Often these days, I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep. I lie in the dark as dreams and memories, wishes and fears drift by like phosphenes. Night distorts distances and blurs borders; everything is as far off as Andromeda and as close as my pale hand. Heartbreaks are old, tarnished coins tossed down a bottomless well. This morning the ghost in the darkness, the coin down the well, was Mónica Mignone. Her short life intersected with my family’s more than 50 years ago, a decade before her death in her native Argentina. Far off in space and time, still she floats here, as near as my hand.
Jody, Thank you for sharing these deeply touching memories of a kind generous soul, who was brutally “disappeared”along with tens of thousands. Her father’s courageous, persistent efforts for justice honors Monica and all the people murdered. May 14, yes, I will hold them in the light…
How unbearably tragic and sad. I did not skip the paragraph and no matter how much I read of atrocities committed by humans, it still shocks and pains me. I am so sorry for this family who was doing what they could to help out the less fortunate.
Have you ever watched the movie "The Official Story" (La Historia Oficial)? I used to show it to my advanced Spanish students and make them learn a little about this horrible chapter in Argentina's history.
Powerful,moving piece. Thank you.
Thanks for reading. <3
Jody, Thank you for sharing these deeply touching memories of a kind generous soul, who was brutally “disappeared”along with tens of thousands. Her father’s courageous, persistent efforts for justice honors Monica and all the people murdered. May 14, yes, I will hold them in the light…
Thanks for reading and sharing. <3
Thank you for keeping her memory alive by sharing her story. So tragic and difficult to read, particularly in these times.
Thanks for reading. Yes... especially in these times.
How unbearably tragic and sad. I did not skip the paragraph and no matter how much I read of atrocities committed by humans, it still shocks and pains me. I am so sorry for this family who was doing what they could to help out the less fortunate.
It's the same for me...I hope I never get numb to the horrors. I'll never understand how people could do such things.
Have you ever watched the movie "The Official Story" (La Historia Oficial)? I used to show it to my advanced Spanish students and make them learn a little about this horrible chapter in Argentina's history.
I haven't. Thanks for sharing that title--I've been looking for a good documentary.