The Bloggess

A LAURA PEREA UPDATE: Perhaps a little bit of fate is working here?

June 11, 2024in Random Crap

If you are following the Laura Perea mystery you’ll remember that in my last update I said that I was trying to find something that might have been written by Laura…a 1956 document that was referenced in a book about Minnie Fisher Cunningham, a Texas suffragette who was announcing her candidacy for President. And after a bit of magic by librarians and archivists willing to sift through 9-foot-long archival boxes, they found it! An untitled memo in Minnie’s papers written by Laura Perea. I’d worried that even if I could find it I could never prove it was by our Laura, but it almost seems like she knew this would come, because under her name she added an address…the very home her parents owned at the time.

Her voice is unique, snarky, smart-as-hell and opinionated (and she made me go for the dictionary for “blowlands” – lands subject to wind erosion) and it makes me wish I had more to read. I picked up several things from her hand-typed memo:

That she was either out of the mental institution, or at least wasn’t a full-time resident by April of 1956, because she says she is in the room when Minnie announces her run.
That she had a talent with words. One of her phrases rang particularly true when she documented the moment that Minnie announced her run in the home of a supporter: “…the occasion may well be destined for the anonymity of those unrecorded memories of a history that is constantly being made…by the forgotten men and women of the suburbs and the blowlands…” It’s not lost on me that 70 years ago she was writing about forgotten people, just as I’m writing about her now.
The strangest thing. There’s only one of her drawings I never shared here because I didn’t understand it. It’s a political cartoon of Khrushchev (I think?) with Nixon and Mamie Eisenhower pandering to farmers to vote for Eisenhower, and I believe it may have been created to go with this exact memo. Both are dated April 1956 and both mention her criticism of “The Benson Plan”. What are the odds that the only piece of writing I’ve ever found of hers goes with one of the only sketches of hers I have? It feels like fate.

Anyway, the subject of her memo is obscure and dated, but I’ll leave it at the bottom of the post in case you want to read it in full.

I also found out a few other things…that Laura and her sister Helen entered Trinity University for the first time in 1927. Helen was listed in the college bulletin as a student in the art department. Laura was listed in the conservatory of music as a piano student. THEY WERE NINE YEARS OLD AT THE TIME.

I already knew that Laura and Helen were honor students but I discovered that Helen was often at the very top of the class each year in college, probably on course to be valedictorian, but during their senior year Helen drops out and never returns. I assume this is when her mental illness became too much to deal with as she and Laura are both in their first mental institution a few years later according to the 1940 census records. I had assumed that Laura’s degree would be in writing or art (and she did join a college writing club) but she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in science, and got special academic awards for her work in social sciences. I’m not sure social work existed in the same way it does now so my guess is that political science was her jam.

There were a few Letters to the Editor from a Laura Perea in the San Antonio paper in the 1960s that I couldn’t attribute to her at the time, but now after reading her memo I feel pretty confident that these letters were from her. The same feisty voice, strong political ideals and unapologetic tone.

In other words, don’t fuck with Laura.

This Thursday I’ll be at the bookshop, hanging Laura’s art in our community room. It’ll be open all day Friday for people to see, and at 5pm I’ll be there to visit at a super-casual free reception where we can talk about mental health, art, voice, and remember those who have been forgotten. I’ll be doing an online zoom event in the near future after I’ve spoken to the one person I’ve found who actually knew Laura. I’ll keep you posted.

And in case you want to read it, here is Laura’s untitled memo. (A special note here for younger readers that the word “negro” was an acceptable term back in the 50s when this was written but began to fall out of acceptable use in the late 60s. MLK Jr. used it often.)

It makes me wonder if the other political sketch I have of hers (An outer-space wire of Eisenhower and his wife surrounded by a world-ending mushroom cloud on the national day of prayer) also went with a piece of writing?

Subversive or subverted?

June 7, 2024in Random Crap

Feeling conflicted on this and need a second opinion. You probably already know that I have two monthly book clubs. I always share my book picks in an article I write for my community magazine. I live in conservative Texas and so I sometimes get a bit of pushback on my choices, which are often the sort of queer, POC-authored books, or books that center anything-other-than-Christian characters that are often banned here, but last month was the first time that I actually was asked to rewrite my article to pick a different book than the one I’d submitted because the magazine was getting pushback on “appropriateness” and needed me to pick something more “family friendly”.

I considered just quitting but instead I submitted a new article with a different book to spotlight in the magazine….Lula Deans’ Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller. I explained that the book was about a small southern neighborhood where one woman decides to rid the public libraries of all the “inappropriate” books…none of which she’s actually read…and replaces the contested books with her idea of “family-friendly” literature in her Little Free Library. When a young woman secretly fills Lula Dean’s Little Free Library with banned books wrapped in her “wholesome” dust covers (The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette is replaced with The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution…The jacket for Our Confederate Heroes ends up on Beloved) the neighbors who borrow Lula Deans books are changed in unexpected way. A very appropriate read for our times.

I expected that I’d be fired immediately (if you can be fired from someplace that doesn’t pay you) but instead they totally ran it and now I can’t decide if perhaps my replacement article was too subtle, or if possibly the people running the magazine are also a little tired of appropriateness as defined by everyone else. Regardless, I suspect my time there is limited.

Do you want to see my actual pick that was too dangerous for my neighborhood magazine?

It’s In the Hour of Crows by Dana Elmendorf.

In a small town in rural Georgia, Appalachian roots and traditions still run deep. Folks paint their houses haint blue to keep the spirits way. Black ferns grow, it’s said, where death will follow. And Weatherly Wilder’s grandmother is a local Granny Witch, relied on for help delivering babies, making herbal remedies, tending to the sick—and sometimes serving up a fatal dose of revenge when she deems it worthy. Weatherly, when called upon, can talk the death out of the dying; only once, never twice. But in her short twenty years on this Earth this gift has taken a toll, rooting her to the small town that only wants her around when they need her and resents her backwater ways when they don’t.

Weatherly’s cousin, Adaire, also has a gift: she’s a Scryer; she can see the future reflected in the dark surface of her scrying pan. Or at least, she could before she was killed. Weatherly, with the help of Adaire’s spirit, sets out to find Adaire’s killer, no matter what it takes.

What makes this book so dangerous? Witches?…I guess? No fucking clue really. But it’s an excellent book that perfectly balances the line between cozy and unsettling and if you aren’t already a member of the Fantastic Strangelings Book Club this is the perfect book to join on. COME READ WITH US.

Or if your tastes run a little darker I recommend Nightmares from Nowhere, our horror book club.

This month’s book is one of my absolute favorites and I am still thinking about it. It’s The Eyes are theBest Part by Monika Kim.

It’s a feminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective. I’ve never read anything quite like it, although it did remind me a little of My Sister, the Serial Killer. A brilliantly inventive, subversive novel about a young woman unraveling, and a family falling apart and trying to find their way back to each other. If you like horror, don’t miss this one.

And if you need more than one book to get you through the month, here are a few June books I loved.

Bear by Julia Phillips – A mesmerizing novel of two sisters on a Pacific Northwest Island whose lives are upended by an unexpected visitor. Short but haunting.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center – A rom-com about a rom-com. It sounds meta but it’s marvelous. (And Katherine is visiting Nowhere Bookshop for a reading and signing this month in our sold-out event.)

Malas by Marcela Fuentes – A story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations. (Marcela is also coming to Nowhere for a signing!)

Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe – Weird but fun…wrestling, onlyfans, motherhood, growing up…this one’s got a lot going on.

Happy reading and thanks for supporting Nowhere Bookshop!

PS. We have a new shirt available until June 19th and also we’re in the finals for Best Bookshop in San Antonio. Feel free to vote!

THE HAUNTING MYSTERY OF ARTIST LAURA PEREA…PARTIALLY SOLVED! Literally crying, y’all.

June 3, 2024in Random Crap

Okay. If you’re a regular reader you already know all about Laura Perea, but if you’re new here and want details there are a lot and they are here.

Part 1. Who is “L. Perea”?

Part 2. Laura? Is that you?

Part 3. MORE ART DISCOVERED

In short, I found a bunch of strange art at an estate sale that I have been obsessed with. They are tattered but incredible and were by an artist named “L. Perea” who seemed to be documenting her life in a mental institution in the early to mid 50s. After a lot of research (and help by fellow readers, researchers, librarians) we theorized that “L. Perea” was probably Laura Perea, a brilliant young woman who graduated summa cum laude from college in the 1930s but was institutionalized (along with her twin sister by the 40s). Her sister killed herself in the 40s and by the 50s Laura was institutionalized in a local San Antonio mental institution where we suspect she created this haunting and unsettling art. There are no known photos of Laura or her sister. Laura was the last living descendent in her family when she died in the 90s. No one alive seems to have any memory of her. She just…disappears. But I wanted her to have a voice, so that she could be recognized rather than be hidden.

I’d written that I can relate so much to Laura, because I also struggle with mental illness and I also use art and writing to tame the beast in my head. I’d written that I didn’t know if we would ever know anything more about Laura, but that I hoped she’d gotten out of the institutions and that she’d continued to create her incredible art throughout her life. I also wrote that I knew this was unlikely, and that realistically she probably she died hidden away in a mental institution, like other members of her family, and like members of mine.

Richard Marini at the San Antonio Express was also fascinated by the story and wrote this piece, which was so popular it made it to the actual paper:

We crossed our fingers as we waited for someone from Laura’s past to read it and recognize her and reach out, but there were no new leads.

And then I got covid and had to postpone the small showing I was planning of Laura’s work at Nowhere Bookshop and I basically fell into a mini coma. But when I came out of that coma a few days ago I found that Laura’s death certificate that I’d requested from the state had finally arrived in the mail. And it was the key to unlocking so much.

First off, her occupation was listed:

“Usual occupation: Author/Artist.”

SHE NEVER STOPPED CREATING, Y’ALL.

At the time of her death (of heart failure at age 80) she was no longer in the mental institution and was living at a local, assisted-living nursing home. Her next of kin was listed as “Kim (withholding her name until I get permission) – Friend.” And after a lot of digging I thought I might have found Kim on facebook. I sent her a long, strange message with links to everything and apologized if she was the wrong person who was probably now baffled by all of this. And within an hour I had a response.

“I am the person you’re looking for.”

She explained that she’d been Laura’s caregiver for several years, and that she had really enjoyed her company. She was in Florida until the 17th but she wants to meet with me when she gets back to San Antonio so she can tell me more about Laura and also see if she still has some of her drawings. I literally cried.

So. Perhaps only a few of her pieces survived, but she kept producing art…so much so that she considered it her main occupation. She is remembered…by someone who cared for her and enjoyed being with her. And by us…people she could never have imagined she’d touched so deeply decades after she was gone. She may never have been able to live on her own without help but she didn’t die alone in a mental institution, like so many others. And perhaps there are more of her pieces out in the world, just waiting to be discovered. And perhaps today you will create something that will speak to a future generation. Or maybe I will. That is the magic of art.

I’m going to be showing Laura’s art at Nowhere Bookshop on the 14th (with a special reception at 5 to talk about Laura, mental health, and art) and I’m so happy that I’ll be able to add these details to her life story. Come see us. It’s free. And I’m going to have an online showing after I visit with Kim so that you can come and we can talk about all of it from the comfort of your own home. I’ll keep you posted on that date when I have it.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

PS. After I saw “AUTHOR/ARTIST” written on the death certificate I did a deeper dive into old archives to see if I could find anything she had written and I haven’t yet, BUT…

I found a book about Minnie Fisher Cunningham, a Texas suffragette who led the cause to help Texas women win the right to vote in state elections in 1918. The book says she announced her candidacy for Presidency in the late 50s at the San Antonio Democratic Women for Good Government Club. The top people in her campaign were all women. And the reason we know these details because of an election leaflet that was created by…Laura Perea.

Is it the same Laura? Considering that she’s a San Antonio woman whose last drawings I have were sketches that were criticizing the government, it’s very possible. A sweet research archivalist is currently digging though old archival boxes to see if they can find a copy so we can see what it looked like.

I’ll keep you posted.

IT’S FRIDAY.

May 31, 2024in Random Crap

It’s Friday so I want to invite you into my office to look at all the videos I saved for you, but I’m still in covid isolation, so instead you have to watch them from your place and just pretend to be snuggling with me. You’re welcome.

So me it hurts: