Journey's End?

At Bookworks in Albuquerque. Photo by Jocelyn Fafard, UNM.

Hard to believe that just 7 days ago I returned to L.A. after making a 2000 mile round trip to New Mexico for signing and reading of The Sandoval Sisters' Secret of Old Blood. I look happy, don't I?

That's because I made it from Taos to Albuquerque in record time and the seats were filled with family–my brother and his partner, my cousins and their family, strangers who crept out of the aisles and lingered, and an online comadre, Dawn Wink (her book, Meadowlark is just out), who drove down from Santa Fe with her family. Hail to book lovers!

Jocelyn Fafard is a UNM student who arrived with her mom to interview me for her journalism class. The two stared off in opposite directions when I read a scene ripe with sexual awakening and intrigue but the stage was set and I forged ahead. Shoppers edged closer to hear and I looked at my brother who beamed with pride for his big sister and repentant childhood tormentor.

Dawn Wink wrote a review of The Sandoval Sisters for StoryCircle.

 "Was there an autobiographical aspect to the book?"

A bit. The book is set circa 1841-1848 in Santa Fe. I'm old, but not that ancient. Yet, I have passed through distinct stages in my life: maiden, mother and yeah, crone. Each of the Sandoval Sisters' is unique and distinct from the other, but family loyalty is important to them. They've been gifted with a certain joy I experienced in a moment of time. Some of Alma's experiences in Texas are reminiscent of my mother's sojourn there when she married my dad. And la gente's superstitions are the ones that vibrated throughout my family and surrounding community in Santa Fe.

My brother and Dawn had to head back to Santa Fe, but my cousins took me out to Sadie's, a popular Mexican restaurant in Albuquerque.         

Julia Flowers, my cousin's granddaughter, appeared in Bless Me, Ultima (my review).  

 She didn't eat all that by herself!

The next day it was time for Joey and me to hit the road.  This time I took it easy, with frequent stops for photos.  New Mexico segued into Arizona.

Same backdrop but now with a colorful toy train crossing. I so wanted to hear the train whistle.

 These shacks near a reservation. I pulled over to give Joey water and a walk and ended up buying a shell necklace from a vendor also named Sandra.




This journey brought me back in time–to memories of my mom, my childhood, the bullies who made my girlhood fraught with sorrow, to the resilience, and yes, even the creativity I learned to counteract them and pass the lonely winter nights when my mom worked, my brother slept and the wind howled outside.

The 2000 mile round trip also brought me forward in time to the present I've created for myself. It was an opportunity for me to connect on a deeper level with my brother and to continue to try to understand my deceased mother.  I spoke at Santa Fe High and hope that what I revealed to the students might give a few of them hope that there is life beyond high school and out of Santa Fe. 

Santa Fe was at once more horrible (with such an Anglicized reverence for all things ethnic that the heart of Native American and Mexican and Hispanic lost its relevance for me; there are diamond vendors cropping up around the plaza, reputedly money laundering vehicles) and greater than my youthful experience and rejection of it, but NM, and especially Taos warmed my heart.  

NM mountains and vast, blue sky over the rear of my truck at the dog park, my favorite place in Santa Fe. I met the nicest people there; they were all smiling and so were their dogs.

Imagined my husband and I watching the sunset there, holding hands, really looking at each other.

"Sometimes you get to meet yourself in the midst of running away."

Oratoria, the eldest sister:  "Which are the more true, the memories then or those simmered over time?"

Sandra Ramos O'Briant:  "There's a dissonance to memories. Like heat rising off the desert and creating a mirage, the art is in taking the distortion and helping the reader to see."

TAOS, TAOS, TAOS

Taos loves writers and I rode on a cloud of enthusiasm for my signing and reading at the Somos Salon: Society of the Muse of the Southwest.  I was thrilled when Kristina Ortez de Jones, the executive director of Somos invited me to their salon.  She smoothed the way and the readers who came to play the Scene Read Game with me had great questions. One even encouraged me to write a story based on historic happenings in Taos.

Click on article to enlarge.

My deepest gratitude to Teresa Dovalpage for this article. She is the author of five novels and most recently A Brief Guide to Taos. Where to Eat, Shop, Work Out . . . and More. Teresa is originally from Cuba and has five novels to her credit. She was generous with her time and enthusiasm and we both love big dogs: We even exchanged pictures of our big babies.  Mine was my traveling companion on the drive to New Mexico and return to L.A. Here's one of Joey cavorting at the Kit Carson Park. He's got a back pack on which slows him down slightly.

 

Since my book launched last October, I've learned not only who my real friends are, but also met people I want to get to know better, like Teresa, and who follow through on their promises.  

She's savvy about Taos and suggested I stay at the dog-friendly El Pueblo Lodge where everyone–from the check-in desk to the custodians–was helpful, conversational and seemed . . . happy. 

My thanks also to Thelma Reyna for connecting me via email to Teresa.  Thelma is an award-winning poet and author. She and I sat on a panel concerning banned books last year.  I can only hope that The Sandoval Sisters' Secret of Old Blood will get banned for the outrageous erotica contained within its covers.  

Getting your book banned is analogous to an artist becoming famous after death sans the not breathing part. People groan about the sex and revolution in your book to the press and the next thing you know Good Morning America interviews you.  That's my dream!

I read and signed in Taos and then Albuquerque, but in Santa Fe I spoke to students at the high school.  More on that adventure soon.

Conquest: Excerpt from The Sandoval Sisters' Secret of Old Blood

“I have a present for you, Pilar.” Geraldo reached behind the chair for a large box. “For the most unique woman in all of Sandoval and Quintana history.”

            Inside were gloves of soft leather. Underneath those were canvas pants with a blue stripe traveling down the leg and a multi-hued sash to tie around my waist. On the bottom lay a finely tooled leather holster with a Colt 5-shooter inside it.

            “Learn how to use it.” He reached inside his boot and removed a tiny pistol. “And this. It only fires one shot, but one shot may be all you need.”

            I ran my finger along its silver inlays and mother-of-pearl grips and traced the engraving of a centaur on its side. “It’s beautiful. Centaurs were shape shifters. Wizards. Born of the mare-headed Demeter, they castrated her priests. They wore female dress—”

            “Ah, yes,” Geraldo said. “Perfect for my own little Sandoval shape shifter.”

***

            Spring came late to Santa Fé in 1846, but the first traders traveled across the trail with news that war between the States and Mexico had begun. “Be prepared for anything and everything,” Geraldo said.

            In the summer, we got word General Kearny and his Army of the West were coming to claim New Mexico. Americans had been visible on the streets of Santa Fé for some time, usually as the result of their trading ventures. Many New Mexicans, including Governor Armijo, had become involved in the trade. Both my father and Geraldo rode the trail often.

            A few men traveled with their wives, usually Indian or Mexican women, but I’d never seen an Anglo woman cross the trail. The plaza was packed with men—American, New Mexican, Spanish, and a few French. For the most part, I passed as one of them.           

            The Missouri traders were all for the Americans taking over. They wanted it done peacefully so as not to disturb business along the trail. They also wanted to get rid of Armijo and the high levy he put on each wagonload of goods. Many, including Geraldo, suspected the receipts of the tax went into Armijo’s pockets. He had made himself unpopular with the locals by taking land from the public domain and giving it to his friends, many of whom were Americans involved in the Santa Fé trade.

            I stood beside Geraldo in the plaza when General Kearny and his army of more than sixteen hundred men entered Santa Fé in August 1846. Hundreds of supply wagons, more than I thought possible, followed the army–1500 oxen, 3600 mules, and 450 horses pulled them. A caravan of eighty merchant wagons traveled with them, ready to set up shop when the city changed hands.

            “It’s an entire country!” I said. A few men nodded their agreement.

            “An invasion,” Geraldo said. “A military occupation. They’re placing a cannon on the hill overlooking the city.”

            Acting governor Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid surrendered the city. Not a shot was fired. When the Mexican tricolor was lowered, women sobbed and soldiers cheered.

            The United States had conquered its first foreign capital.

***

           General Kearny proclaims  New Mexico  now part of the U.S.

      "Conquest of New Mexico" 1882, artist unknown

            

            “Some of your priests have told you that we would ill-treat your women and brand them on the cheek, as you do your mules on the hip. It is all false,” General Kearny said to the crowd of New Mexicans and foreigners filling the plaza.

            “Hear, hear,” the Americans cheered.

            “He cuts a striking figure under the star-spangled banner,” said a female voice behind me. I turned and saw an American woman, about my own age. She spoke to another woman, her servant by the style of her dress. “Our countrymen will remember this day forever.”

            “Mine, too,” I said. She searched for who had spoken among the assembled men surrounding me. An officer standing next to her eyed my holster and stepped between us.

            “Just a boy, ma’am,” he said to her.        

             Over the next few days, Kearny worked alongside lawyers he’d brought with him to draft a set of laws to govern the American territory of New Mexico. “The code is workable,” Geraldo said later. He rubbed his jaw, speaking as much to himself as to me. “But the lawyers are out for themselves.”

         My business and political lessons never seemed to end. Geraldo rushed to fill me with a lifetime of what he had learned. “Hire several lawyers, pay them well, and have them check each other’s work. Are you listening Pilar?” Satisfied he had my attention, he continued, “Honesty is hard-won in rough country. In the short run, the clever and dishonest will run the territory of New Mexico. Make sure both sides work for you.” 

Please join me at the Somos Salon in Taos on Saturday, September 28 or Bookworks, Albuquerque on September 29.