Deamer Writing Home Page
"Strength and Grace" a novel by Deamer (manuscript is finished, looking for a publisher)
Genre: Female empowerment, Cultural, Youth (coming of age), Epic Adventure
Word Count: 62,120
Synopsis:
This is the story of a young Mexican woman who stumbles into becoming a bullfighter, where she so excels that she becomes a great Matador. The catch is all but a few think she is a man. It is a story of female empowerment within the Mexican male culture of the bullfight. There are also coming of age aspects to the story as the reader follows her growth from being a fifteen year old tomboy to a twenty-five year old woman who spends the majority of her time being a man. This duality creates gender identity issues that she must face along with all the dangers of her profession and the tension of her masquerade.
Reader comments:
“Maestro, I bow to you. You have managed to orchestrate magical baguettes into every character and plot. Your “paso doble” is unique. Thank-you for sharing this novel.”
Verna Ender - Verna is a 50 year-old multicultural woman who reads in 4 different languages
“I've read 35 or 36 first time novels and only 5 or 6 of them did I feel should be published with "Strength and Grace" one of them.” Tricia Dunn, 48-year old professional writer
“As a Mexican American woman in my twenties, I not only found this book culturally accurate but I found many of the issues Ilaria faced in her clash with the male traditions of her culture are things I will be thinking about for a long time.” Anna Martinez, 25-year old legal aid studying to be a lawyer.
“What I enjoyed most about the book, "Strength and Grace," was the development of the somewhat rebellious girl into a realization of her underlying worth. Of course, as a woman, I appreciated her grand achievement of showing how a woman can be as worthy of great ability as a man.
M. C. Dunn, 80 year-old artist
“It was very rewarding as a reader to see Ilaria turn around the pain of her dysfunctional family and early experiences with men into traits and character that help her become great at bullfighting and help her pull off an amazing identity masquerade.” Susan Kraker, 50 year-old banker
“I loved the allegorical tale of how bullfighting pageantry and nomenclature relates to Mexican and Spanish culture and how everything takes on a different light when you throw a woman into that world.” Jeff Dunn, 57 year-old businessman
"A beautiful blend of feminism and machismo, this novel speaks to all of us who strive for excellence and balance in our lives." Amy Frost 55 year-old restaurant worker
"Strength and Grace is a great story for any young girl trying to find herself in a still very masculine world." Patrick Dunn, 23 year-old non-profit worker
Preface
This story is fiction. All characters in this book are fictional though I did mention three actual Tijuana acquaintances briefly in Chapter 21. Though I often used names of people of Mexican descent whom I have met, befriended, and honor, the characters with their names bear no resemblance to them. Spanish words that are not names are usually seen in italic font. Many are defined within the story; most are included in the glossary at the end of the book for additional reference. Though the events of this book have some parallel in the actual decade of the 1980's in Mexico, they are fictional and not based on any actual reality.
Some towns and cities mentioned in this book are real though others are fictional or moved around like how I put the town of Santa Rosalia on the mainland even though there is a town by the same name with a similar description on the Baja peninsula. This story makes no reference to actual female bullfighters but there have in fact been a few in Spain and Mexico. This book is not written for bullfight experts, afficianados-nor am I one. It was the cultural aspect of the bullfight and its lyrical parallel to manhood that inspired me to write this story. I found the machismo of the bullfight in general of particular use in writing a story dealing with gender identity and how gender roles are changing in Mexico and the rest of the world-and how such cultural traditions can affect the life of an untraditional young woman and her dysfunctional family.
There were many sources that influenced the information used to tell this story. Two books in particular were very important in educating me so I could write about bullfighting and training as a bullfighter. “Bullfighting” by John McCormick & John Deleon, also “Passes, The Art of Bullfighting” - Photographs by Ricardo B. Sanchez, Essays by Jose Luis Ramon and Rosa Olivares.
This book took over 15 years from its inception as a short story and would never have been completed without patient understanding and help from my friends and family. For this I thank them and all those who took an interest in me and patiently listened to my struggling Spanish as I traveled the culturally rich country of Mexico-Muchas Gracias a' todo.
Strength and Grace
CHAPTER 1
"I remember when this bar was always full for a bullfight," recalled the Mexican bar proprietor. "Nowadays the young people are too busy chasing after each other to sit with the members of their village and enjoy the greatest spectacle of our country."
"Young people today do not understand the honor and pageantry of the matador and his company,” commented a gruff bearded patron. “Like those gringos to the north our young see the bullfight as just an event where an animal is slaughtered.”
Stiffening his head and torso, the man next to him declared, "to be a Mexican and to not understand the bullfight is to not understand what it is to be a man."
Above the bar an old black and white TV was spewing out a somewhat fuzzy broadcast of the bullfight, La Corrida, El Toreo.
There were moments in the bullfight that inspired praise from this knowledgeable group of aficionados, but their praise for the bullfighters, los toreros, was not given easily and their disgust for lazy technique and lost tradition approached violence. Today's fiesta was televised from Tijuana where many traditions had disappeared, giving the bar's patrons much to discuss.
"I cannot understand how they can disregard such traditions as the awarding of the ears and the tail." complained a patron shaking his head slowly back and forth.
"Today's toreros are just athletes like baseball or football players."
"It makes me sick, without the art and pageantry the bullfight is just a vulgar exposition."
"It won't be long before they won't allow the bull to be killed," remarked his bearded friend as he cleared his throat and nose and spat onto the dusty floor.
The neighbor held up his shot glass for a refill and added, "that's when we will know that there are no longer any men in Mexico! That's when we will know that all male Mexicans have been conquered by Norte Americano ideals and feminine skirts."
“Yeah, at this rate they will do away with the horses, and the picadors will soon be scantly dressed women.” They all chuckled at the idea of women being in the macho land of the bullring.
The chubby patron next to him added, “Coming soon to Las Vegas, topless women picadors riding burros!” This jest raised the level of chuckles to laughter.
His buddy continued, “and the matador will be in body armor!” This barb generated some more laughter.
“Yeah they might as well turn it into a freak show comedy!”
"Seriously, the young bullfighters are so sloppy in their technique and approach to the bull. They see too many meager bulls."
"The bull is so worn out by the time the matador presents himself, the battle is over."
Sitting at a table in the corner of the bar was a scruffy old man, appearing to be alone. He quietly listened to everything the others had to say. But he remained silent.
As the bar stool patrons continued their discussion with comments like, "there will never be artists like Garcia and Anuza."
The old man spoke, “excuse me gentlemen, señores.”
Once he believed he had some of their attention, he stated, “you might want to keep an eye on the next aspiring matador.”
Some of the bar group turned their heads towards the disheveled old man.
“Why is that, old man,” asked the proprietor.
"Open your eyes and witness a future great matador of Mexico.”
“What makes him so special.”
After a little chuckle to himself he continued, “this torero reacts neither out of fear nor glory. This bullfighter understands the bull, the very soul of the animal. This matador knows not only athletic prowess, but also artistic grace and acceptance."
"I think you're a little whacked in the head, a little loco, old man,” this from the bearded patron. “None of these kids understand tradition. None of them understand the pageantry that is the very existence of our culture. Does he understand the honor and machismo which is the Latino male?"
The old man began to chuckle again to himself, he tried to speak but he started choking as he tried to control a perverse type of laughter. Just as he was about to lose their attention he spoke, "Gentlemen, this bullfighter knows more about tradition, machismo, and honor than any of us ever will. Tradition can be blind to progress. Tradition can become fetish doctrine used to suppress initiative and honor. Those who know the most about tradition are those who have been prejudged by it."
With this overly indulgent commentary, the perplexed patrons laughed off the old man. “I think you've had a few too many you old crazy goat.” They then returned to an appraisal of Garcia and Anuza and what made them such great matadors.