives of ordinary friends and neighbors in the village / barrio of Xochimilco. Although evoking images of disappearing crafts, economics of make-do, and dying languages, here is nothing nostalgic in the stories of these twelve women and men, only renewed faith in the power of human beings to give meaning to their lives, whatever their circumstances. The luminous English prose of George Colman and the sonorous translations by Diario Castillejos are matched by the resolute beauty of the pen-and-ink portraits by Michele Gibbs of the book's heroes.".....Christopher H. Johnson, Professor of History, Wayne State University
Otra Onda by Michele Gibbs
a tri-lingual collection of poetry focusing on the African diasporic experience.
90 pages, with illustrations.
To read a selection, click here
"Otra Onda is a beautiful book.
I'm excited by Michele Gibbs' interweaving
of languages: Patois and Spanish and African American.
Her persistence en arte y la lucha gives me
both hope and challenge... an infusion
of spirit in a needful time."
Adrienne Rich,
poet, essayist, activist
"Michele Gibbs is a special voice:
well-informed and wonderfully controlled.
She can speak with resonant images of past
and present atrocities without fatalistic grumbling,
since the very next lines chorus \ soar
with the sparkling strength and courage of laughter
and faith in the eventual folk victory."
Rom Milner
playwrite
"There is no poet writing today
with this precise and death-defying combination
of acute political intelligence
and original poetic grace. Michele speaks
of "being schooled to conclude
however funky the mood
that one voice matters."
Not only does her voice matter;
it is as indispensable as the beautiful
going-on people whose praises she sings."
Akasha Gloria Hull,
poet, essayist,
author of SOUL TALK:
The New Spirituality of African American Women
