The American Dream
Buenos Dias, Ana Lucía Torres. “One of the things I love the most about the United States is that it provides such a variety of opportunities. I’m amazed at my potential for growth. Coming here was my constant dream, but it often felt distant and unrealistic, a daydream. Having the chance to study and learn in such a diverse country is a privilege for which I am indescribably grateful.”
Ana Lucía was born in Monterrey, the lovely “City of Mountains” in northern Mexico now populated by many international businesses. She pictures her tight-knit family of five gathered in the kitchen every evening to chat about the day, the week topped off by leisurely Sunday gatherings at her grandmother’s. The eldest child with two siblings, she graduated from a bilingual high school. By nature curious, she easily spots beauty—a stranger’s smile, a familiar street changed by the movement of light and shadow, an artistic thrill while painting or singing.
In the summer of 2022, Ana Lucía’s dream came true. Hershey’s invited her mother to continue her successful human resources career in Virginia, employing her to enhance Hershey’s diversity and bilingual hiring and training efforts. The company sponsored visas for the family, presented a choice of locations for their new home with complementary school options, shipped their belongings, and guaranteed eventual Green Card applications for the children. Ana Lucia’s father continues his remote computer programming job with Nissan US, setting up more efficient programs here and in Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil.
Come May 2024, Ana Lucía graduates with a 4.0 GPA in Liberal Arts from Piedmont Virginia Community College. Whether at Columbia or the University of Virginia, she will focus on gender studies and intensify her activism. “Who knows, maybe I’ll become a UN ambassador or write a book!” Her brother and sister adjust well to middle school, her dog romps in the backyard, and her grandmother just arrived for a long stay. End-of-day kitchen talks and lazy Sundays warm them as ever.
We learn about Ana Lucía’s activism through her aunt, Abril.
Always cheerful and energetic, articulate and direct, Ana Lucía abruptly transforms as we sit together. Grief rips through her body. Her eyes, staring and sunken, look down and straight ahead. Her voice switches between whispers and outrage. Throbbing emotions ricochet as she shares a love story. “This void lives in me, it’s imprinted indelibly in my heart. I don’t want her forgotten. I will continue her work.” Abril Pérez Sagaon, her mother’s 48-year-old sister, died in Mexico City almost four years ago—assassinated on November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. “She was the glue to our family, always smiling and happy. Light shone in and around her. She never gave up fighting for justice and never let fear consume her. I aspire to her strength and resilience.”
While asleep in her bed in January 2019, Abril’s estranged husband attacked her with a baseball bat. Her screams awakened one of their children as well as neighbors, the screams saving her life. When released from a lengthy hospital stay, Abril and her children returned home to Monterrey. Her attacker, incarcerated for attempted murder, met his future hitmen there and bribed the judge to reduce his charge to domestic violence. As part of their custody battle, the released murderer ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Abril and her two sons, forcing their return to Mexico City. The boys witnessed their mother’s murder in the car driven by her lawyer. The hitmen returned to prison. The one who ordered the murder fled the country, altered his physical appearance, and remains “most wanted” in Mexico and pursued by Interpol.
A few weeks after Abril died, her 15-year-old niece found refuge in activism. Mexico cries out for heightened awareness and understanding of gender-based violence. Femicide, the hate crime of intentionally killing girls and women, occurs at least 11 times every day. Ana Lucía powered her start by creating “La Voz de Abril,” an ever-growing Instagram site taking her to public schools across Mexico and in Argentina. “My focus lies in nurturing the consciousness of young girls and teenagers, helping them recognize the earliest signs of violence and grasp the immense worth of their own voices.” Further and farther, Abril’s niece assists families facing situations like Abril’s—garnering media attention to their plights and connecting them to appropriate organizations.
What courage Ana Lucía musters. When will her heart heal? Where will that American dream take her?
How unforgettable, seeing her love outlive death
When worries add up to despair, poet Wendell Berry seeks solace in “The Peace of Wild Things.” While the great heron rests on calm water, the stars during daylight wait to beam their nightlights. “I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” Berry lies down and listens.
Rise with Rising Appalachia as they “Love Her in the Morning.” Their plucked instruments picking up tempo, their grinning faces multiplying joy, and that one drumstick beating the odds. “I’m gonna love her in the mornin.’” This lone lyric repeats almost but not quite enough. Repeat. And not only in the mornin.’
photo: Amber Capron
An October “Postscript,” an Irish PS. Take a car ride along the ocean in Seamus Heaney’s beloved County Clare. Everything. Then again, everything. Buffeting yet following winds, shimmering plays of light, sailing swans, foaming ocean waves. “Useless to think you’ll park and capture it,” Heaney realizes. But hear the poet’s voice. All of this will “catch the heart off guard and blow it open.”
“Got a feeling in my heart,” and MaMuse indeed blows it open. As morning glories bloom, their duet sounds altogether, all together “Glorious.” Clouds hover in tree tops—raccoons pawprint their thievery. Needed rain soaks the earth—clear river signals all’s well. “Pitter patter sings my heart.”