Emilie Vardaman Archives

Walking Near Death

My learning began in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. A refugee camp in the jungles of Mexico, less than a mile from the Guatemalan border.

Juan Pablo Ixbalan left his home in the village of Santiago de Atitlán, Guatemala. He crossed the lago in a small boat, a panga.

She danced to a rhythm only she could hear. When she first started dancing nearly forty years ago, she had no wings.

My adventure began when my friend Cinda sent me a short article she’d found. It was about the Mexican folk saint Teresa Urrea.

He’d often send a real letter, but more often he’d send a poem with a note scribbled on the back.

In 1985 I left the desert for a job in Kansas City, Missouri, a city that had long been racially divided.