Jo’s Reading Room

“Cristobalina, three times a widow, and branded as a “bad risk” and an herb curer, was the oldest child. She had been like a mother to her godson Cangá since the time his mother died of an unknown illness.
Talking about Cristobalina, her old man always used to say:
“My daughter is an Amazon. She run all over the place. But she a free woman, and she can do whatever she wants with her body.”
― Adalberto Ortiz, Juyungo

“The ear is the organ of fear. It is a door to that which is not of this world.”
― Mónica Ojeda, Chamanes eléctricos en la fiesta del sol

“No, la juventud no era eso, por encima de la piel rosada, de las hormonas y de las cirugías, de las carnes firmes y duras, de la ausencia de surcos en la cara donde el tiempo pone e incuba sus semillas, la juventud era una disposición abierta y sincera para la vida, una facultad de enamorarse de alguien o de algo, un poder de ensoñación que está dentro, un privilegio de amor y de comprensión, un vigor para la amistad y una energía para el acto cotidiano. Sería siempre el eterno problema del espíritu, nunca del cuerpo, y el equilibrio entre el ser y el estar...”
― Alicia Yánez Cossío, Bruna and Her Sisters in the Sleeping City

“Cristobalina, trostruka udovica, o kojoj se govorilo da ima papra u krilu, bila je najstarija kći Don Clementea. Ona je malog Azuleja, kojemu je majka umrla uskoro poslije poroda od neke nepoznate bolesti, odgojila kao prava majka.
Starac je o svojoj kćeri uvijek govorio:
“Cristobalina, ona je bumbar; leti preko brda i dolova, ali je ona, na kraju krajeva, slobodna žena i može raspolagati sa svojim tijelom kako god hoće.”
― Adalberto Ortiz, Juyungo