The Miracle of Small Things

       

     

       Please welcome Guilie Castillo Oriard from Quiet Laughter as she drops by for a stop on her tour to promote her book The Miracle of Small Things.  She'll also be revealing my song pick for the Battle of the Bands coming up on Sunday November 15th.

The Miracle of Small Things Book Tour 

       Thank you so much, Lee, for hosting me here at Tossing It Out today! What a treat it's been to work with you on this Battle of The Bands tie-in... And thanks for the honor of revealing your song choice for the upcoming Battle of the 15th! Luis Villalobos, the protagonist of THE MIRACLE OF SMALL THINGS, might be uniquely suited to introduce that tune...

Hint #1: The song is one that Luis—and probably every other Mexican—knows well. BUT it's not a mariachi song, or a ranchera. No, it's not the Mexican anthem, either.

      Luis Villalobos moved to Curaçao for two reasons, and two reasons only. And beaches had nothing to do with it. First, the position he was offered with Ehrlich Fiduciary, one of the largest fiduciary service providers in the world, was one he'd coveted for a long time: Managing Director. A whole office — and one of international monster Ehrlich's busiest — under his responsibility. Everyone knows responsibility is the reverse side of opportunity, and Luis feels in his ambitious gut the exhilarating twitch of golden circumstances aligning. Second, the MD position wouldn't be forever. No self-respecting international company would expect someone with his track record to agree to permanent exile in a Caribbean island. Temporary exile, however, is the key to opening doors at any other Ehrlich office. Geneva. São Paulo. Madrid. Luxembourg. Manila. Johannesburg. Shanghai. Or, of course, Singapore, home to the neural center of the Ehrlich empire.

      Curaçao is just a stepping stone. A peeled grape. After living in New York and London and Hong Kong; after working at the biggest wealth management advisory firms and with three of the Big Five tax firms... Really, in spite of its size Ehrlich will be a piece of pie, and this island out in the middle of nowhere only a challenge in terms of staying awake until he can move back into the big-time.

        But the Caribbean is treacherous. Ask any pirate, from Blackbeard to offshore finance experts. It is especially treacherous—perfidious and unreliable—for those single-minded victims of arrogance who believe they've got any sort of control on the future. And Luis is lured straight into the ambush.

         The book opens with Luis driving back to his condo on the morning of New Year's Day, after having spent the night with Milena Durant, Ehrlich Curaçao's current Managing Director. The woman he's been hired to replace (she's moving to Singapore later that year). And she's going to use this transgression to control him, to make him toe the line—her line. He's trapped. A prisoner. And he has no one to blame except himself. So why doesn't he just leave? I mean, really. Just get on a plane, Jack. (I mean Luis.) Put to work one of those 50 ways to leave your lover—and the island.

(No, this is not a hint.)

       But, see, it's not the island, or the situation he blames it for, that hold him prisoner. Prisons come in really alternative shapes, and often these are more permanent, if less obvious, than steel bars and high walls. We can be prisoners to ambition, for instance. To passion, or to emotion. To family. To commitments. To society. To our belief systems. To expectations.

  Hint #2: One can also be prisoner to good things... Like besos—oops, sorry. Kisses, I mean.

Luis considers leaving, briefly, and then discards it as a non-option. He can't break his contract, for one: what's he going to do, tell the Ehrlich CEO he slept with Milena? Make something up, then? Like what? What could possibly be so serious that he'd leave a two-year contract only two months in? And what about his resumé? How does he explain this break in employment? At the level he functions, it'll be a black mark in an otherwise enviable career. No one will hire him. No one that matters. Backing out of this Ehrlich thing will, quite literally, cost him his career. A career that defines not just his life or his future, but his very sense of identity. So he lowers his head, he bends a knee, and settles in for the long haul.

       What else can he do? The Caribbean is treacherous, but it also has a (sometimes infamous) reputation as refuge for those escaping... well, whatever's kept them prisoner. But freedom is for the intrepid, for those alert enough to spot the opportunity before it vanishes like a mirage at sunset. Will Luis see it? Will he recognize it? Even if he does, freedom won't come at an easy price. It'll be a painful process of loss and shattered dreams. The question will be whether it's worth it.

Hint #4: Some prisons masquerade as luxury resorts of the type we'd be crazy to want to escape.

         Have you ever felt a prisoner of something? How did you break free? Was it painful? Was the sense of liberation worth it? Do you think mental prisons are part of human nature? Would we be better off without them, or do they play an essential function in our psyche—and our interactions? 

Hint #5: Have you ever been a prisoner to love? Can that be a good thing?

Lee's song choice for the Battle of The Bands on the 15th is none other than José José's Preso... An ode to prisons not of steel or concrete but of flesh and blood (and hips and lips).

          Thank you, Lee, for making me a part of a Battle with this song. It brings back all sorts of wonderful memories... The original, certainly, but also (especially?) one of the covers you've chosen for the Battle. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the votes fall with this one.

~ * ~

About THE MIRACLE OF SMALL THINGS (Truth Serum Press, Aug 2015): Mexican tax lawyer Luis Villalobos is lured to the tiny island of Curaçao anticipating a fast track to the cusp of an already stellar career. But the paradise we expect is so rarely the paradise we find.

Now available in:

Paperback

ePub

Kindle

iBook

Kobo

Follow MIRACLE on Facebook, or add it to your Goodreads shelf.

About THE AUTHOR: Guilie is a Mexican export herself who transferred to Curaçao "for six months"—and, twelve years later, has yet to find a reason to leave. Her work has been published online and in print anthologies, such as Pure Slush's 2014 A Year In Stories and gorge. THE MIRACLE OF SMALL THINGS is her first book. Connect with Guilie on Facebook and Twitter, at Quiet Laughter, where she blogs about life and writing, and at Life In Dogs, where she blogs about... well, dogs.

 About THE TOUR: To celebrate the release of MIRACLE in e-book formats, several blogs will be hosting Guilie throughout November to talk about writing, about the book, its island setting and its characters—including a 100-lb. monster dog rescued from the streets—and some of the issues MIRACLE touches on, such as the role of large and small things in the realignment of our values, and the power of place in our definition of self.



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Gracias por visitar Tossing It Out, Guilie!

Are You A Prisoner of Hope?

The prison cell of Cagliostro, fortress of La Rocca, in San Leo, Italy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Prison as a Metaphor

         Now let's look at the metaphor of prison.   Each of us are prisoners of some force or situation.  Hopefully we have never or never will face literal imprisonment, but oftentimes we feel trapped by circumstance or influence that others exert upon us.  In these times we might actually think to ourselves or say to others that we feel like a prisoner of such and such.  In those times we can become filled with resentment, fear, and hopelessness.

          Imprisonment without any actual barriers of confinement might include addictions, abusive relationships, lack of financial resources, physical impairment, or any number of other difficult situations from which we find it difficult to extricate ourselves.   Sometimes the overbearing influences of a friend, family member, co-worker, or a bad boss can cause us to feel trapped in a relationship that can lead to feelings of fear, self-doubt, and codependency.

           Obligations can also create a sense of imprisonment.   Some might feel that they have to go to school or pursue a particular career path in order to fulfill the expectations of someone else.  Others can feel stuck in a job because they need the paycheck and in doing so they might long for the unfulfilled dreams of the job that they don't have.

          The metaphorical prison can encompass so many things.  It might be money--too much or the lack thereof.  The prison might be our possessions or the people in our lives.   We can be imprisoned by geography--the place where we live. Our symbolic prisons don't necessarily confine us within walls.  Our prisons are shaped by our minds and the perceptions we cultivate about our lives.  Influence is also exerted from the outside, but ultimately we are each the architect of our own prison.

          One who is in love might construct walls consisting of idealistic perceptions, unrealistic dreams, burning desire, or outright lust.  Their time might be consumed with pining, writing poems or love letters, or any other pursuit  of the lovesick soul.  A writer can be a prisoner of word counts, research, the computer, and even their blogs.  Whenever  a passion is involved the risk of imprisonment increases.    Whether it be a significant other, children, pets, a home, a job, or just about anything you can think of, we are all prisoners serving a short term or a long one in order to pay for our passion or for the thing that has managed to ensnare us in some way.
  
          As for me I like the idea of being a prisoner of hope.  That's a term that came from the Bible--Zechariah 9:12 to be precise.   Hope that is not some worthless excuse or some unattainable pie-in-the-sky dream is the greatest drive that propels us forward.  To go through life without hope is to aim toward a future where all is darkness, not unlike one who would drive in their car on the darkest night with no headlights.   To live without hope is to expect to live no longer.

         Hope is that great whatever-it-is that lies somewhere ahead of us; that for which we dream and strive and dream some more as we continue onward toward our personal El Dorado in the who-knows-where.  We can dream, but dreams are nothing without the hope that they can be one day possibly achieved.   And even if the dream is never achieved, hope provides the energy and sense of meaning to pursue the quest.  Without hope there is little to sustain us.
       
          What imprisons you?   Have you become a prisoner of hope?   Metaphorically speaking, what does breaking free from prison mean to you?

What Is This Post Leading To?

     As many of you who follow Tossing It Out already know, sometimes my posts are not just posts, but preludes to more posts.  This one is no exception.  Though I think I've brought up a relevant point regarding a subject that I think is of interest, this post is thematically connected to the posts you'll be finding on this site in the coming week and which will culminate in my song choice for my Battle of the Bands post on Sunday November 15th.

      This current post is a bit of a clue to that song choice--a song that likely few of you will be familiar with even though it is a song well known to millions of people.  This song has been recorded by many artists since it was first released in 1981 when it became a huge hit for the original artist.  This artist has international renown and besides having released several albums he has appeared in movies and on television.   His music has influenced numerous artists.

       Since these clues will probably be of little help to most of you I will be having BOTB contributor Guilie Castillo Oriard from Quiet Laughter actually join me at my blog on Wednesday when she will not only introduce the song to you, but also tell you a bit about her book The Miracle of Small Things which has recently been released.  On BOTB day she and I will present related Battles with songs in a similar genre.   

         This should prove to be a unique experiment as well as a mind expanding learning experience for all of us.   Please be here on this coming Wednesday, Friday, and finally Sunday November 15th when my next Battle of the Bands is presented.

          Gracias.