Left to right: Giselt, Simona, Jennifer, Beth, Norma, Robin, Debbie, Kelly, Becky
Who knew there would be a full moon illuminating the courtyard at Las Granadas Bed and Breakfast last night, March 8, when Professor Robin Greene and I planned our Women’s Creative Writing and Yoga Retreat a year ago? And, who knew that it would coincide with International Women’s Day? Who knew that nine magnifient women would gather on this day to lift voices in poetry, song, memoir, and reflective writing? Sometimes, the universe aligns perfectly.
We invite Zapotec women from the village of Teotitlan del Valle where our retreat was based to share our experience. Expatriates join in. Together we sit, hear stories and poems about mothers, loved ones, the experience of first-time travel out of the U.S., a first date. We honor each other with applause, a wonderful meal, a toast of sweetened juice made from the hibiscus flower (agua de jamaica). This is our local tribute to the universality of women. We lift our voices in community.
Rebecca King, one of our retreat participants, is a writer and poet who returned to college to complete a degree in English and creative writing as an adult. She will graduate from Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC, this spring. This is the poem she wrote during the retreat and read last night, giving me permission to share it with you. (Above: Becky works on last minute changes before the fiesta and final reading.)
(Reyna’s mole amarillo with green beans, choyote squash and potatoes, that she dishes out from the cooking pot.)
Where I Stand by Rebecca King
I stand
on the kitchen chair,
in the white house
before the twins came.
My mother, wearing
her green dress with the
white flowers,
moves her arms
back and forth,
a slow rolling.
I am five,
clumsy, messy.
Soft, squishy dough
sticks to my fingers.
Together, my mother
and I knead, roll,
gather the dough
back to center.
Now,
almost forty years
later, I stand
on the dirt floor
of Reyna’s kitchen
in Teotitlan, Mexico.
I move my arms
back and forth
a slow rolling.
I am forty two,
clumsy, messy.
The mano de matate
heavy in my hands.
I knead, roll,
grind the onions,
peppers, tomatillas,
roasted sesame
seeds into stone.
I gather the paste
back to center,
feel the ancient
rhythm of the women
where I stand.
Photos immediately above: we are eating a lunch of amarillo molé prepared by cooking teacher Reyna Mendoza Ruiz outside in her immaculately clean traditional dirt floor kitchen. She prepared the luscious traditional sauce using a metate that Rebecca refers to in her poem. Rebecca opted to also take a cooking class with Reyna, which inspired her poem.
Book Review: Weaving, Culture and Economic Development in Miramar, Oaxaca, Mexico
Book: Weaving Yarn, Weaving Culture, Weaving Lives: A Circle of Women in Miramar, Oaxaca, Mexico; published by Almadia, 2010; photography by Tom Feher, text by Judith Lockhart-Radtke; ISBN: 978-607-411-059-3
Book Review by Norma Hawthorne
Stunning photographs and intimate personal interviews of indigenous Mixtec women weavers accentuate what it means to keep culture, community, and weaving traditions alive in this remote mountain village of Oaxaca, Mexico.
One of my favorite photographs in this book is a close-up of the calloused, gritty soles of a woman’s feet elegantly peeking out from under the hem of a fanciful floral skirt as she sits on her knees. While I only see her feet and hemline, I know she is at work weaving on a back strap loom. It is a sensitive depiction of both the obstacles and the hopefulness of an ancient culture struggling to survive and thrive.
The glorious full-color photography is by Tom Feher and the written narrative is by Judith Lockhart-Radtke. The book is a culmination of almost a decade of work between the volunteer group, The Circle of Women in Boston, MA, and what developed into a self-sustaining cooperative of women weavers in the Alta Mixteca, far from Oaxaca City. The book was published to coincide with an exhibition for the weavers at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca in 2010. It documents and is a beautiful testimony to a cultural interchange that encouraged learning and literacy, economic independence, and access to better health care.
Eleven Mixtec Women Share Their Life Stories in Their Own Words
The charm of this book is in its ethnographic storytelling. Each of the eleven Miramar women who are members of the cooperative are interviewed and share their personal experiences about being a Mixtec woman, a weaver, a wife or mother or daughter. Some are eloquent in describing the experience of their empowerment by learning to read and write. Others poignantly describe the pain of separation and isolation from husbands, sons, and brothers who are, by necessity, working in El Norte and sending money back where there is no work.
Through these visual and written stories we see and hear the struggles of poverty, deprivation, and limited access to health care. We are also clearly reminded of the universality of womanhood: when women support each other through mutuality and connection they have much greater opportunity to thrive, especially in traditional patriarchal cultures where women have always been physically, economically and emotionally dependent. The photographs are powerful, simple, and elegant. They are complete stories in and of themselves.
Text is in both English and Spanish
The layout of this book — left side of the page in English, right side in Spanish — creates a bridge to understanding. The forwards by Ana Paula Fuentes Quintana, the director of the Textile Museum, and famed Mixteca singer-songwriter Lila Downs, add considerable heft to the story. The book is definitely for those with an interest in women’s studies, grassroots organizing, intercultural exchange and the role of the outsider, economic development and sustainability, weaving, textile art and design, and anyone interested in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Effecting change and making a difference in another culture
Judith Lockhart-Radtke, a clinical social worker and writer, gives us an honest and clear account of the risks, rewards, disappointments, and joy for volunteers from other countries who want to make a difference and effect change. Ultimately, she reminds us, the generation of ideas and their implementation must originate from within to take root and have lasting impact.
The addendum, written in 2010, provides a concise summary of the village economy, the community’s approach to income earning and distribution, the ongoing challenges of maintaining a Boston-Oaxaca collaboration and a move to self-sufficiency, and the impediments to bringing these handmade textiles to foreign markets.
For Information and Book Orders – Contact: Judith Lockhart-Radtke, President of The Circle of Women, Boston, MA; judithlockhartradtke@gmail.com
www.thecircleofwomen.org
www.mixtecaweavers.com
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Posted in Books & Resources, Cultural Commentary, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving, Travel & Tourism
Tagged art, backstrap loom, book, cooperative, culture, economic development, Judith Lockhart-Radtke, Lila Downs, Mexico, Miramar, Mixteca Alta, Museo Textil de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, photography, postaweek2011, sustainable, Tom Feher, traditions, weaving, Women