Many of his stories capture the essence of living in and around Santa Curz Verapaz close to Coban, where I’ve worked and traveled many times and is not far from where I was with the Peace Corps. Alta Verapaz is exciting due to its cloud forests, Maya inhabitants, and the historic presence of Germans who dominated the coffee plantations at the turn of the century. And since I’m working on my forthcoming book, The Guatemala Reader, this seemed an excellent time to pull it off my bookshelf. Guatemala is a country of extremes — a place of terrible cruelty, apparent […]
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Wind in the Elephant Tree by Earl Vincent de Berge, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
Earl de Berge’s third book of poetry is an Ode to his wife, Suzanne. Most poems are love poems or valentines to his life partner he met in college and married just after she graduated. This writer and photographer also shares memories of friends, scenes of his beloved Guatemala, aging, his legacy, and much more. I met Earl and his wife, Suzanne, several years ago over lunch in Phoenix, discussing fundraising strategies for “Seeds for a Future,” an NGO they set up in Guatemala, which provides training to impoverished rural women on the South Coast. I soon learned that […]
Continue readingWine Tasting in Cottonwood, Arizona & the Latest on the Guatemala Reader, Million Mile Walker Dispatch, October 2023
Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, This month, Culture Watch will include a story of one vulnerable renter evicted illegally from her home. My Writing and Reviews will focus on a gem of a book on Guatemala, as well as an update on my forthcoming book, plus a movie review. Voices in Action will include a provocative quote, a What Others Are Saying and the Calendar will be updated. First, in the spirit of getting to know the desert and our adopted state of Arizona, here are a few photos of our wine-tasting tour of Cottonwood, […]
Continue readingElites & Inequality: the Path to Political Disintegration & the Guatemala Reader, Million Mile Walker Dispatch, September 2023 Issue
Dear Friends and Colleagues from Around the World, This month, I’ll provide an update on my forthcoming book, The Guatemala Reader, and the situation with the Presidential election there. In Culture Watch, we’ll look at the impact of the growth of elites and inequality in the U.S. My Writing and Reviews will include the latest book and movie reviews. Voices in Action will include a provocative quote, and the Calendar will be updated. The Guatemala Reader: I’ve decided to self-publish to preserve the 20 essays and include photographs, a map, a bibliography, and an updated version of “Democracy in Crisis.” […]
Continue readingGuatemalan Journey by Stephen Connely Benz, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I was introduced to the author by his agent, who sent me another book of his, Topographies, to review. A stellar collection of travel essays that take the reader through places as diverse as rural Wyoming, the Florida Everglades, and a train ride across the border from Romania to the former Soviet Union. https://millionmilewalker.com/2020/06/book-review-non-fiction-topographies/ While researching my forthcoming book, The Guatemala Reader, I was delighted to learn that he’d written a book similar to this entitled Guatemalan Journey. Identical to my Peace Corps experience there, he spent two years as a Fulbright Scholar doing the day-to-day activities and dealing with […]
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