October 2021

Looted carving returned to Guatemala

A stone carving of a bird headdress looted from a Mayan archaeological site in northwestern Guatemala in the 1960s ended up in the hands of a private collector in France. In 2019, the work was slated for sale at auction in Paris for an estimated $27,000 to $39,000.

Guatemala and Mexico objected to the sale and negotiations ensued. Ultimately, the private collector decided to return the artifact to Guatemala and on Monday, UNESCO held a ceremony to mark its return. The carving will be installed at the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Guatemala City.

As the article on CNN Style notes, this repatriation comes at a time of reckoning for museums and galleries, as questions mount about how and when they acquired cultural objects and works of art.

From the article:

“The voluntary handover of this fragment of a Mayan stela to its homeland in Guatemala showcases the evolution of the international environment in favour of the return of emblematic cultural objects and artefacts to their homelands under UNESCO’s guidance over the last 50 years,” UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.

“It also shows the importance of the UNESCO 1970 Convention in fighting the illicit trafficking of cultural objects. This success story has been possible thanks to international cooperation and a private collector’s goodwill; it is a model for others to follow.”

From CNN Style: A private collector is returning a Mayan artifact to Guatemala

Photo credit: Stephane De Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

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Found documentary 2

Film still from Found, courtesy Indiewire

I watched the new Netflix documentary Found with my 16-year-old son Mateo. Found tells the story of three teenagers adopted from China as babies who discover they’re cousins through DNA testing. Chloe, Sadie and Lily travel together to China in search of their roots and the film follows their journey. 

Watching the film was an emotional experience on so many levels, for both of us. Adoption, relinquishment, grief, identity, belonging. The relationship among the girls and between the girls and their families was beautiful. And then when the action moved to China, a whole new flood of feelings emerged.

I should add that we talk about adoption a lot in my family, so Mateo was prepared for the intensity of this documentary. But I can see where the depth of exploration might be difficult or triggering for some. You might want to view the film first before sharing with children–in fact, I recommend this if there’s any hesitation.

Otherwise, I wish everyone touched by adoption could see this moving, layered and important documentary.

Found trailer.

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“Found,” a new documentary

Netflix film still from documentary Found.

I’m always excited when the subject of adoption is featured in a movie, documentary or book. And that includes Found, a new documentary about three teenagers adopted from China who discover they’re cousins through DNA testing. Chloe, Sadie and Lily travel together to China in search of their roots and the film follows their journey. The documentary is available now on Netflix. I watched the trailer and it looks amazing!

A review is below, along with a link to the trailer.

Mateo and I will watch tonight and I’ll let you know our impressions. As a side note: Watching films about adoption with our kids opens the door to conversations/questions/ opinions about adoption. I know you know this!

I’ll never forget one summer Mateo and I were in Antigua, Guatemala–I can’t remember where Olivia was???–and we sat with my laptop in the kitchen of our rental apartment and watched Finding Oscar, a documentary about a survivor of the Dos Erres massacre during the Guatemalan civil war. Watching together in that small confined space, in the country where the action took place, was so powerful. Mateo loves history, anyway, and the film really sparked his interest in the Guatemalan conflict in a way nothing else had before.

So two films worth watching: Found and Finding Oscar.

xoxo

Trailer for Found

Review of Found in Chicago Tribune

Trailer for Finding Oscar

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One Year!

One of our cover versions

My novel Mother Mother launched a year ago this month. The characters and scenes began to obsess me almost as soon as my memoir Mamalita was published. In my dreams and awake I heard Rosalba and Juan, Julie and Mark. I saw Rosalba’s village in San Rolando and Julie’s art museum in San Francisco. The only way to break free from their insistent voices was to tell their story.

I now wonder why it took me seven years to write the thing because I knew the characters, knew the narrative arc, knew the ending from the beginning. I should have sat down and knocked it out in six months. But as my husband kept reminding me, “It takes as long as it takes.” I console myself by remembering that I continued to learn during those seven years, continued to research Guatemalan history, to deepen my understanding of the complexity of family and adoption, identity and belonging.

I said everything I needed to say in this book. I put everything on the page. I’m grateful to everyone who read it, who wrote or chatted with me about their reaction, posted a review, recommended to a friend or discussed in their book group. Thank you, too, to my helpful and skilled teachers, beta readers and editors and to Loyola University’s Apprentice House Press.

I’m proud of the awards Mother Mother has received and hope you don’t mind if I list them: Winner 2021 San Diego Book Awards for general fiction, Finalist in the 2021 National Indie Excellence Award for general fiction, Distinguished Favorite in the 2021 Independent Book Awards, Third place Feathered Quill Book Awards in literary fiction.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

PS: Mother Mother: Check it out! It’s a great read! Xoxox

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Olivia’s visit

Olivia visited this weekend. Took the train from Merced to Emeryville, where Tim picked her up. The weather was gloriously sunny and she spent Saturday in San Francisco with a friend, eating takeout from Maya Fusion, walking through Golden Gate Park, listening to drummers from Brazil and wandering through the Cal Academy of Science.

For dinner we ate outside with Susan and family and the menu included bounty from our garden: gazpacho with fresh tomatoes, pesto with basil picked a few hours earlier. We ended the meal with a delicious plum upside down cake Susan baked and brought.

The set was setting and the evening was warm. We sat outside until it was dark.

Olivia returned to college on Sunday. So far, so good. We’re holding our breath.

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