Chance, if you will look at our website, facebook page, application or go by the tents on the plaza he will be signing books at the tents outside of the plaza and the books are for sale at the tent and a portion of those go directly to the festival. Shes published numerous books of fiction and was awarded the memorial prize in a movie in 1986. His account of this journey was published as a Great Railway and it was his first major success as a travel writer and its now considered a classic in the genre. It. I think youll find that is true in his latest book. It focuses on the people is because mexico itself but its a great journey south of the border, so we welcome today and we are going to have a kind of conversation about his book and i think for many of us the question to begin with is a why did you decide to go to mexico, is there something that appealed about it . Thank you for being here. Its a pleasure to be back. I was here four years ago i believe and i thought i had been to nashville a number of times and i hadnt realized passing through just stopping briefly at a rich cultural tradition you have. I went to the opera, i went to a bowl game and some country music. You have a great museum and wonderful city to come back to so thanks for the hospitality. What we are charging here about books teaches victorian literature i dont know if youre interested that doctor alexander is a reader and i feel as though he mad we need an imme connection talking about robert stephenson, charles dickens, we talked about frankenstein just a moment ago and i would say when a reader meets another reader they have a friend. Very few people read deeply. They read the book they might read stephen king or god blesses them, but if you read deeply in literature and doctor alexanders literature is a very big period that includes henry james, stephenson, joseph conrad, amazing names, mark twain, that is one of the pleasures of life is reading. Another is writing that the reason i went to mexico if i was working on a novel and had the chance to go to arizona. If any of you have been there, hands is. Nice little town with a big fence beside it and at the end of the road there is a big fence. You look at across the fence is mexico. Ive written enough in travel books and ive never been to a country where at the edge there is a fence. Its just the most amazing sight. The anarchists makes these strange constructions propping up the building. It looks like christo does find it. Its the most wonderful looking thing. Its an amazing piece of sculpture. It doesnt serve a practical function. It scares people and looks at the border of the country but if you go to the border of india and pakistan, china and russia we need security obviously on the border. You cant have people just swimming across, walking across, that isnt good for anybody. The most amazing experiences like alice in wonderland. Everything on this side of the fence was usa and the rest is mexico, spanish language, music, dentists because you can get cheap dentists there in the new go through if you are back in america where things are more expensive. It made me think that theres a country right next door. I was working on a novel than the president began making disparaging remarks about mexico. Rapists, murderers. What he was describing was a stereotype with the chinese, of africans, indians, pakistanis. The reason you read travel books is to discover the subtleties that stereotype isnt true. Countries are full of variations of nuance. So i decided when trump said that i thought im going to have this experience again. Everybodys talking about the border. What do we do about the border, got to build a fence. So i thought im going to get a car and drive from massachusetts i will drive from cape cod, i went to mcallen texas and then i went east and i went back and forth on the border from tijuana to brownsville and to the end of the rio grande into the deeper into mexico as far as you could go. I talked for a while in mexico city and i studied spanish. All those poor trips and when i told people i was going to mexico and i was going to drive there, you know their reaction was dont do it. People have been saying this to mean mme my whole life. I chanted the peace corps and 63 and went to africa and no one said you are going to die but this is where you can to africa in 1963. It was a wonderful experience. So, that sort of helps me. There was curiosity, destroying that stereotype the whole country talked about mexico but not really describing how not going there. And i thought i can bring back or i can describe my experiences there and maybe enlighten people of that, an it, and at the samei dont have a job, so what else am i going to do. [laughter] how long am i going to be driving my car when you get to my age you have to rene to renee every two years. So there might become a time you are going to do these things before your time runs out and the other thing is an older person there are some people my age here. We dont get a lot of respect. Older people in the states i go to the doctor and the doctor says the doctor will be with you in a moment. And i say have i met you before. Why are you calling me paul. Then theres a rule you cant call the person by the last. I was becoming invisible as an older person advertising was aimed beyond. Everything has become politics, the young voter, they are going to buy music, what about us, what about me. Then the First Experience with respect to the. But thats different from take a seat. Im not going to write a piece of the National Geograph geographic. I want to go on living my life. Thats a long answer but that is as it formed over triple that ive done. I want to touch on a couple of things you have in that answer. The first section of the book you talk about several of the people that you meet in the detention camps. In particular, you talk about maria, shes a mother of three and quietly saying a prayer over her meal. I wonder if you can talk to us a little bit about your impressions of the camps and the people who were there. We hear a lot about this through the newspapers and television. I wonder if you share your woulr impression with us. Who is an immigrant, who is a refugee . How would you describe an immigrant . If you are a politician, it is a mexican coming across to get welfare or take advantage. That is a stereotype. But i discovered mexican immigration is going down. If they come across at all, they are going to claim a hotel room, work in a packing plant, picking strawberries in fresno, join a boyfriend or husband and work as a whooper, putting up drywall, doing masonry, cleaning swimming pools. Thats the general mexican people coming across legal or illegal. There are others called special interest aliens. Do any of you know this term. Chinese, indians, pakistanis, nigerians, iraq is an afghan, syrian and how did they come across, paying money. A chinese potential immigrants would pay a Cartel Member 50,000 the Cartel Member would leave him through a tunnel in to get him across and collect the 50 or 60 grams or 70 grand. The prisons in arizona and new mexico are filled with special interest aliens. Politicians say check out the mexicans in prison and fined pakistanis, hundreds of them. Then there are of course people from Central America who come from countries like honduras salvador, guatemala. Thats a whole other group you could put them in the human rights category, but the chinese or indian tycoons take a lot of money are you going to give them sanctuary he paid the money and you are being arrested, whatever, we will shelter you because you are an immigrant. It goes from very wealthy immigrants who want to pay money to come across to people who are completely desperate and swimming across or walking across the desert. The woman i met with a woman and three children and it was like sophies choice. Her husband abandoned her, she had no money to. The per capita income there is the same as bangladesh, 3400 per year for per capita income so that is very low. They come from villages that have little water supply, no topsoil, nothing really, people against the elements so she was very poor and pious. She just wants to work her head off to send some money back and leave and go back to because shes got nothing. They sold their house, how well seeded from syria to mexico city to the border and cross illegally. Some of them have a lot of money into the cartels sort of on the border endeavors are desperate so theres a whole spectrum and this is why you cant stereotype them that something needs to be done. This is experience that i had. You look at the situation and think this is a lot more complicated than i thought it was going to be. Ive got to write a book about it so that is where the book comes from not i had a wonderful time in cancun, thats a great vacation and its very nice, but a road trip in mexico is a much more serious affair and a very rewarding because they are so hospitable. One of the places that you stayed for a while was mexico city and utah to be writing class and you talk about your students that he worked within the class. Could you share about your experience and what attracted you . One thing about being the travelers you are a parasite, yourparasitecoming or going toa place of saying here i am, im hungry, im tired, i need some food, a place to stay, i need a friend, what are you going to do. You are showing up in this foreign country. I thought i want to do something. I have a peace corps volunteer background and i thought ive got to give something. I said i want to teach a class in mexico city to students that are very good writers but they want to make the next steps are not teenagers but experienced writers who speak little englise english and maybe publish a book or do it for nothing. I will bring my books in spanish, drive their and you cant charge them anything so i just show up and do it pro bono. I am retired and old as that got between 25 and 30 students so 30 people men and women experienc experienced, some of them good writers several of them had wonn prizes in spain or mexico and when i showed up i sit here ama got some books for you and this was mexico city on a beautiful day. You sold it was an aroma district they said how did you get here and i said i drove. From cape cod to houston to belmont nashville, memphis [laughter] and then i said mcallen. They said thats the most dangerous city on the border and i said it is pretty dangerous but how dangerous. Here i am, so i got points for driving. [laughter] first i need friends in mexico but also i want to show you we are on the same road, leave my house in massachusetts and drive south on 95 and then down 40 old way through munro bill in the belmont, texas, mcallen at the same road you leave. You can go north, south, we are on the same road, as humans on earth and people in the western hemisphere we are linked we are on the same road. You make a stop to this instance of the missing stuff down, wherever it is. People. I said have lunch with me so we spoke spanish during lunch and they said what you want to do. I said lets go to a museum. They said lets do this, lets go to this museum. I said there is a saint in mexico, holy death. A very fast growing faith worshiped by people that have nothing but doesnt reject. You dont have to do penance, theres no heaven or hell, she will help anybody, the poor, the cartel, everybody. They said its dangerous but we will do. I said i would like to spend some time with the zapatistas who are the revolutionaries. They arranged it so the last bit of my book i stayed with them and gave a little speech that one of the secret meetings. I have 30 mexican friends and i had earned respect. Im just a guy in a car and suddenly you have a. It wasnt just a trip that i took a job and that i had some food. Its a very rich part of my life. So, becoming a teacher. When i was a peace corps volunteer i taught him in a lie school that became malawi and as a teacher they would do anything for me to. I was in africa for six years and by workin working their ente living very and putting up with the same stuff but they were putting up with, i had a friend. Thats how you get through life and its how books are written. So, you can always tell a superficial look from one that has been moved t been one of the mine had been left any of us that have read it would agree that its very rich in its detail and description of people and places. I would like to open up to questions from people in the audience. We ask if you have a question that you use the microphone so that everybody can hear your question. What can yowould anybody like ta question . How many of you have been to mexico . Thats amazing. Ed of the room. How many of you have been to the border city . What about more as . They have the world record for the most murders in 2010. One of the things you commented on, you did a little bit of calm. Contrast because they are right across the border. One of the things i found in arresting, you did this a couple of times talking about the effect of the wall of the border cities both the mexican and american side but particularly the mexican side, and how being cut off from the american tourists to a certain extent where its harder now to cross but also less a sense of safety. I cant minimize the dangers of mexico because the cartels are very active and fighting each other for territory. They are trying to get a terse owhere you can get people acros, get guns from the other side. The. The same a lot of people work in san diego or a day live in tijuana and cross every day. When you cross the border you have to bear in mind the. Its difficult. The one thing people dont do is provide it is applied to import a vehicle. The only problems i had in exit goer with the police housel my license plate ended this. I drive a toyota but i didnt try to tear, a niec nissan allwheeldrive secondhand nissan thinking if someone steals it its okay i dont need someone stealing my forear fore. When they saw with massachusetts plates, the cops on four occasions. Fullstop he had said i said whats the problem if they said you shouldnt be driving here. I showed them my papers and said what dhavesaid what you want. They want money. Ive been in this in the newspaper and interview people were scolding me. Ive been bribing people my whole life. Someone is going to do you a favor, africa is the same thing. In nigeria it is the system. Youve got to give me something. I was at the bali airport and its a long story but the short version is that for passport is going to expire. What do you do for a living . Im retired, retired schoolteacher. I said im a teacher and so when you are a teacher they recalibrate the bribe. [laughter] how many of you have been to bali. So he said its the most lovely place to. They said what happened, you know what happened. I will put you on the next plane to go all alone koala lepore. Put me on the next plane out of here so anyway, they checked. In other words, from china. And the energy business. They said im in the oil business and they said okay. [laughter] there is bribe is all over the place. Hes in prison during nine years for that very thing. One of the places you talk a lot about is you talk about meeting people in particular an that you talk about visiting a that area but also they are the same as someone in kenya and that isnt much money but they have good music, good food. There is a truism which is the past survives its poor and if you go to a very poor village they are likely still playing music that they played 100 years ago they just keep doing it. And they have deep roots into their culture is infecte impacte same way as a. You ge get to a place like this where people are very poor and they still have their tradition and music and food and they dont have money so i spent a lot of time there and they had a reference which was a was introduced to him, we hit it off and he was the same age as me. He was mexicos greatest living artist and activist. They dont think about trump or the united states. Their focus on their government, so theres an earthquake and they are still recovering which is a very, very bad earthquake, hundreds and hundreds died. Does anyone know the name Francisco Toledo . Theres a chapter in the book which is ceramic soap sculptures, paintings, drawings. I spent a lot of time with him and he is a no use for money. When he made money in his paintings sold for millions he establishes libraries and its where they are welcomed and that theres a Publishing House there is a library of paintings in damages with soup kitchens. If you saw where he lived he is a millionaire who just did a good work with this money. I relate to anyone that is my age which is 70 plus because we live through the same period, the civil rights movement, vietnam war its the same turbulent period. Hed been in france, so it was the aspect of a his wife said thank you very much. I said i will pay for it and a month later he was dead, so that is a mexican story. Heart of gold gold, serious artt and activist who when mcdonalds wanted to build a franchise outlet 500 years of this and the golden arches would be right there. You do that and im going to hand out tamales. [laughter] he had a whole bunch of people and they said you Start Building this thing we are going to go naked and they had the tamales and he was ready to do it like what do they call it, an art project. Of course they said no and there were people against it. [laughter] so that was as i mentioned in the book she said it was great we were all going to do it. I had one other thing an example of the generosity. It was a drawing of shrimp and i said i love shrimp and he gave me the picture. So explain that. That just doesnt happen to thats one of the things i like about the book is that was the good, the vatican is a beautiful, the ugly, it was all there so its a wellrounded trip. One place you talk a lot about that we havent talked much about can you tell us about . How many of you saw the mov movie . Do you know who the author is . He had two or three identities. He wrote a book the cotton pickers. Anyway, he was an anarchist and wrote the treasure of sierra madre said he was a revolutionary who had a number of different identities, he is not a great writer but his stories are great. He is writing about this in the 1920s and then even before th the. That was relatively quick. But from 1981 through 1983 or four in villages learning the language the ancient mayan language and trying to figure out we knew the people were oppressed and the Mexican Government is taking their land away. So land for a lot of native people that is not something that you sell. Native americans never sold their land. They would give muskets and the story of massachusetts is of pilgrims or refugees from england or colonials. [laughter] giving them some pathetic thing and getting land. Its all in my book mayflower. Save in hawaii. They had firearms. It was the key thing of material objects and pots and pans. They thought they could not protect themselves. So 11 years past and on january 1984 a group of horsemen came up very dramatic wearing black masks and hats. And read a proclamation saying we are the people we demand the government listen to us you cannot take our land and furthermore there is another abomination taking place nafta. The day that they were totally against nafta so that exploitation even now people said those sending factories across the border sunday five cents an hour a dollar an hour you would not work for that so they are not making any money and naturally the governments response is that there were battles and speeches and whatnot. I thought they were honorable people in one respect you hear of the ira in ireland and the catholic protestant in spain and others they kill civilians name a revolutionary group in europe or sort south america they kill civilians. 5000 people on the mainland the ira thought nothing of blowing up people they thought the mexican army and they were killing so reading about that and talking to them i thought this is a group of people i would like to get acquainted with just to hear what they are doing and not saying that they are peaceful but they are very tenacious and i was impressed so they asked me to speak it one of their gatherings and i talked about the border where there was a school and maybe there were 400 people in the village. 250,000 people in a community and one high school so its gray and wonderful we have cheap goods but one pathetic school for quarter of a Million People quex thats not right. Im not saying its all bad but it is complicated not just in the consciousness other people have written about it but he wrote about it a lot living in exile and is buried there also by the way. It was a great experience as a revolutionary. Slightly exaggerated but i found this part that if you prove you are a serious person you are seriously interested he said dont make this an anecdote. Come back again and find out more. But nobody has ever seen him without a mask or his people they all come in mask is pretty impressive actually. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here and thank you for being readers if you like me to sign a book or two. We will be signing and books are for sale at the book tent in this room tonight my mother in her own right. [applause] how as a child i watch her every move to see her eyes fall upon every word and encounter on the Grocery Store and in the bus my high School Textbook she was always wolfing down words insatiable which is how i learn the ways that words were a sustenance and how i learned that words make me know my mother was always saying in between raising 12 humans. Iam in this room and so is my mother. In this room my big sister erected at the house when she was only 19 which then felt like a mission and in this room tonight several artists the most inspired accompaniment of my life. And of course my siblings were not here but the voices exist in mine, carl, mike, kevin troy, eddie, debra, thank you for telling me the stories in the first place and for trusting me to make something of them and allowing me to call your names because there is no small thing to recover the names they are other names of my family who told me the history of myself some of whom died before the book was finished and in the world these presence by ntl Lehman Brothers only sister my uncle joe january of this year and the swiftest below my oldest brother who died the day after this book appeared in the
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.