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Family and Friends is my everyday journal. Captain's Log is where I pontificate on religion and politics.

Wednesday, November 02, 2022

Erene With Wolf Medicine

I've known Irene for over ten years. She wrote the textbooks for college Chicana studies and taught sociology for many years.
When we met at Southwest Writers and Writers2writers she was working on a series of books about her aunt and the life she led. Next, she wrote a book about the 7 women whose bodies were found on the West Mesa of Albuquerque. 
Before Covid W2W met at a local library, and we shared what we were working on. Erene, was in the beginning stages. It's her life story. Erene with an accent on the last e, is her name in Spanish.
Sadly, Covid ended our attempt at a writer's group. She posted on fb that her story is published. I didn't hesitate to order a copy on Amazon and read it.
She starts by saying that a wolf howled at the time she was born. Her family were subsistence farmers and ranchers in Northern w Mexico during the 1940's and 50's. Her Grandfather was from Taos Pueblo and in the Native American belief the wolf became her spirit animal. All through the book she relates to how she thinks and behaves the way a wolf pup behaves. 
This was not an easy story to tell on her part as she opens up old wounds in her life. She can have you laughing out loud on one page and crying on the next.
It's not an easy book to read as much of her life was a constant struggle from poverty, family pressure to conform to their culture, the demands of the Catholic Church, her fight to excel in learning, marriage, motherhood, divorce and earning her doctorate to becoming a university professor.
The one passage that best defines Irene, is where she's at a civil right rally for Chicano rights and she was told that she could not fight for women's rights until Chicano rights were recognized. When she got up to speak, she informed the audience that she was both and would fight for both.  Her lone wolf emerged triumphant that day.

2 comments:

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

It looks like a book I'd like to read but shows out of print on Amazon already.

P M Prescott said...

Really, I'll let her know.