La Clarividente de Camagüey -Segunda Parte- (por Teresa Dovalpage)

II: Destinadas a conocernos

Después de compartir la primera parte de esta serie recibí un mensaje en que me preguntaban si algunos de los grupos que mencionaba allí eran “sectas.” He preferido no usar este término porque, hasta donde sé, en ninguno de ellos se trataba de aislar a los miembros de sus familias y amistades, ni se exigía lealtad absoluta ni se usaban métodos de control —todas estas características de las llamadas sectas. Eran sólo reuniones de personas que, por primera vez en más de treinta años, tenían un atisbo de lo que en otras sociedades es un derecho básico: la libertad de asociación.

Pero ya es hora de que entre en escena la protagonista de nuestra crónica, a quien he decidido llamar la Clarividente de Camagüey, aunque no estoy segura de que ella hubiera aprobado el título. La conocí primero de oídas gracias a Vladimir y a Elena, que asistían a los cursillos de la Iglesia del Carmen. Elena iba a la iglesia de las Carmelitas Descalzas del Vedado. Él me parece que no practicaba, pero era de mente abierta. Los dos eran un poco mayores que yo y uno de ellos al menos, de Camagüey, donde vivía María Esperanza.

Desde las primeras conversaciones insistieron en que yo debía conocerla: María Esperanza conservaba un montón de libros y monografías en inglés sobre temas espirituales y ellos querían que les tradujera algunos textos para compartirlos con los interesados. Pero yo nunca había estado en Camagüey y un viaje interprovincial, en medio del período especial cuando no había ni guaguas en La Habana, podía convertirse en una odisea.

Así las cosas, una tarde llegué al Servicio Doméstico y la hermana Pelagia (una monjita muy joven, delgada y con sentido del humor, a quien no llamo jodedora por respeto al hábito) me llamó aparte para decirme:

—Teresita, a ti que te gustan las cosas raras, aquí está una señora que te va a encantar.

La señora en cuestión era María Esperanza, que cuando iba a La Habana para atenderse en el Calixto García se quedaba siempre en el convento, donde la querían mucho. No fue hasta que Pelagia nos presentó y empezamos a conversar que me di cuenta de que se trataba de la misma persona de quien Vladimir y Elena me habían hablado antes. “Nada, hija, que estábamos destinadas a conocernos,” me dijo muerta de la risa.

La recuerdo altota, maciza, todavía fuerte, con el pelo blanco y ojos brillantes de zahorí. No sabía con exactitud su edad porque había nacido en España y la partida de bautismo se había quedado por allá; sus padres la habían traído a Cuba a los dos o tres años. Pero recordaba la celebración del Armisticio de 1918: “Yo era una muchachita, ya con edad de entendimiento.” Por ahí calculo que habría nacido en los primeros años del siglo veinte, de modo que cuando la conocí en el 93 tendría ochenta y pico, aunque no se le notaban.

Con respecto a las monografías, me contó que las había traído de Nueva York, donde pasara tres años a comienzos de la década del treinta. Fue allí donde se inició en lo que ella llamaba con mucha gracia “el brete espiritual.” Y ya le cedo la palabra. Lo que viene a continuación es la transcripción de una serie de entrevistas que le hice, primero en el Servicio Doméstico y más tarde en su casa en Camagüey.

De joven yo era muy católica, muy metida en la iglesia. No es que ahora no lo sea, pero tengo mis problemas con la doctrina, resultado de todo lo que me ha pasado. De jovencita fui catequista en la iglesia de San José y me casé en La Merced, que ahora están reparando. *

Mi marido, que en paz descanse, era abogado. Cuando nos casamos acababa de graduarse de leyes en la Universidad de La Habana. Todavía no tenía mucha clientela: ayudaba en el bufete de un amigo y tomaba algunos casos a cuenta. Pero Machado empezó a hacer de las suyas y tuvimos que salir corriendo y recalar en Nueva York. Era allá por el treinta o el treinta y uno.

Hace tiempo vinieron gente de Bohemia para que les contara la historia, pero les dije lo mismo que a ti: no sé qué hizo mi marido ni cómo conspiró contra Machado, si es que conspiró. En mis tiempos las mujeres no se metían en política. Incluso se decía que hablar de política delante de las damas era una grosería porque se suponía que no sabíamos nada del tema. Ya eso ha cambiado y está bien que sea así, pero yo no puedo opinar de lo que no conozco.

Llegamos a Nueva York en pleno verano. Menos mal, porque si le caemos en invierno con el frío que pasé allá después, regreso corriendo a mi casa. Pero mi destino era estar allí porque aquella ciudad cambió mi vida.

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*Febrero de 1993.

(Continúa)

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ver en el blog
La Clarividente de Camagüey (por Teresa Dovalpage)

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Teresa Dovalpage: I was born in Havana, Cuba, and left the island in 1996.

I’ve been writing since I was a teenager. My first published novel, A Girl like Che Guevara (Soho Press, 2004), was written in English, a language that I didn’t start speaking daily until I was thirty years old. I hope this inspires my second-language students to never give up! (I am currently the ESL and Spanish professor at New Mexico Junior College.) I have a Ph.D. in Latin American literature from the University of New Mexico and have been an educator for over thirty years.

My other novels are Posesas de La Habana (Haunted ladies of Havana, PurePlay Press, 2004), Muerte de un murciano en La Habana (Death of a Murcian in Havana, Anagrama, 2006, which was a runner-up for the Herralde Award in Spain, El difunto Fidel (The late Fidel, Renacimiento, 2011, that won the Rincon de la Victoria Award in Spain in 2009), Habanera, A Portrait of a Cuban Family (Floricanto Press, 2010), La Regenta en La Habana ( Edebe, Spain, 2012), Orfeo en el Caribe (Atmósfera Literaria, 2013) and El retorno de la expatriada (The return of the expat, Egales, Spain, 2014). I also wrote three collections of short stories: ¡Por culpa de Candela! (Floricanto Press, 2009), Llevarás Luto por Franco (Atmósfera Literaria, 2012), and The Astral Plane: Stories of Cuba, the Southwest and Beyond (University of New Orleans Press, 2012). My novellas Las Muertas de la West Mesa (The West Mesa Murders, based on a real event) and Death by Smartphone were published in serialized format by Taos News.

In 2016 I tried my hand at mysteries. Death Comes in through the Kitchen (Soho Crime, 2018) features Padrino, a santero-detective. The best thing about writing this novel was coming up with the recipes—it includes real, true-and-tried Cuban recipes like caldosa, tocinillo, drunken salad, lobster enchilada and more. I made all of them before including them in the book! The problem was that I gained nine pounds in the process. I am back on the South Beach Diet to get rid of them.

Blog in English http://teredovalpage.com/
Blog en español http://teresadovalpage.com/

La Clarividente de Camagüey (por Teresa Dovalpage)

I: Los años del espíritu

En aquellos buenos y malos tiempos todos éramos jóvenes y hermosos—o así nos lo creíamos con el desparpajo tronante de los veinte años. Comenzaban los duros noventa y la gente buscaba un escape por donde pudiera: el sexo, el mar, las drogas o el esoterismo. Yo estaba entre los que se daban a la fuga usando métodos espirituales.

Para entonces el estigma de asistir a la iglesia, la que fuese, estaba, si no desapareciendo, al menos suavizándose. Pero en mi caso, aquella no era la primera vez que me acercaba a la religión. Había participado a finales de los ochenta en el grupo de jóvenes del Sagrado Corazón de Reina, que dirigía la oblata Lourdes López Chávez, y más tarde en el de los mayores, coordinado por el Padre Juan de Dios Hernández, quien ahora es obispo auxiliar de La Habana, y luego el español Fenol, ambos jesuitas. Me pasaba los fines de semana en el convento de las Religiosas de María Inmaculada en El Cerro y asistía a todas las convivencias que podía porque alguna vez pensé que tenía vocación de monja.

Fue Lourdes quien me invitó a un cursillo que daba el Padre Marciano García; en la iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, en Infanta. El curso se trataba, si no me falla la memoria, del modelo de Padre-Adulto-Niño y el análisis transaccional. Todavía no me explico cómo llegó aquella carga de psicología moderna a La Habana de la mano de los frailes carmelitas, pero así fue y un grupo numeroso asistía a las charlas los jueves por la noche. Allí conocí a Mercedes Soca, otra amiga queridísima que luego fundaría el primer grupo cuáquero silente de La Habana, del que formé parte también.

Mi inmersión en aquel cursillo del Carmen me abrió la puerta a un mundo que ignoraba hasta entonces: el de los numerosos grupos de enfoque espiritual que habían surgido por aquellos años o que comenzaban, tímidamente, a darse a conocer. Entre ellos estaban los seguidores de San Germán y la Llama Violeta. Se reunían en el apartamento de Eloy, en Espada, a dos cuadras de donde yo vivía, y llegué a conocerlos bastante bien. Años más tarde dos de sus miembros, Eloy y Ciro, se suicidarían en las montañas del Escambray –un incidente que nunca se llegó a aclarar del todo.

Estaban también los rosacruces, con sus maestros, monitores, fratres y sorores, que se reunían en el pronao de La Habana y entre los que había personajes alucinantes como el doctor Ovidio, que trabajaba en el policlínico Van Troy y aseguraba que visitaba a sus pacientes astralmente; una muchacha encantadora del Instituto de Literatura y Lingüística que leía en sánscrito y la Monitora Marieta, más conocida como “Madame Mariette.”

Eduardo Pimentel, que ahora es famoso, impartía clases de yoga en el Hospital de Emergencias y había varios grupos de distintas modalidades de esta disciplina. La Autobiografía de un Yogui circulaba entre los iniciados y los que aspiraban a serlo y me parece recordar que había un centro oficial de yoga en El Vedado.

Chala, el teósofo, tenía un montón de seguidores jóvenes con los que se reunía cada semana en su casa o en la Sociedad Teosófica para estudiar los libros de Helena Blavatsky. Asistí una vez a una de sus seances en una azotea de la Habana Vieja, en la que se fue muy apropiadamente la luz, y nos quedamos a solas en la oscuridad con los espíritus presentes.

Los grupos espiritistas pululaban también pero no tenían el atractivo de aquellos que venían “de afuera” como los Ananda Marga, con sus dadas y didis españoles que organizaban festines de arroz frito en un apartamento de Miramar. Esta asociación sería más tarde expulsada oficialmente del país, nunca llegué a saber por qué.

Había un señor ya mayor, del que no recuerdo el nombre, que se decía representante en Cuba de Sai Baba. Una vez lo visité con una amiga, y para saludarnos, el buen señor nos palmeó la cabeza. Mi socia se molestó mucho porque no le gustaba que le manosearan el chakra craneal. ¡Ahora pienso que fue una suerte que no nos palmeara otra cosa!

Y tantos, tantos más…

Se trataba, en fin, de una amalgama, un abanico variopinto de espiritualidad que marcó mis últimos años en La Habana. Fue en estas aguas esotéricas donde conocí a Vladimir y a Elena, que me llevarían de la mano a la Clarividente de Camagüey. (Ver segunda parte)

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Teresa Dovalpage: I was born in Havana, Cuba, and left the island in 1996.

I’ve been writing since I was a teenager. My first published novel, A Girl like Che Guevara (Soho Press, 2004), was written in English, a language that I didn’t start speaking daily until I was thirty years old. I hope this inspires my second-language students to never give up! (I am currently the ESL and Spanish professor at New Mexico Junior College.) I have a Ph.D. in Latin American literature from the University of New Mexico and have been an educator for over thirty years.

My other novels are Posesas de La Habana (Haunted ladies of Havana, PurePlay Press, 2004), Muerte de un murciano en La Habana (Death of a Murcian in Havana, Anagrama, 2006, which was a runner-up for the Herralde Award in Spain, El difunto Fidel (The late Fidel, Renacimiento, 2011, that won the Rincon de la Victoria Award in Spain in 2009), Habanera, A Portrait of a Cuban Family (Floricanto Press, 2010), La Regenta en La Habana ( Edebe, Spain, 2012), Orfeo en el Caribe (Atmósfera Literaria, 2013) and El retorno de la expatriada (The return of the expat, Egales, Spain, 2014). I also wrote three collections of short stories: ¡Por culpa de Candela! (Floricanto Press, 2009), Llevarás Luto por Franco (Atmósfera Literaria, 2012), and The Astral Plane: Stories of Cuba, the Southwest and Beyond (University of New Orleans Press, 2012). My novellas Las Muertas de la West Mesa (The West Mesa Murders, based on a real event) and Death by Smartphone were published in serialized format by Taos News.

In 2016 I tried my hand at mysteries. Death Comes in through the Kitchen (Soho Crime, 2018) features Padrino, a santero-detective. The best thing about writing this novel was coming up with the recipes—it includes real, true-and-tried Cuban recipes like caldosa, tocinillo, drunken salad, lobster enchilada and more. I made all of them before including them in the book! The problem was that I gained nine pounds in the process. I am back on the South Beach Diet to get rid of them.

Blog in English http://teredovalpage.com/
Blog en español http://teresadovalpage.com/

Excerpt from "Death Comes in through the Kitchen" (por Teresa Dovalpage)

Se puede adquirir en Amazon
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Cream of cheese: Memories of La Romanita

Today we will mangiare a dish that has Italian roots. Very Italiano, but with a Cuban twist.

This entree is called crema de queso. Our Cuban “cream of cheese” is basically a soup, but very thick.

The ingredients are easy to find: three tablespoons of butter, the same amount of all-purpose flour, three cups of milk, and five ounces of cheese. Plus salt, cumin, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

Make a base by mixing butter and flour. Cook for five minutes, or until it looks golden brown. Add the milk and stir. After it thickens, add the cheese and go on stirring. I will soon be totally dissolved into the cream. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cumin. Go easy on the cumin!

Serve immediately, topped with shredded cheese. Don’t let it get cold. There are some dishes that benefit from a quick nap, but crema de queso isn’t one of them. If you do need to refrigerate it, add a bit of water or milk before reheating to prevent the soup from becoming too heavy.

When I think of crema de queso, the first thing that comes to my mind is La Romanita, a pizzeria located on 11th St., in the corner with 16th St., in El Vedado. I had just moved to Havana and part of my budding romance with the capital was discovering new places to eat every week. I lived at the students’ residence and used to take long walks around the neighborhood, sniffing the air until my nose led me to a little restaurant or a well-hidden cafeteria.

These walks were an adventure for a guajirita like me, a peasant girl fresh out of Cuba’s Cinderella, as Pinar del Río, my province of origin, is derisively called. I got lost a few times. There were no mountains to get myself oriented, only apartment buildings, and at first they all looked alike.

My best friends, Lili and Yusleidys, were also guajiras. Havana-born girls were too hoity-toity to hang out with us.

“Wait until they visit our provinces and then we will show them,” Yusleidys said.

Sadly, that never happened. “Cuba is Havana, and the rest is just countryside,” Habaneros would say.

Most restaurants were way over our budget—we did get a small stipend, but it wasn’t enough to eat at fancy places. Yet, for La Romanita, we would make sacrifices or ask our families for money. We would pool together our savings and share two pizzas, two creams of cheese and a flan.

Cheesy kisses to all my readers. Buona sera to you!

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Comments

Taos Tonya said…

I plan to make it tonight. I am having some friends over and we will have a Cuban night. What cheese do you use for the crema? Gouda, Asiago?

Yarmi said…

Here we only have yellow cheese and white cheese. I use yellow. A Cuban night sounds like fun!

Cubanita in Claremont said…

My family is part Italian and I’ve never heard of that dish.

Maritza said…

I am Cuban too. My family left in 1979. I don’t remember being able to buy flour at the grocery store. It was sold through the ration card every two or three months. Does your Yuma buy it for you? (Wink). My grandma would make a similar dish out of spaghettis, which she boiled and then grinded. She used yellow cheese, whatever kind was available. Here, I would use Gouda.

Yarmi said…

The spaghetti base makes sense. I get flour at the grocery store, like everybody else.

Anita said…

I haven’t heard of crema de queso either, at least in California.

Cocinera Cubana said…

Juan, Anita, if you go to Miami, visit Marakas Pizza on 42nd Street. They have the best crema de queso. Ciao!

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Set in Havana during the Black Spring of 2003, a charming but poison-laced culinary mystery reveals the darker side of the modern Revolution, complete with authentic Cuban recipes

Havana, Cuba, 2003: Matt, a San Diego journalist, arrives in Havana to marry his girlfriend, Yarmila, a 24-year-old Cuban woman whom he first met through her food blog. But Yarmi isn’t there to meet him at the airport, and when he hitches a ride to her apartment, he finds her lying dead in the bathtub.

With Yarmi’s murder, lovelorn Matt is immediately embroiled in a Cuban adventure he didn’t bargain for. The police and secret service have him down as their main suspect, and in an effort to clear his name, he must embark on his own investigation into what really happened. The more Matt learns about his erstwhile fiancée, though, the more he realizes he had no idea who she was at all—but did anyone?

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Teresa Dovalpage: I was born in Havana, Cuba, and left the island in 1996.

I’ve been writing since I was a teenager. My first published novel, A Girl like Che Guevara (Soho Press, 2004), was written in English, a language that I didn’t start speaking daily until I was thirty years old. I hope this inspires my second-language students to never give up! (I am currently the ESL and Spanish professor at New Mexico Junior College.) I have a Ph.D. in Latin American literature from the University of New Mexico and have been an educator for over thirty years.

My other novels are Posesas de La Habana (Haunted ladies of Havana, PurePlay Press, 2004), Muerte de un murciano en La Habana (Death of a Murcian in Havana, Anagrama, 2006, which was a runner-up for the Herralde Award in Spain, El difunto Fidel (The late Fidel, Renacimiento, 2011, that won the Rincon de la Victoria Award in Spain in 2009), Habanera, A Portrait of a Cuban Family (Floricanto Press, 2010), La Regenta en La Habana ( Edebe, Spain, 2012), Orfeo en el Caribe (Atmósfera Literaria, 2013) and El retorno de la expatriada (The return of the expat, Egales, Spain, 2014). I also wrote three collections of short stories: ¡Por culpa de Candela! (Floricanto Press, 2009), Llevarás Luto por Franco (Atmósfera Literaria, 2012), and The Astral Plane: Stories of Cuba, the Southwest and Beyond (University of New Orleans Press, 2012). My novellas Las Muertas de la West Mesa (The West Mesa Murders, based on a real event) and Death by Smartphone were published in serialized format by Taos News.

In 2016 I tried my hand at mysteries. Death Comes in through the Kitchen (Soho Crime, 2018) features Padrino, a santero-detective. The best thing about writing this novel was coming up with the recipes—it includes real, true-and-tried Cuban recipes like caldosa, tocinillo, drunken salad, lobster enchilada and more. I made all of them before including them in the book! The problem was that I gained nine pounds in the process. I am back on the South Beach Diet to get rid of them.


Blog in English http://teredovalpage.com/
Blog en español http://teresadovalpage.com/

Guaguancó, trasatlántico a dos voces (un cuento de Teresa Dovalpage)

 Foto/Reuters

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“Guaguancó, trasatlántico a dos voces” está basado en un hecho real (un cubano que se embarca como polizón en un trasatlántico a fin de llegar a EE. UU. y acogerse a la ley de "Pies Secos, Pies Mojados"). 

El relato salió a la luz en francés en marzo, como parte de una antología, Nouvelles de Cuba, publicada por la editorial Magellan. Esta es la versión original, corregida y aumentada.

La he presentado a un concurso y se puede leer en este enlace: https://freeditorial.com/es/books/guaguanco-trasatlantico-a-dos-voces

No es necesario votar por el cuento, sólo descargarlo. Igualmente les recomiendo que les echen un vistazo a los muchos buenos relatos que se han presentado al concurso.

Saludos desde Taos y mil gracias,

Teresa Dovalpage

Teresa Dovalpage, Ph. D.

Blog in English http://teredovalpage.com/

Blog en español http://teresadovalpage.com/

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ver Teresa Dovalpage en Gaspar, El Lugareño

An interview with three Cuban publishers

Cubans around the (publishing) world

An interview with three Cuban publishers

por Teresa Dovalpage

(para el blog Gaspar, El Lugareño)

 

I met Marlene Moleón and Andrés Pi during the 2010 Miami Book Fair. They represent two faces of the modern publishing industry: e-books and printing on demand, which are relatively new and not completely understood…at least by some. As for Fabio Murrieta, I read one of the books published by Aduana Vieja, Cuba, última novela. Treinta años del Mariel, by Ramón Luque, and immediately felt curious about this Cuban transplant to the Old World. I interviewed the three of them hoping to shed some light in the long and winding (and often whining) road to publication. And here they are, in their own voices…

Teresa Dovalpage: When and why did you decide to start your publishing house?

Marlene Moleón: I started Eriginal Books last year, in September. My novel En la isla de los pregones was an Azorín Award finalist, but despite this I couldn’t manage to publish it. After three years, I decided to do it on my own as an electronic book, so as to not have it simply die in a drawer, (or, to be precise, in some corner of my computer's hard drive). I was surprised by the success! I was asked for interviews in Mexico and I had readers from all over the world. Since I have over 10 years’ experience working in electronic publishing and promotion, I decided to start Eriginal Books for other junior authors so that they may have the same opportunity.

Andrés Pi Andreu: I decided to open Linkgua USA in January 2010. I felt it was time to have a publisher in the States that would represent, publish and promote literature in Spanish or from Hispanic authors, to create a space where our authors could feel represented. Our idea is more a cultural platform than strictly a publisher, because we also have a music label and a multimedia section (films, short films, and documentary made by Latinos in the USA). Another important part of our catalog (more than 3500 titles) is our academic catalog. We possess the more extensive and comprehensive digitalize collection of the Spanish classics in the world. Since we are in Barcelona and in Miami we think we could provide text books or curriculum books for all colleges in the USA, Central and South America. Only check our catalog in http://www.linkguausa.com/.

Fabio Murrieta: Soon, Aduana Vieja will be ten years old. I've always liked working as a publisher. Rather, I’ve been fascinated by this work. I had good teachers, both in Cuba and in Spain. And I also had good friends who happened to be publishers. In Cuba we have a great tradition of literary publishers, from Martí to Rodríguez Feo. I had already worked in several magazines and books, and I gradually came to realize that I liked writing with a certain style. I began to think of the books I'd like to see printed and how I would print them. This particular way of understanding literature, books, design and publishing led me to decide, in the end, to create my own label, with specific characteristics that distinguish it.

Teresa Dovalpage: Do you publish books in English and in Spanish?

Marlene Moleón: At first I planned to publish only in Spanish because I wanted to focus on Latino authors. But I found that in reality, the new generation of Hispanics that has grown up in the United States and Canada prefers to write in English because they consider it their mother tongue. Soon I will publish three books in English: Jinetera, a novel, and two children's books: Alony and the Butterfly and The Talented Demetri.

Andrés Pi Andreu: We publish book in both languages. We also have a couple of projects for bilingual books.

Fabio Murrieta: We publish books in English and in Spanish…and sometimes in French. For example, in English we have published Encounters in exile. Themes in the narrative of the Cuban Diaspora by Belén Rodríguez Mourelo while Voces de America contains texts in Spanish, English and French.

Teresa Dovalpage: Do you publish only Cuban-themed books?

Marlene Moleón: Let me tell you a story. One day I was teaching Geography to my niece, who is 6 years old. She was born in Miami. I explained to her a few facts about Cuba, Spain and the United States. Suddenly she began to ask: “Where was Grandma born?” “In Cuba”, I answered. “And auntie?” “In Cuba.” "Godfather?” “In Cuba.” "Uncle?” “In Cuba.” She was puzzled and replied: “I'm surrounded by Cubans!” Well, you could say that Eriginal Books is inevitably surrounded by Cubans in Miami so I naturally have more Cuban authors so far. But Eriginal Books is not a publisher dealing exclusively with Cuban authors or issues. It’s mostly for Hispanic authors – even if they write in English- but we also publish non Hispanic authors and we deal with any topic. I already have a Chilean author published, and may soon have a Dominican writer and an American author as well.

Andrés Pi Andreu: No, we have right now five different collections. Ediciones Malecón (Cuban contemporary literature from inside and outside the Island), Centauro (Sci-fi, Horror, Detective books and fantasy), ErotiKa (erotic literature), Tres Aguas (non-Cuban Latin-American literature written in the USA) and Vitral (essay written by Latinos or about Latino culture or sciences)

Fabio Murrieta: While Aduana Vieja has published mostly Cuban literature in Spain, or rather, Cuban literature in exile, we have also published books focused on realities and issues as diverse as contemporary German literature, the legacy of the United States Constitution to American literature, twentieth century dance, history and pedagogy in Spain, the methodological problems of translation, or a book about Arabic interiors, just to name a few. Cuban literature is just a line in Aduana Vieja, maybe the most important, but we also remain very interested in other proposals and contents.

Teresa Dovalpage: What is your best-selling book up to now?

Marlene Moleón: Novels are my best sellers: Memory of Silence by Uva de Aragon, mine, and Sindo Pacheco’s novel, Mañana es Navidad which is the most recent and is now taking off quite well.

Andrés Pi Andreu: Until now its “274” a novel... we have also two offers to convert it into a movie. 

Fabio Murrieta: Guayaba Sweet. Literatura cubana en Estados Unidos, co-edited with Dr. Laura Alonso Gallo. Often the life of a book, commercially speaking, is estimated at two years. Guayaba Sweet not only sold well at first, but people are still asking us for it almost ten years after its publication. We want to thanks the contributors, those great writers who sent us their texts. It was a fun experience, because we knew that, besides publishing a book, we were creating a publishing house.

Teresa Dovalpage: Which are your biggest challenges as a publisher?

Marlene Moleón: Finding good literature that rightly promoted could also become bestsellers.

Andrés Pi Andreu: There are three:

1. To get the people or institutions to know us, to have an effective marketing strategy with our products

2. The financial crisis (sales are down)

3. The loss of the reading habit.

Fabio Murrieta: Today a publisher faces many challenges. To begin with, the arrival of the electronic book, whose biggest headache is not exactly created by copyright issues, as it is commonly believed, but by pirated copies. Second, this kind of "democratization" of publishing, which allows anyone to "publish," or rather "to self-publish", a book, print it and sell it. It is an improvement, no doubt, but for the professional publisher the challenge is to explain that one thing has nothing to do with the other. I mean, creating a publishing house linked to a blog, or self-publishing, are both processes that involve little more than using a home computer. Trouble arises when someone tries to take these "three easy steps" we've seen described on a web page and bring them into the world of professional publishing. Technology is a blessing, in fact we use it at Aduana Vieja and Grupo Publiberia by printing our books on demand, for example, but fighting improvisation is the biggest challenge ahead for the publisher. We will never do things “the easy way” because it would mean betraying our authors. The truth us is that a book is not made by following three “easy steps.”

Teresa Dovalpage: How do you envision your publishing house in two years?

Marlene Moleón: As the best Hispanic book publisher in the U.S. I want to clarify that I am also publishing printed versions of the books, but I am doing it only as a promotional tool for the electronic versions.

Andrés Pi Andreu: First, I hope we come through with our extensive Academic Catalog. I know our contemporary literature collections will have success, so I plan to expand them into 7 collections and about 30 new books a year. We will continue to expand our classics catalog... Also our eBooks catalog: at the moment is the biggest e-Book catalog from all Spanish Publisher in the world... We have approx. 3000 eBooks.

Fabio Murrieta: I hope that by then we can be celebrating our tenth anniversary. I also hope to have more than one hundred published titles, new authors and many more readers. We have other projects, such as publishing our own magazine, which may have become a reality by that time.

Teresa Dovalpage: Are you actively looking for new writers?

Marlene Moleón: Many authors come to me. They learn of the existence of Eriginal Books through their social networks and decide to take the initiative in contacting us. But I also make proposals to recognized authors to see if they want to have an electronic version of their work published with Eriginal Books. And I am always on the lookout for talent.

Andrés Pi Andreu: Yes, always, we receive books from new authors constantly. We have an Editorial Committee. We evaluate new texts from February until April for the next’s year editorial plan.

Fabio Murrieta: For an independent publisher like Aduana Vieja, the iconic writers (that is, those who are able to write great books regularly, the kind that after a few years are identified with a publishing house and somehow represent it) are the ones that become “iconic” after being with a publisher for a while. They are authors who trust the publisher with their work. We have never sought them, because we actually have little to offer them. They have come to us, and then decided by themselves whether to stay or not. Fortunately, we already have many authors whose work is today a symbol of Aduana Vieja and we are really proud of that.

Teresa Dovalpage: Thank you so much for answering these questions! Good luck y muchas gracias!

Marlene Moleón (Eriginal books, Miami, USA) http://eriginalbooks.com/

Andrés Pi Andreu (Linkgua USA, Chicago, USA) http://www.linkguausa.com/

Fabio Murrieta (Aduana Vieja, Valencia, Spain) http://www.aduanavieja.com/

Teresa Dovalpage, from Taos to Miami

Spiritual energy that leaps off the page

by Teresa Dovalpage

(para el blog Gaspar, El Lugareño)

Publicado originalmente en The Taos News

I met Antonio Garcez during the 2010 Symposium and Film Festival in Angel Fire, The Lodge at Angel Fire Resort. The place was bursting with energy (normal and paranormal). Jerry Pippin was broadcasting live interviews with speakers, celebrity guests and attendees. Movie screenings took place; lectures and talks were going on in different rooms; authors sold their books in tables along the hall and practitioners set up camp all over the place.

You could have a consultation with naturopathic physician, medical intuitive and clairvoyant Rita Louise or have your aura photo taken by Fred Sayler. The snapshot and a six-page aura and chakra report package were a tempting offer.

And there I attended a talk by Antonio R. Garcez, writer and ghost researcher who has had more than fifty-five years of experience with the paranormal. Garcez is the author of ten acclaimed books about ghosts and hauntings in the American southwest, many of which have become best sellers. He won the New Mexico’s 2008 Turquoise Book Award. Recently, Ted Turner Productions filmed the video Haunted, where two of Garcez's stories were featured.

His books, Garcez said, “are not about old ghost stories, the kind that are passed down from one generation to another. They are contemporary, the kind that anyone can identify with.”

He has interviewed an amazing variety of people—a New Mexico State Senator, hospital administrators, doctors, nurses, business owners, restaurant workers, tribal chairmen and homemakers. “I am very respectful of their traditions and cultural sensitivities,” he said. “That is the key to earn people’s trust and to get to know their stories.”

Such stories are well reflected in an array of books organized by location. Garcez has written American Indian Ghost Stories, Arizona Ghost Stories, Colorado and, naturally, New Mexico Ghost Stories. The latter was a winner of the New Mexico Book Award.

Mr. Garcez is tall and dignified, with a dark ponytail and expressive eyes. Before starting his talk, he explains that he doesn’t believe in ghosts. “I am convinced that they exist,” he said. “I have encountered them too many times to doubt.”

He is also an example of an uncommon kind of writer, the ones who self publish their books and make money out of them. Adobe Angels, for example, sold two thousand copies in two months and a half. He has several distributors and has already built a loyal readership.

Answering a question from the audience, Garcez admits that the recent increase in paranormal experiences could be caused by the many disturbing events going on nationally and globally. “Our ancestors may want to warn us against pollution, wars and lack of reverence,” he said.

The story he chose to read involved two girls, a Ouija board and a sexual encounter with a ghost. I won’t give details here but it was truly scary. The audience let out a few gasps while the reading took place.

Garcez is a prolific writer. He is currently working on a book about gay and lesbian ghost stories and on another about people in the medical profession, including hospice workers. “I am always looking for new and unusual themes,” he said.

He also designs his own book covers, which are intended to capture the spirit of the stories. His books contain personal stories that he has transcribed directly from interviews of people who have had first-hand encounters with ghosts. They are told in the first person and the narrators maintain their distinctive, very own voices.

This is one of the main achievements of Garcez’s books. “I wanted to give these people a voice,” he said.

After his talk, Garcez announced the Arte de Muertos Expo and Folk Art Event, which will take place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Albuquerque, October 23rd and 24th.

The 2010 Symposium and Film Festival was presented by the Alliance Studying Paranormal Experiences (ASPE), a non-profit organization.

“We are committed to examining paranormal experiences and sharing them with others of similar interests and open minds in a safe environment,” said its founder and president, Janet Sailor, who has worked tirelessly for months, organizing and promoting the symposium.

Sailor can feel satisfied. The event was a success and several visitors were already planning to attend the 2011 symposium. “I’ll be here next September,” said Marianne Sanders, who came all the way from Las Cruces with her two children. “It is an educational experience, with great movies and lectures. And it is fun.”

Teresa Dovalpage, from Taos to Miami

ShelterBox one couple’s global mission

Carolyn and Huw Thomas are two British cyclists spreading the word

 about ShelterBox, which is used to aid the victims of disasters.

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byTeresa Dovalpage

(para el blog Gaspar, El Lugareño)

Publicado originalmente en The Taos News

In the cozy living room of the Dreamcatcher Bed and Breakfast, the aroma of freshly baked cookies greets visitors. The innkeeper and co-owner, Prudy Abeln, brings out coffee and muffins. She makes every­one feel at home and so does Jake, her energetic Cavachon dog.

A youthful-looking couple is ready to begin their talk about an unusual fundraising ride. They are Huw and Carolyn Thomas, two British cyclists who have embarked on a long journey-they plan to cover 10,000 miles around the world on a tandem bicycle to spread the word about ShelterBox.

ShelterBox was founded in 1999 by Tom Henderson, a Rotarian and former Royal Navy search and rescue diver. An international disaster relief charity, its aim is to deliver emergency shelter to people affected by disasters world­wide.

Theorganizationhasalready sent more than 93,000 boxes of aid to countries all over the world. It helped thousands of Gulf Coast residents after Hurricane Katrina and deliv­ered aid for around 220,000 people to Haiti following the January earthquake.

At the heart of every ShelterBox is a disaster relief tent that can accommodate up to 10 people. A box costs $1,000 which covers all the supplies included, plus packing, storage and distribution to individual recipients.

Huw and Carolyn have set up a tent in the lush gardens of the Dreamcatcher Bed and Breakfast. Abeln, an active member of the Rotary Club, is hostess to theThomases during their three-day stay in Taos.

The tent is a marvel of pack­aging efficiency. It has privacy partitions that can be adjusted and its contents include sur­vival equipment like thermal blankets, insulated ground sheets and ponchos. In areas where malaria is prevalent, mosquito nets are provided too. A multi-fuel stove with pots, pans and water storage containers makes a small, but effective kitchen.

There is also a basic tool kit. “It helps people to start rebuilding their homes when­ever possible,” said Huw, “as well as to chop firewood and repair broken items.”

The box itself can be used for storage or as a cot for a newborn baby.

A children’s pack contains drawing books, crayons and pens. “The kids treasure every piece of it,” said Carolyn.

They share with the attend­ees the inspiration for their trip — a short and moving video filmed in Java of a young girl whose home had been destroyed by an earthquake.

“After I saw it, I knew I want­ed to do something involv­ing children,” said Carolyn. “My original idea was to cycle around England giving talks to schools, but my husband thought that wasn’t ambitious enough!”

And so the 10,000 miles fundraising tandem ride was born. By the end of their jour­ney, they hope to have inspired enough people that ShelterBox can pack and send another 200 boxes of aid.

Each box has a unique num­ber that allows it to be followed until it reaches its final destina­tion.

“Donors can track their box through the website,” Carolyn explained, “so they feel directly connected to the people they are helping.”

The background of Huw and Carolyn, both from Corn­­­wall, England, is in journalism and PR. Between 2006 and 2007 Huw was in charge of fundraising for the ShelterBox headquarters in the United Kingdom while his wife went to Pakistan with the ShelterBox Response Team.

Now they are biking 10,000 miles for disaster relief.

They began their ride from Vancouver on Aug. 8 and are now on their way to Florida.

“Welookforwardtoreaching Tampa in time for Christmas but this is just the first part of our trip,” said Huw. “Next, we’re going to ride the length of New Zealand and from Brisbane to Melbourne in Australia. Then it’s back home for the European leg of our trip.”

The couple still has a long way to go. But they said they enjoy every minute of it, despite the challenges of the road.

“It was a tough ride getting to Taos,” said Huw. “The pass from Angel Fire was the highest we’ve crossed on the whole trip so we were really glad to have a short rest here. We’re only sorry we didn’t have longer because it’s such a lovely place.”

Carolyn agreed. “It’s a fas­cinating and really attractive town. The only good thing about leaving is that it should now be mostly downhill to Texas!” Among the local Rotarians present were Prudy Abeln, Anita Bringas, who represent­ed Rotary in a Group Study ExchangetriptothePhilippines earlier this year, and Yale Jones, past club president and a member of the Millicent Rogers Museum Board.

The Taos Milagro Rotary Club hopes to raise enough money to purchase at least one ShelterBox.

“Ihavebeenmostimpressed with the sheer generosity of the American people,” Huw said.

To read more about the duo’s amazing trip, or to make a donation, visit their blog at tandem10.wordpress.com

Individual tax-deductible donations to ShelterBox USA can be made at www.shelter­boxusa. org. For information or to make a contribution by phone, call (941) 907-6036.

Teresa Dovalpage, from Taos to Miami

Nests of faith

Nuestra Senora de Dolores, off Kit Carson Road in Taos

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Altar servent María Mondragón at

 Nuestra Señora de Dolores in Arroyo Hondo

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La Capilla de Nuestra Señora del Carmen,

 on Hot Springs Road in Llano Quemado.

Fotos by Tina Larkin

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by Teresa Dovalpage

(para el blog Gaspar, El Lugareño)

Publicado originalmente en The Taos News

Chapels have kept alive the faith of Taose-o Catholics for more than two centuries. There are three parishes in Taos County: San Francisco de Asís, Our Lady of Guadalupe and San Antonio de Padua, and a number of small chapels known as capillas under their pastoral care. These capillas are symbols of long-standing popular devotion, as well as places of worship. And 200 years ago, they were essential features in the lives of the families and communities that built them.

The historic San Francisco de Asís church was finished in 1815, but the parishioners who lived in remote settlements (or at least distant enough to prevent them from going to church in the some­times harsh Northern New Mexico winters) also built their own chapels. It was the only way to make sure they would receive the visit of a priest and attend Mass on a regular basis. In such close­knit towns, the construction of a capilla was a community effort. Because of the extreme isola­tion of the region, statues of saints and cult objects couldn’t be easily imported from Mexico or Spain so the worshippers made everything themselves, from the building, generally an adobe house, to the bultos (wood-carved representation of saints) that decorated it. Three of these capillas now belong to the San Francisco de Asís parish in Ranchos de Taos.

The Llano Quemado chapel is dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Nuestra Señora del Carmen), the one in Talpa to Nuestra Señora de San Juan de los Lagos (Our Lady of the Lakes) and the Los Cordovas capilla to San Isidro. Mass is cel­ebrated once a month in each of them by Father Francis Malley or, in his absence, Father William McNichols, the famous iconographer popularly known as Father Bill. The care and upkeep of the capillas is entrusted to four mayordomos who clean the building and make sure that it is ready for the services. Angela Valerio, the business manager at the San Francisco de As's parish, served as may­ordomo for the Llano Quemado chapel in 2005 and 2006, with her two sisters and one brother-in-law.

“Nuestra Señora del Carmen is an old, old capil­la,” she says. “Each family used to build its own pew, so if you look at the older ones, you’ll notice that they are all different in size and shape. Now there are new pews, but families can still have one.

My father passed away in 2006 and we dedicated a pew to him.”

A beloved tradition is to keep a seven-day candle in the chapel, and it’s the mayordomos’ responsibility to make sure the candle is always lit. Mayordomos also participate in religious func­tions held in other chapels and in the parish. “You develop a special relationship with the chapel and those who attend mass there,” says Valerio.

Chapels can fit around eight people but nowa­days they are rarely jam-packed.

“There used to be more involvement from the community,” admits Valerio.

Still, the capillas are full of faithful in the feast day of their saint, when worshippers gather togeth­er for the vespers and the actual celebration, la función.

“We need to preserve our chapels,” she says.

“The capillas are part of Taos’ living traditions, a crossroads of history and faith.”

Teresa Dovalpage, from Taos to Miami

The charm is in the chile

by Teresa Dovalpage

(para el blog Gaspar, El Lugareño)

Publicado originalmente en The Taos News

When I asked Raquel Troyce, a native of Guadalajara who lived most of her adult life in Mexico City, if she knew anything about smothered burritos, she thought I was talking about some poor little donkeys that drowned. She was familiar with regular burritos (a flour tortilla folded around chicken, beef or beans), but had never heard of “smoth­ered” ones.

Regular burritos are mostly popular in the northern part of Mexico and it is said they originated in Ciudad Juarez, in the state of Chihuahua.

As for the “smothered” kind, they are an American creation. Maybe even a New Mexican one.

Orlando’s New Mexico Café, at 1114 Don Juan Valdez Lane in El Prado, is known for the quality of its food. It offers four kinds of smothered burritos: beef, chicken, vegetar­ian and shrimp. They are covered with chile (red, green or caribe), topped with jack and cheddar cheese.

Orlando’s walls are decorated with ris­tras, paintings by Barbara Brock and Berlin Padilla, and the numerous awards that the restaurant has gotten since it opened in 1996. A large, wood-carved image of San Pascual Bailòn, (patron saint of cooks) presides over the kitchen. There are also other santos that local artists have brought here to display.

Roberto Zabala, a young man from Guanajuato, Mexico, is one of five cooks currently employed by Orlando’s. He has pre­pared more than two dozen smothered burritos on the day of our visit.

“The New Mexico smothered burrito is unique,” he said, “And it’s the kind of chile we put on top that makes it different because it is so flavorful and fresh.”

Another cook, Patsy Vigil, a Taos native, agrees. “Our chile is handmade from scratch,” she said. “All the ingredients are cooked here, not canned or processed.”

Orlando himself came up with the green chile recipe. His grandmother, Delfina Archuleta, invented the one they use to make vegetarian red chile.

Orlando started his business selling handheld burritos (the regular kind, smaller than smothered ones and with no chile on top) from a cart in Cabot Plaza. When he opened the restaurant, he added smothered burritos, enchiladas, chile rellenos and the other delicious items now listed on the menu.

“I believe people like the smothered burritos better,” said Vigil. “They have the chile flavor, the hot taste.”

As for what makes a good smothered burrito, having the right texture for the tortilla is imperative.

“You have to warm it up before,” said Vigil. “Then, you put cheese, onion, beans, and cooked chicken, beef or shrimp inside it. Roll it up nicely and add a little bit of whatever chile you want to use, and cheese on top. Put it on the salamander broiler briefly and let the cheese melt.

Bring it out, pour more chile over the bur­rito and garnish it with lettuce and toma­toes, and beans and posole on the side.”

The burrito must also be wrapped up properly.

“Some people fold it up as if it were a tamale,” said Zabala, “No! A good smothered burrito should be presented like a work of art, nicely wrapped up and covered with a thin blanket of chile.”

I took Raquel to Orlando’s and showed her the menu. She chose the vegetarian smothered burrito, tasted it and smiled.

“I’m sold on it,” she said. “And I am relieved, too. A smoth­ered burrito doesn’t look at all like a donkey, dead or alive.”

‘A good smothered burrito should be presented like a work of art, nicely wrapped up and covered with a thin blanket of chile.’

Habla Usted Spamglish

We are bilingual, ¿que no?

Educators, artists and administrators speak about the state of bilingualism in New Mexico

by Teresa Dovalpage

(para el blog Gaspar, El Lugareño)

New Mexico has a long, rich, multicultural and multilingual history. English, Spanish and Navajo (and several other Native American languages) are spoken here. New Mexico’s State Constitution officially proclaims that this is a bilingual state, and, according to a 2000 poll, one out of three families in New Mexico speaks Spanish at home.

A number of schools all through the state provide some form of bilingual instruction and one of the three Cervantes Institutes in the United States is located in Albuquerque. (The other two are in New York and Chicago.)

The Cervantes Institute is the largest organization in the world responsible for promoting the study and teaching of Spanish language and culture. In Albuquerque, it is located at the National Hispanic Cultural Center and cooperates with it in the organization of educational activities and cultural events.

So we must be pretty bilingual here in New Mexico, que no?

“People are realizing the importance of being bilingual,” said Erin Fugate, Administrative Coordinator of the Albuquerque Cervantes Institute. “Businesses, hospitals and schools have literature in both languages and make a point of identifying employees who are bilingual. Some employers even offer pay differentials for bilingual staff. Parents are now making it a priority by sending their children to schools that offer bilingual education.”

“In addition to the multicultural component present in all of our language classes we offer Spanish language films with English subtitles, poetry readings, round table discussions, concerts and theatre all in Spanish,” added Academic Coordinator María Carmen Llanos Tato.

When asked about the use of Spanglish, both showed a positive outlook. “Whenever two or more cultures converge there is a natural tendency for languages to follow,” said Fugate. “Those of us who are influenced by two languages will use the words and phrases that best express our ideas whether in English or Spanish. Spanglish is a reflection of this rich encuentro in New Mexico.”

“But bilingualism, especially in Taos, is treated more as a class for remediation than as an enrichment class,” argues Larry Torres, Ph D., a historian and language professor at the University of New Mexico-Taos. “At the levels where it is taught structurally (at the elementary school), it is run as a dual-language class with both languages (Spanish and English) being taught artificially at two separate times of the day.”

Dr. Torres has had tremendous success with his Habla Usted Spamglish column in The Taos News and his Growing Up Spanglish column in The Santa Fe New Mexican. Both of these columns are used in various parts of the world to teach English to Spanish speakers and Spanish to English speakers.

“Spanglish combines both languages naturally by code-switching from one to the next in the absence of an immediate word handy in the opposite language,” he said.

“In my world, bilingualism is used every day,” said Rosemary García, Executive Administrator of the National Hispanic Cultural Center. “I come from a large family (seven hermanas and one hermano) and that’s the way we communicate, in English and Spanish, back and forth. Here at the Center I have a lot of opportunities to use my Spanish because we get visitors, calls and letter from people all over Latin America and Spain.”

The renowned muralist Federico Vigil, who I found on the scaffold inside The Torreon giving the last touches to his monumental frescos, concluded, “Spanish will never be lost in our state.”

It seems that bilingualism is alive and well in New Mexico. And it should be. ¡Qué bien!

---------------------------------

see Teresa Dovalpage, from Taos to Miami

Teresa Dovalpage, from Taos to Miami

Summer camp brings Israeli, Palestinian girls together

`

Above: Sixteen young women, age 15-17, from Israel and the Palestinian Territories

 attended Creativity for Peace’s 2010 summer camp in Santa Fe .

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Itaf Awad, left, a Palestinian living in Israel, and Dalya Yohai,

a Jewish Israeli  now living in Santa Fe, serve as housemothers

 for Creativity for Peace’s annual summer program in New M e x i c o .

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By Teresa Dovalpage
(para el blog Gaspar, El Lugareño)
Publicado originalmente en The Taos News

“If you educate a man, you educate a person, but if you educate a woman you build a good nation.” This African proverb was the inspiration behind Creativity for Peace, an organization founded in 2003 by Rachel Kaufman and Debra Suger man.

For the last eight years, Creativity for Peace has orga­nized a summer camp for Israeli and Palestinian girls in Santa Fe. Every summer, 16 girls between 15 and 17 years old come to New Mexico to learn to know each other, take field trips and share life stories for three weeks.

Itaf Awad, an energetic woman with a ready smile and a confident attitude, is par t of the camp’s dedicated staff. She is from Daburia, a Palestinian village in the north of Israel.

“Almost all of them have lost a family member in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on both sides,” she said, on a recent stay in Taos. “Here, they learn to see the other one as a human being, instead of ‘the enemy.’” Awad said she hopes to br ing the campers to Taos next sum­mer.

The granddaughter of a mid­wife, healer and peacemaker, Awad started taking care of her family when she was twelve years old. Now she holds a master’s in political science and belongs to the Leadership Council in Israel and to several peace organizations.

As a licensed facilitator in Marshall Rosenberg’s nonvio­lent communication method, Awad is the ideal person to be around the girls, who often arrived at Santa Fe with mixed feelings toward their camp­mates.

One hundred sixty two camp­ers from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza have par ticipated in this effort to strengthen Jewish and Arab coexistence and to cross cultural and religious bar­r iers.

Counselors, art therapists, reconciliation facilitators and ar tists help the teenagers devel­op leadership and communica­tion skills. They practice com­passionate dialogue. They work together in art projects. Above all, they make fr iends in a safe space.

Awad is a house mother. Her mission is to ser ve the girls, to feed them and to take care of their emotional well-being.

“The first time I came, in 2004, I was angry,” she said. “I took ever ything to my hear t and I got ill. But I worked on that. I lear ned to listen to other people with all my body, without judg­ing them.”

Now she nurtures the next generation of female leaders from Palestine and Israel.

“The girls feel they can talk freely about their fears, traumas and dreams,” she said with a spark of hope in her eyes. “They discover a common bond with former ‘enemies.’ At the end, they take their new understand­ing to their families, neighbor­hoods and communities. And, together, we create a founda­tion for peace.”

Awad is also a fir m believer in the power of the human touch.

“It is as a healing tool,” she said, “a connection to our shared humanity that helps us to build br idges and to heal old wounds.”

In order to develop leader­ship skills among the campers, ever y year new girls get involved in the Young Leaders program. The Young Leaders receive additional training and attend gather ings in their homeland. Some come back to the Santa Fe camp and ser ve as junior counselors.

“Many of the girls are now practicing what they lear ned here, being peacemakers and leaders in their countries,” said Dottie Indyke, Creativity for Peace’s executive director.

Indyke has 35 years expe­rience in nonprofit manage­ment, marketing, public rela­tions, and the arts. “The Young Leaders is an ongoing program that does not stop when the campers go home,” she said. “The girls receive year-round training.”

After the last summer camp, Indyke took threeYoung Leaders on a speaking tour. They went to Las Cruces, Albuquerque and El Paso where they talked to local audiences about their work.

“We’d like to bring some of the Young Leaders to Taos next summer,” said Awad. “We want to spread the word about what we are doing — shattering ste­reotypes, fostering empathy and building long-lasting rela­tionships.”

To learn more about Creativity for Peace, call (505) 982-3765 or visit its website http://www.creativityforpeace.com/.

Teresa Dovalpage, from Taos to Miami

Curanderismo: an old message for a new world

By Teresa Dovalpage

(para el blog Gaspar, El Lugareño)

Publicado originalmente en Más New Mexico

 

The root of the word curanderismo is “curar” (to heal, in Spanish). This ancient healing method is practiced with slight variations all through Latin America and in some regions of the United States. In Cuba, for example, curanderismo is generally associated with Santeria (a blend of African religions and Catholicism) and relies on African rituals, while in the North American southwest it has been more influenced by the Native American beliefs.

Curanderismo uses herbs, energy work, massage and prayers. Some curanderos specialize in a particular field. A hierbero (herbalist) focuses on the healing properties of medicinal plans, while a sobador treats illnesses, often stomach problems, with massages or sobas, and a huesero (bonesetter) deals with broken bones. In many cases the healer also performs a spiritual cleansing (limpieza or limpia) when the ailment is believed to have a supernatural cause.

Psychotherapist, writer and teacher Teresa Bevin, M.A., M.Ed., is an advocate of combining traditional medicine and alternative healing arts like curanderismo. “The body naturally heals itself,” she said, “but it may need help in energyzing itself through elements from the inside, such as prayer, meditation, and the practice of healthy thoughts, and from the outside, such as herbs, supplements, or beneficial activities such as yoga, Tai-Chi, etc..”

For Patricia Padilla, an eight generation curandera based in Taos, New Mexico, curanderismo is a path, like the one a priest or a nun would take. “It’s not something you do for a living, but a contract with God,” she said. She was raised by her grandmother, also a curandera. She would go with her to visit sick people and became an early witness to her healing powers. For Padilla, curanderismo comes naturally, as the first language that one learns. “Curanderismo is my native language,” Padilla said.

According to Padilla, we all have the power to heal. “You are already a curandera,” she said, fixing me with her bright dark eyes. “Curanderismo is an act of remembering. Our bodies remember now where our souls have already been, that’s why everybody has a profound, soulful knowledge of how to heal themselves. We help them rediscover that knowledge.”

Padilla owned a clinic located in Lyons, Colorado, for twenty-five years. She has a degree in oriental medicine, “which most closely resembles curanderismo,” she pointed out. Most of the patients in her clinic were terminally ill, she explained, but many lived well beyond their prognosis. “Not because of what I did,” Padilla said, “but because of what they remembered.”

Bevin agrees with her. “The healing does not occur because the healer wills it,” she said. “The healing occurs because the healer lends herself to divine energy with the sole purpose of aiding healing to a body that already started to heal on its own. The healer does not look to make money. The healer does not look for admiration or even gratitude. The healing, in itself, is the reward.”

Bevin is the coordinator of counseling at Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families in Santa Fe, and has a small private practice as well. Padilla receives patients at her Taos home and is currently working on a book, Si Dios quiere (God willing) about the people she has dealt with and what they have taught her. “They were my teachers,” she said, and added after a pause, “They are my teachers.”

When asked for a recipe for stress relief, Padilla recommended a salt bath:

Put an inch of coarsely ground sea salt in a glass.

Take the glass in the shower and pour its content all over you.

Rinse with cool water.

“You will feel better, lighter,” she assured me.

Both Bevin and Padilla agree that curanderismo and other alternative treatments are not substitutes for traditional medicine; they simply complement each other. But Bevin pointed out that doctors need to have a positive attitude in order to instill confidence in their patients and expedite the healing process. “Once the illness or abnormality is found, many doctors address the patient as a disease more than as a thinking and feeling being who can cooperate with the remedies by thinking differently,” she said. “If a doctor says ‘You have a lump’ the patient is frozen and terrified. But if a doctor says ‘Ninety-five percent of your body is doing great and only five percent needs attention,’ the patient is hopeful and more likely to heal.”

Curanderas have already got it. “We live by hope and faith,” Padilla said. “Ultimately, our thoughts and beliefs are our greatest allies in recovering health and wellbeing.”

Teresa Bevin’s website is www.teresabevin.com. Patricia Padilla’s blog can be found at http://curanderapadilla.wordpress.com/.