Entries by Christine Eber

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

I recently read Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson in my book club. My friends and I found so much in the book to talk about and after reading it felt compelled to write a letter to the editor of our local newspaper, the Las Cruces Sun News, urging everyone to read […]

Into Mayas Hands, a Book they Inspired

After writing When a Woman Rises, my first novel, I realized that I had finally written something that the people who made my novel happen – the Maya people of Chiapas – can read and enjoy, and in doing so be reminded of the creative spark they carry within themselves and encouraged to bring it […]

Black lives have always mattered

In the days following the murder of George Floyd, my friends and I on the Steering Committee of Weaving for Justice joined organizations throughout the world to express our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. On June 3rd we posted the following words on the Weaving for Justice Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-l5NwAuU1/)  We continue to post inspirational quotes from individuals standing up for justice in the U.S. and […]

Books as Bridges

Books as Bridges by Christine Eber, October 2, 2019  This essay was originally published by Powells.com and appeared in October 2019 on https://www.powells.com/blog “Books don’t matter to us. What matters is that our children don’t get enough to eat and get sick and die.” I don’t remember exactly when Flor de Margarita Pérez Pérez said this […]

Refugee hospitality on the US/Mexico border

10 July 2018 Tonight I’m volunteering in the donated clothing room at Peace Lutheran Church in Las Cruces, New Mexico, helping mothers from Central America find clothes to replace the clothing they crossed the border in. I immediately realize that the women’s ankle monitors present a problem. My friend Mary and I try to help […]

My first novel

  When a Woman Rises is my first novel after writing for several decades about the lives of indigenous women of Chiapas, Mexico in social science publications. The novel is coming out in June 2018, an historic moment for indigenous women and their families as it marks the first year that an indigenous woman – […]

Imagining many words and worlds

23 September 2017 The past few weeks I’ve been designing this website with the help of a friend. It has taken me into uncomfortable territory, for example sharing my personal history with the world, in essence saying “Look at me!” Today I thought about how strongly this activity contrasts with the ethos of my Maya […]