By Esmeralda Santiago
BROTHER, SISTER, MOTHER, EXPLORER
By Jamie Figueroa
Not so long ago you could travel to other landscapes, peopled with men, women and children who might not look like you, who might not speak your language, who seemed to have been created just so you could build memories. When youâre a tourist in someone elseâs home, youâre there to get away from your own life, to preserve and post images of your adventures and experiences on social media, proof that youâre curious about the world and that you can still have fun. To you those foreigners â preferably wearing traditional dress or an approximation of it, their bodies adorned in patterns and textures you find charming but wouldnât wear yourself once you touch down at home â are there to fill holes in your life so deep you donât even see them anymore.
COVID-19 by the numbers New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 166 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total so far to 185,297. The health department has designated 147,446 of those cases as recovered. Of the state s 33 counties, 21 had reported new cases: 55 in Bernalillo County, followed by Doña Ana County with 38 and Sandoval County with 10. Santa Fe County had two new cases. The state also announced 13 additional deaths; there have now been 3,729 fatalities. As of yesterday, 186 people were hospitalized with COVID-19. You can read all of SFR s COVID-19 coverage here. If you ve had experiences with COVID-19, we would like to hear from you.
Bookshop Figueroaâs masterly debut explores the grief and trauma of two half siblings. Four months after the death of their mother, Rosalinda, Rufina and Rafa Rivera, 28 and 30, make a pact: if they collect enough money performing for the tourists visiting their high desert town in the American Southwest over the course of a weekend, the depressed Rafa will live, traveling in search of new beginnings, instead of taking his own life. The siblings take to the streets, performing for white tourists who listen, entranced, at Rufinaâs melodious, seductive whistling, or gaze intently at Rafa as he gleans meaning from the symbols he sees in peopleâs shadows. The siblings are haunted by the ghosts of those long gone, including that of Rufinaâs stillborn baby, and by memories of their motherâs enigmatic former lover, the Explorer. Meanwhile, repeated intrusions of those who only wish to helpâsuch as a cop who gives them a pass for performing without a perm
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