Strangers in Our Homes |
Strangers in Our Homes |
Put Out the Welcome Mat |
Whitestone Inn in Kingston, Tennessee |
There are many ways to show hospitality. |
Drunk illustrators at first B.A. Meetup
Juliana Pedemont
Lucio Paletta
Lucas Varela
Marina Gerosa
Iván Rodero
Lluis Rafols
Leonardo Falaschini
Cristian Turdera
Matias Vigliano
¡Gracias Buenos Aires!
I’m home once again! I’d like to extend a huge THANK YOU to all the wonderful illustrators I met while I was visiting your amazing city. Your friendship and generosity helped make our visit extra special. And a great reminder for all illustrators that a community is always nearby; all you have to do is ask!
- Leonardo Falaschini
- Juliana Pedemont
- Matias Vigliano
- Diego Vaisberg at DGPH
- Naida Ochoa
- Mirella Musri
- Lluis Ráfols (and his 1000 Faces Project)
- Penelope Lugares
- Marina Gerosa
- Iván Rodero
- Vik & Pablo at MonoBlock
- Galeria Mar Dulce
- Wally De Marco
- Lucas Varela
- Lucio Paletta
- Karla Fernandes
- Cristian Turdera
- Nate Williams at IllustrationMundo
Whoo! If I forgot anyone, please let me know!
Taking a look at each of my father’s sisters as a subject has been an interesting process. I began yesterday with the middle sister. Today I’ll look at the eldest sister, taking those memories of my own, as faulty as those might be.
First of three beautiful daughters, and small of physical stature, her birth brought much joy to her parents in the middle of the roaring 20’s. Soulful eyes gazed out onto the world, looking for her place in it. Like all children, she had to wait for the answers to her future.
My aunt helped her parents work the small farm that surrounded them. The culture and the times demanded that all hands keep busy and help tend to the family crops, chores, and everyone’s general welfare. By the time she was ready to enter adulthood, fear and pain would be a constant companion.
This was the woman who, many years later, during my teen years, listened to her daughter and me talk into the night, as we giggled about secrets in the next bedroom. Long evenings passed while the peacocks called from their sentry stations around the horse farm. Summer’s warm, lazy breezes at night fluttered bedroom curtains as we slept in the house she cared for.
And this was the woman who’d lived through what would crush many others.
When my aunt was a teen, polio still crippled individuals and families’ spirits. It was said that she became ill with something that acted suspiciously like that disease. Recovery was long and halting.
Nevertheless, her salvation arrived on the heels of fear and pain. The love of her life came to champion her, to take her in his arms and carry her through life. What could she do but allow this strong, gentle suitor to take her hand, as protector and husband?
With his help and love, she overcame the effects of her illness. It wasn’t easy, but she did it. They started their family and lived as everyone else did on a farm.
Years later, when her son and daughter were in their early teens, a shocking and terrifying event changed the course of her days. Tending the family vegetable garden was challenging in the southern summer heat, yet picking veggies for the dinner table wasn’t considered debilitating.
Within that space between heartbeats terror struck. With the suddenness of an adder’s bite, her vision disappeared in one eye. Her eyes had never been good, but now she was challenged as never before.
When she finally got to the eye doctor, the verdict wasn’t good. The retina was badly torn. She had to face the probability of never regaining her sight in that eye and the other retina wasn’t too stable, either. The doctor’s diagnosis was heart-wrenching.
Instead of flailing around in a soup of depression and self-flagellation, lamenting forever what she’d lost and how unfair life was, she fought to regain as much independence as possible. She learned Braille, retrained herself so that she could continue doing all of those tasks she’d done before the accident. Her family helped as much as possible, which proved sorely needed.
Not long after her trial by blindness began and she’d made significant progress, my uncle was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He die
Demi. The Hungry Coat. Margaret K. McElderry, 2004.
“Once upon a time in Turkey there lived a funny, little wise man named Nasrettin Hoca. He wore a huge, white turban and a worn-out coat made of patches upon patches. Riding about on his little gray donkey, he liked to help whomever he could.”
When Nasrettin sets out to visit a friend who’s having a banquet, he encounters a caravan getting wrecked by a frisky goat. Because he stops to help, Nasrettin finds he doesn’t have time to change his dirty clothes before visiting his friend. He finally arrives, but instead of the friendly, cheerful welcome he expects, he is ignored. Nasrettin slips out and returns, this time wearing an elegant silk coat. The host promptly invites him in and gives him all the fine food previously denied him. But Nasrettin has a trick up his sleeve; he starts to feed his coat instead of his belly! Children will love chanting the refrain “Eat, coat, eat” and as they participate in the story, they’ll understand what Nasrettin’s host should have: It’s wrong to judge a person by his clothes. Demi’s gorgeous paintings feature the motifs and colors of traditional Turkish art and brighten this lively tale featuring Turkey’s famous folk hero.
More Tales of Hospitality
Becker, Bonnie. A Visitor for Bear. Candlewick, 2008. A grumpy bear posts a “No visitors” sign outside his door. But a bright-eyed, friendly mouse keeps popping in and opens Bear’s eyes to his need for companionship.
Leodhas, Sorche. Always Room for One More. Illus. by Nonny Hogrogian. Caldecott Medal. Lachie MacLachlan lives in a “wee house in the heather” in Scotland, with his family of twelve. He always welcomes every weary traveler who wanders by in rough weather. His guests show their gratitude in a delightful way that continues to charm readers young and old.
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie. Nora’s Ark. Harper-Collins, 2005. Based on the Vermont flood of 1927, the author tells a memorable story of how a girl’s grandparents welcome neighbors, chickens, ducks, pigs, a horse and a cow into their home on the hill as the waters rise and uproot their community. The humorous, detailed paintings by Caldecott Medal-winning artist Emily Arnold McCully evoke the dangers of the flood and the warmth of a kitchen filled with kind people and good cheer.
Muth, Jon. Stone Soup. Scholastic, 2003. Muth retells a beloved old French folktale and transports it to China. Instead of hungry soldiers, he features three monks who know the importance of community in making people happy. This picture book presents a feast for the eyes, heart and mind.
Ryan, Pam Munoz. Mice and Beans. As Rosa Maria prepares for a big family party, some mice are planning their own festivities. Even though Rosa Maria sets mouse traps, the mice save the day when they notice she forgot to stuff the piñata.
Rylant, Cynthia. The Relatives Came. Aladdin, 1993. It’s a full, full house every year when the relatives come bumping up from
Colin Grant is the son of Jamaican parents who moved to Britain in the late 1950s. He spent 5 years studying medicine before turning to the stage. He has written and produced numerous plays and is currently a producer for BBC Radio. In his new book, Negro with a a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey Grant looks at one of the most controversial figures in African-American history. Both worshiped and despised, Garvey led an extraordinary life as the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association which had branches in more than 40 countries. In the article below Grant looks at Garvey through a modern lens, comparing him to Barack Obama.
During an outbreak of the unique American pastime of lynching in the 1920s, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sent for its secret weapon: Walter White. The NAACP operative was so fair-skinned that he could travel to the South incognito, infiltrate the lynch mobs and investigate their actions without fear of molestation or loss of life. Nonetheless, this unenviable task exacted a psychological toll on his delicate mind. In his later years, White would recall how petrified he was of being uncovered by hateful, bigoted Southerners who had refined their own pseudo-scientific tests for unmasking blacks ‘passing’ for whites. Caught in conversation with one such man, White was bid to hold out his hands so that his finger nails might be examined: ‘Now if you had nigger blood,’ said the smiling Southerner, ‘it would show here on your half-moons.’ Walter White survived the inquisition; his cuticles did not betray him.
In some regards, Barack Obama has pulled off a similar coup. (more…)
she sounds like a wonderful woman. Through her ups and downs she just purged on. you are lucky to have her as an example.
Thank you, Tina. I’ve always had such terrific role models in my life. I have been blessed with strong examples of the kind of person I wanted to be. I’m glad you enjoyed the read.
Claudsy
superb post! Keep up the awesome work!