Book Review
S AN R OSENDO
C ROSSING
by L. G. Lindsay
M
arie Blazek’s memoir, Let Go of the
Rope, examines her lifelong quest to
find meaning and fulfillment in the
hardscrabble events which shaped her life.
Marie’s odyssey takes her down an unconven-
tional path, some steps of which she chose
deliberately while others remained stubbornly
beyond her control.
Born in 1947 in a small East Texas town,
Marie was raised by parents who showed little
outward affection. Unable to relate with fami-
ly members or with peers at school, Marie
attributes her perennial self-doubt and rebel-
lious nature to an unsatisfying early home life.
Not having found common ground even with
classmates at college, Marie immersed herself in
her studies and attained a degree in Latin
Studies.
Reaching adulthood during the tumultuous
and nonconformist Age of Aquarius in the late
1960s, Marie experimented like so many of her
contemporaries with social mores and conven-
tions. She made pottery and lived communally
as a “hippie.” After the first of her two mar-
riages failed, she yearned to find deeper mean-
ing. Grief-stricken following the death of her
first child, Marie pursued in earnest her quest
for meaning. Her work as a potter was punctu-
ated by seven years as a public school teacher,
a position which she found to be deeply unful-
filling.
Social alienation marked Marie’s early and
middle years. She was adrift at a time of enor-
mous cultural upheaval. While apolitical in her
assessments Marie is clear about the low esteem
W
inter is the season to curl up
under an afgan with a hot toddy,
some pumpkin bread and a good
book. Victoria at Front Street Books,
Alpine, helped me put this list together:
recent releases by local authors. Marfa
Books, Marfa has a good selection as well.
Reading's so nice, you'll forget the ice!
Craig Trumbower, More than Snake Hunting
Rawles Williams, Boquillas Crossing
John De Mere, Terlingua Heat
Marie Blazek, Let Go the Rope
Pat Seawell, Big Bend Schoolhouse and
A Surprise in the Park
in which she holds her cultural origins: “I simply
can’t relate much to ancestors. Let’s see, as a youngster,
there was Catholicism, sexism, classism, consumerism,
and Campbell’s soup.” There is not much polemic,
however, in Marie’s writing. For the most part
she eschews making social or political criticism,
i.e., she throws no stones. Marie’s concerns are
not about this world, and, for that matter, not
about the next world either. She seeks lasting
truth, and she finds it in exploring her inner self,
in scaling mountains, and in pursuing close per-
sonal friendships.
The leitmotiv in Marie’s autobiography is
spiritual quest in which Buddhism serves as her
guide. She explains how she was influenced, in
turn, by Taoism, meditation, sweat lodges,
yoga, and by Eastern philosophies. A recurrent
theme in her memoir is that the true nature of
existence is filled with “Dukha,” which is the
Buddhist term for suffering, anxiety, and stress.
In her strongest writing the author describes
how she frequently shuttled back and forth
from Marfa, Texas to Tepoztlan, Morelos,
where she finds in Mexico a magic that long
had eluded her. We glimpse Marie straddling
two cultures. She is a single, sexagenarian
gringa who attains maybe not enlightenment
but certainly a sense of growing contentment.
Marie is entranced by the color and vibrancy of
a small, Mexican town. She is elated to find
locals who embrace the present, demonstrating
mindfulness, and who take solace in simple
things.
Marie is unabashed
continued on page 27
about being estranged
Jewelry • Pottery
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ORTHODOX CHURCH
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Don Caddem, Tied Hard and Fast and
Apache Adams: Big Bend Cowboy
James Glendenning, Ledgendary Locals of the
Big Bend and Davis Mountains
Jane Dunn Sibley, Jane's Window
Elizabeth A. Garcia, The Beautiful Bones
Masie Lee, Like a Stink in a Whirlwind
Lonn Taylor, Texas, My Texas
Jane Larremore, Self-portrait of a Texas
Cowboy: Stories Told and Illustrated by Brian
Larremore
Cenizo
First Quarter 2014
21