by Leilani Grajeda-Higley
Lack of power is the cause of all suffering.
Power is all that is and all that ever was. Power surrounds us; attracts and repels us. Our relationships are made of power. We talk, eat, and wear power. We are made of the power contained in every atom in every cell of our being, and those atoms came from the sun. The sun is everything, and we would be nothing without it. Our cells are packed with its converted light.
With a subject so vast, my challenge was to scale it down and engage and entertain the reader’s curiosity with stories about history, human struggles, physiology, the value in our behaviors, and pecking orders of power. The scope ranges from the cosmos to the workings of our brain cells, especially those of the amygdala in the limbic system. I use memoir because it helps readers to identify with the time-honored telling of the hero’s journey. I reference Mexico, land of my birth, because of its essential role in human history. As a nurse I was entrusted with the safety and well-being of patients in their most vulnerable moments. As a daughter I navigated between love, obligations, and a yearning to steer my mind into forbidden ideas, to question the unquestioned. As a parent, writer, and college lecturer my task was and is to open minds to wonder.
I recently discovered, to my amazement, that when reduced to helpless humility, my default is not tears, but laughter. Could it be that life is a great cosmic joke; that those who struggle to wrest power from others don’t get it?
Power- A Memoiris told by a Mexican American nurse who grew up on the margins of American life—a great vantage point to see what this country takes for granted. The book has been described as brilliant, quirky, sad, funny, wise, and well written.
Leilani Grajeda-Higley lgrajeda@sdsu.edu
An ebook available from Smashwords.com, Barnes & Noble, Apple iOS, Kindle, and Nook.
Power – A Memoir 