Northern Shores Southern Borders: Revelations of a Bilingual Life

August 1968. Fifteen-year-old preachers kid leaves her small Midwestern town (where pronouncing tortilla correctly meant you were bilingual and eating one made you multicultural) to spend three weeks in Saltillo Mexico on a language-study cultural immersion stay. A taste of chili peppers machismo and mariachi not only improved her vocabulary but led her to enroll in a college semester in Spain with its Moorish palaces historical conquistadores and life under the rule of a dictator. But it was the day Lorena entered the classroom with her Guatemalan newspaper reporting of Mayan massacres United States military intervention and fleeing refugees that radically shifted her emerging world view. The once carefree teenaged adventurer seeking bilingual fluency was unknowingly drawn into a lifelong journey as a code-switching professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies an on-call translator community activist and human rights advocate.More than a memoir Northern Shores/ Southern Borders takes the readers to places they do not know and introduces the people belonging to the faces inhabiting them. Spanish is the thread weaving together injured migrant workers international exchange students attempts at acclimation to north woods life and the seldom told story of Central American refugees channeled through the 1980s Overground Railroad from Texas detention centers through Minnesota to crossing into Canada. Spanish - the bridge between cultures; a connector of people a kaleidoscope of perspectives enriching each experience. New revelations offered expanded options for life enhancing blends and deeper reflections on ones own foundations.Gifts await you. . . many just outside your comfort zones. Janet KurtzREADER REVIEWSJourney with this quintessential Spanish professor as she relates her adventures in bridging her own Northern Minnesota/Wisconsin upbringing with Spanish-speaking cultures. Heart-warming sometimes somber always insightful - her perspective of the world is a true delight to read.- Chip Borkenhagen publisher Riverplace PressGaining understanding of others points of view is crucial in these turbulent times. Jans humble writing will broaden your understanding while charming and encouraging you at the same time.- Christy Amerud editor Take a Second Look Inc.I highly recommend Jans literary adventure; it is so informative and truly is a community-based work. Jans style is so engaging and fun and there are definitely laugh out loud moments--watch out for the unbaptized water! I enjoyed reading of her travels as I also love those special places in some of the same amazing Spanish-speaking countries.- Susan W. Brainerd MNThank you for teaching us and opening windows into both ends of our world.- Sister Jan St. Cloud MNWhat a woman what a life...what a book! I cant put it down. I love the way you write and more importantly what you say. You were wise beyond your years at 15. Im amazed that you were grown up enough to be able to go off on your own like you did.- Mary R. Green Valley AZ