VALLARTA SOUNDS
  • Home
  • Support Our Musicians
  • Bahia World Music Festival
  • ESAÚ GALVÁN and TATEWARI
  • MEDIA LUNA
  • Trem de Minas
  • LOS BAMBINOS
  • Piel Canela
  • Roberto Falcon
  • Gary Flores y Gary Flores! Responds to Quarantine
  • Ignacio "Nacho" Flores (MORUNO)
  • RAUL SIMENTAL
  • GATO NEGRO
  • Osmar Esquivel
  • Faralae
  • Articles from Vallarta Paper and Vallarta Daily News
  • Articles Written for PV Mirror
  • Articles in Vallarta Tribune
  • VENUES
  • Calendar of Events
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Archives
    • Portrait of An Artist--Ignacio "Nacho" Flores
    • Portrail of An Artist--Esau Galvan
    • A Walk Along the River Cuale and Other Tidbits
    • I'm Still Here--Marina Reaves
    • Covid 19 Inspired Innovations in PV 2020
    • Puerto Vallarta Dreaming
    • Hasta Que Ese Mundo Caiga
    • Footprints in the Sand
    • Back to the Beach and Music Too
    • The Bamboo Harvest
    • The Turkey of Orhan Pamuk
    • Reimagine--You Can Say I'm a Dreamer
    • Happy Surprise from Media Luna
    • Lots of Changes on the Horizon
    • We Will Survive-- but How Will We Look?
    • Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
    • Discovering the Many Voices of Fernando Pessoa
    • Mexican, American, European--Man of the World! Carlos Fuentes
    • A Coronavirus Birthday
    • A View from Home
    • Let's Talk About Josephine Baker and Robert Brady, An Unlikely Couple
    • Crossing Borders with Music
    • All Roads Lead to Rome, or So They Say
    • The Case of Luis Donaldo Colosio
    • Musical Getaway to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and Sayulita

“I Am Still Here" A New Book by Martina Reaves


By Christie Seeley
Vallartasounds.com


A friend of mine does computer consulting here in Berkeley, California and has several clients who are writers. Many are writing fiction, others memoirs. Recently he shared with me a book by one of his clients called "I Am Still Here." I decided to take a peek and found it fascinating. 


While the book addresses challenges, setbacks, and illnesses faced during her varied and productive lifetime, the writer maintains an optimistic and joyful attitude. She has the resilience of a Frida Kahlo or Giulietta Masina's character in Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria."


While covering her life experiences in the last half of the 20th century into the current period, the narrative takes the reader through many significant changes in our culture post World War II. It tracks family and friends and their reactions to these changes as well as her own. In the narrative, we experience many significant events: coming of age at the start of the Vietnam War and hippy counterculture period, the flourishing of cults like that resulting in the Jonestown massacre, coming out as part of the lesbian community, friends with HIV, same-sex parenting and marriage, and a long term battle with illnesses including life-threatening cancer. You are breathless when you finish the book, and she, thankfully, is dancing!


Her story is related skillfully, interweaving one time period and another, painting a portrait of various Northern California communities and other areas where parents, relatives and significant friends resided. The story is full and positively not solely focused on the issues she faced but painting a picture of American culture. As a historian, this is the type of primary source one searches to understand society and a period of history. 


Martina’s example encourages writers to record their thoughts in stories and memoirs, an endeavor that will leave its trail for future researchers to search for a portrait of the complexities of life in our times. I applaud her generosity in sharing her experiences and insights and, many times, guidance with us. It is indeed a gift to treasure.


Martina Reaves' memoir "I Am Still Here" is available for purchase on many print and Kindle edition online sources. Martina’s website is http://martinareaves.com/
Picture
  • Home
  • Support Our Musicians
  • Bahia World Music Festival
  • ESAÚ GALVÁN and TATEWARI
  • MEDIA LUNA
  • Trem de Minas
  • LOS BAMBINOS
  • Piel Canela
  • Roberto Falcon
  • Gary Flores y Gary Flores! Responds to Quarantine
  • Ignacio "Nacho" Flores (MORUNO)
  • RAUL SIMENTAL
  • GATO NEGRO
  • Osmar Esquivel
  • Faralae
  • Articles from Vallarta Paper and Vallarta Daily News
  • Articles Written for PV Mirror
  • Articles in Vallarta Tribune
  • VENUES
  • Calendar of Events
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Archives
    • Portrait of An Artist--Ignacio "Nacho" Flores
    • Portrail of An Artist--Esau Galvan
    • A Walk Along the River Cuale and Other Tidbits
    • I'm Still Here--Marina Reaves
    • Covid 19 Inspired Innovations in PV 2020
    • Puerto Vallarta Dreaming
    • Hasta Que Ese Mundo Caiga
    • Footprints in the Sand
    • Back to the Beach and Music Too
    • The Bamboo Harvest
    • The Turkey of Orhan Pamuk
    • Reimagine--You Can Say I'm a Dreamer
    • Happy Surprise from Media Luna
    • Lots of Changes on the Horizon
    • We Will Survive-- but How Will We Look?
    • Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
    • Discovering the Many Voices of Fernando Pessoa
    • Mexican, American, European--Man of the World! Carlos Fuentes
    • A Coronavirus Birthday
    • A View from Home
    • Let's Talk About Josephine Baker and Robert Brady, An Unlikely Couple
    • Crossing Borders with Music
    • All Roads Lead to Rome, or So They Say
    • The Case of Luis Donaldo Colosio
    • Musical Getaway to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and Sayulita