My Mother Is Now Earth

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Native American Studies, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book My Mother Is Now Earth by Mark Anthony Rolo, Minnesota Historical Society Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Mark Anthony Rolo ISBN: 9780873518598
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press Publication: March 1, 2012
Imprint: Borealis Books Language: English
Author: Mark Anthony Rolo
ISBN: 9780873518598
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Publication: March 1, 2012
Imprint: Borealis Books
Language: English

". . . the memory of my mother came to me like a drifting scent in the breeze, swirling through the branches of a nearby cedar tree. I was drawn back [35 years] to the day I learned she had passed on. But that autumn day of 1973 did not grip me with deep sadness, the burden of never seeing her again. I was looking at that day from a new angle, a distant view that seemed to suggest a new, untold story. I was suddenly more than curious about who my mother truly was in this life and beyond."

Uprooted from family and community in Milwaukee by her husband, a French and Irish construction worker with a drinking problem, Corrine Rolo struggles to raise their seven children on a remote farm near Big Falls, Minnesota. She longs to move back to Milwaukee, or to visit her relatives on the Bad River Ojibwe reservation, at one point threatening to leave the older kids behind and return to her home in the city.

Mark Anthony Rolo sifts through potent dreams and childhood memories to recreate a picture of his often conflicted mother during the last three years of her life. She told him a few warm stories of her life on the reservation, but she participated in the family's casually derogatory banter about their Ojibwe heritage. She spent little time helping Rolo with his schoolwork, even as she wrote voluminous, detailed letters to her family in Milwaukee. She could treat her children harshly and yet also display the fiercest love.

With an innocent and sometimes brutal child's view, Rolo recounts stories of a woman who battles poverty, depression, her abusive husband, and isolation through the long northern Minnesota winters, and of himself, her son, who struggles at school, wrestles with his Ojibwe identity, and copes with violence. But he also shows, with eloquence and compassion, his adult understanding of his mother's fight to live with dignity, not despair.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

". . . the memory of my mother came to me like a drifting scent in the breeze, swirling through the branches of a nearby cedar tree. I was drawn back [35 years] to the day I learned she had passed on. But that autumn day of 1973 did not grip me with deep sadness, the burden of never seeing her again. I was looking at that day from a new angle, a distant view that seemed to suggest a new, untold story. I was suddenly more than curious about who my mother truly was in this life and beyond."

Uprooted from family and community in Milwaukee by her husband, a French and Irish construction worker with a drinking problem, Corrine Rolo struggles to raise their seven children on a remote farm near Big Falls, Minnesota. She longs to move back to Milwaukee, or to visit her relatives on the Bad River Ojibwe reservation, at one point threatening to leave the older kids behind and return to her home in the city.

Mark Anthony Rolo sifts through potent dreams and childhood memories to recreate a picture of his often conflicted mother during the last three years of her life. She told him a few warm stories of her life on the reservation, but she participated in the family's casually derogatory banter about their Ojibwe heritage. She spent little time helping Rolo with his schoolwork, even as she wrote voluminous, detailed letters to her family in Milwaukee. She could treat her children harshly and yet also display the fiercest love.

With an innocent and sometimes brutal child's view, Rolo recounts stories of a woman who battles poverty, depression, her abusive husband, and isolation through the long northern Minnesota winters, and of himself, her son, who struggles at school, wrestles with his Ojibwe identity, and copes with violence. But he also shows, with eloquence and compassion, his adult understanding of his mother's fight to live with dignity, not despair.

More books from Minnesota Historical Society Press

Cover of the book The Last Hunter by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book The WPA Guide to Wisconsin by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book Dakota Women's Work by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book Secret Partners by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book Sweet Land by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book A Country Doctor's Casebook by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book On Stage with Kevin Kling by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book Little Crow by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book The Emigrants by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book Offstage Voices by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book Lincoln and the Indians by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book Making Marriage by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book Stand Up! by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book The Historic St. Croix Valley by Mark Anthony Rolo
Cover of the book The Scandinavian Riviera, or Hovland, Minnesota by Mark Anthony Rolo
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy