This e-book was only five dollars, though I feel guilty for throwing money around in the past few months. This particular book is by the late E. Bryant Holman. Actually, he just passed away this month. I don't know much about him other than what's available from internet sources. He seemed to have some opinions on various topics that caused controversy. What I am interested in, however, is the research he did on Mexican curanderismo and folk religion in general. He was a lay anthropologist of sorts and as he remarks, he did not compromise in the name of social science or faith; that is to say he took no sides as to whether any belief is 'real.' He did no go into this debate; instead, he tried to make record of almost two decades of study. I think that the book, La Santísima Muerte: A Mexican Folk Saint is the best source for the subject available in English, that I have found. I have spent a year or more reading about the folk saint, and I really didn't realize how much of what people on this side of the border discuss is irrelevant to what I'm trying to investigate.

Let me explain: A lot of people in the U.S. believe that this cult is based on "ancient indigenous religion," but Holman's research links it mainly to Mediterranean folk Catholicism. It's really difficult to take up, you know, the following of the Santa Muerte unless you have some of your religious background linked to Mexican Catholicism, folk religion, and/or culture. To say that the Santa Muerte is a reincarnation of an Aztec goddess or something like that is misinformed. It is as misinformed as thinking that the Santa Muerte is a recent death cult figure related to drug-trafficking.

I mean, personally I feel that as long as you don't go around causing trouble to other people or sentient beings, it's okay to believe as you see fit. But if your desire is to find information, pay attention to what you buy and buy into. When information is not available, then some are going to write tons of lies and charge you for it. They may even believe that they are selling you correct information, but like all of us they are susceptible to being incorrect. Even daily the best newspapers write on what is available and make corrections when needed.

[/rant]

And that's all that's been going down in Saudadesland.

It's sad to see how many people have passed away this month. The most recent situation being the plane crash and the parking lot collapse in Atlanta. And gee whiz, the latest E coli. outbreak has been traced to a factory in the city nearest to me, where I go to school and will soon live. Crazy-crazy.

I e-mailed my good friend in Nicaragua who on Friday will formally graduate and be a medical doctor. Well, she has not been to Honduras in a while... But reports that everything's pretty okay in her life. As for the Honduras crisis, I just don't know what opinion to have today. Yesterday I would have said it's totally not the way to go about things to have a coup d'état, but some Hondurans both there and here in the U.S. argue that "it's not quite a coup d'état." The constitutional abuses of Zelaya were enough for their legal authorities to issue an order for his deposition. Well, whatever it is, I don't know.

What's for sure is that he has the support of the U.N. and the U.S., and though there is an order to arrest him if he sets foot on Honduran land again, he's going to go back with a team of leaders and diplomats on Thursday and try to regain power. Let's hope for the most peaceful ending that the story can have... whatever that may be. Oh, man.

And now I will try to have dinner and stop sitting at the computer. It's crazy that I've been using the computer to get so much reading done. Total change for the antiquarian. I still do not consider ever converting to Amazon Kindle-usage. Books it is for me.