Fly Right Through The Revolution
Sep. 4th, 2019 02:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redrikkiJust finished reading
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. The book is a highly fictionalized account of the real-life Dominican revolutionaries Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa Mirabal, who were assassinated by the Trujillo regime on November 25, 1960. Each chapter was told from a different sister's POV, including the sole surviving sister, Dedé. Each sister had a unique voice with their chapters being written in distinct ways. Maria Teresa's chapters, for example, are always diary entries, while Minerva's are the only ones in first person. I don't know how accurate to life the portrayals are, but I liked the way the author examined the things that could lead otherwise ordinary women towards revolution. They each had very different reasons for getting involved and had different things they were willing to do or not do for the cause, themselves, and the family.
It all seemed frighteningly timely. A month or so back, I had a conversation with my mom about howwhen if things get bad we're going to need people willing to get arrested and give up their livelihoods and lives to resist. Right now, I'm involved in organizing the local women's march and donating to certain causes, but I don't know if I have the courage to do that harder work.
Case in point. Last week I read the New York Times Magazine's 1619 Project about the long-reaching effects of slavery on American economy, politics, and society. If you haven't read it, I urge you to follow the link and do so. Anyway, every week a staff member from at our historical society writes a blog post on a local history topic and I chose to look at the effects of slavery on New York State and our county. It turns out, we know the names of several former slave-owning families, some of whom still have descendants still living in the area. The original last sentence of the blog mentioned that that family was still around, and still wealthy and powerful. The problem is, they're also one of our institution's biggest financial donors. My boss asked me to tone down the last sentence before allowing me to post it and I did. Right call? Wrong call? I still can't decide, but it doesn't give me much hope for my ability to speak truth to power.
What I'm Reading Next
No idea. I have a stack of Smithsonian magazines I probably should get around to, but also a whole lot of library book sale books. Decision, decisions.
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. The book is a highly fictionalized account of the real-life Dominican revolutionaries Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa Mirabal, who were assassinated by the Trujillo regime on November 25, 1960. Each chapter was told from a different sister's POV, including the sole surviving sister, Dedé. Each sister had a unique voice with their chapters being written in distinct ways. Maria Teresa's chapters, for example, are always diary entries, while Minerva's are the only ones in first person. I don't know how accurate to life the portrayals are, but I liked the way the author examined the things that could lead otherwise ordinary women towards revolution. They each had very different reasons for getting involved and had different things they were willing to do or not do for the cause, themselves, and the family.
It all seemed frighteningly timely. A month or so back, I had a conversation with my mom about how
Case in point. Last week I read the New York Times Magazine's 1619 Project about the long-reaching effects of slavery on American economy, politics, and society. If you haven't read it, I urge you to follow the link and do so. Anyway, every week a staff member from at our historical society writes a blog post on a local history topic and I chose to look at the effects of slavery on New York State and our county. It turns out, we know the names of several former slave-owning families, some of whom still have descendants still living in the area. The original last sentence of the blog mentioned that that family was still around, and still wealthy and powerful. The problem is, they're also one of our institution's biggest financial donors. My boss asked me to tone down the last sentence before allowing me to post it and I did. Right call? Wrong call? I still can't decide, but it doesn't give me much hope for my ability to speak truth to power.
What I'm Reading Next
No idea. I have a stack of Smithsonian magazines I probably should get around to, but also a whole lot of library book sale books. Decision, decisions.
