RedT Reads Randomly

". . .  I left the city and went back to the pueblo to be with Abuelo. By then he was close to dying and it was a kind of silent bargain we made – I took care of his body and he did the same to my soul, telling me of all the changes he saw and how he made it through.

He also reminded me of something Mexicanos are being taught to forget, and that is how to live without money. One day, he said to me, 'M'hijo, everyone knows life for the Zapoteco is hard, but we are lucky too and we are forgetting this. Who else can grow all their food – sweets and spices, herbs and medicines, corn and beans and squash, even oil for the hair – on one hectare upon the side of the mountain?  Everything you need is right here – the sun, the seed, the forest, the water.

'If you can read and grow your own food then your mind will be free, your stomach will be full, and you can survive no matter how the wind is blowing.',