Salon recommends

A mysterious rebel leader, a mom who leaves no corner of her daughter's life unsupervised and more.

By Salon Staff
May 7, 2001 11:07PM (UTC)
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What we're reading, what we're liking

Amy's Answering Machine: Messages From Mom by Amy Borkowsky
You don't have to have an overprotective control-freak mother to find Amy Borkowsky's collection of verbatim answering machine message transcripts hilarious -- I know, because I don't. Amy's mom must ring her daughter several times a day to offer advice on every aspect of life, from suggesting that Amy go braless when flying so that the underwires in her bra don't set off the airport metal detector to reminding her that "the wait is very long" at the DMV and "before you get in line, you might wanna empty your bladder." My all-time favorite, though, is the one where Amy's mom calls up to insist that if her daughter must use a personal stereo ("the foam earpiece on the headphones is a prime breeding ground for bacteria") then she "may wanna take an antibiotic." I'm giving this to my mom for Mother's Day to thank her for having a life of her own.

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--Laura Miller

Our Word Is Our Weapon: Selected Writings by Subcomandante Marcos
This collection of writings by the spokesman for the Zapatista movement is an excellent window into the conflict between indigenous Mexicans and the government over the distribution of land in the Chiapas region. Marcos captured the world's attention in 1994 when his small, disciplined guerrilla group seized several mountain towns from the Mexican army. What's so riveting about the Chiapas story is not just the David-and-Goliath aspect of the Zapatistas' victories but the way in which their grass-roots, democratic agenda was articulated by Marcos -- this was a rebel with a brain, as well as a heart. He's also created some mystery around himself, never appearing in public without the Zapatistas' trademark black ski mask, to symbolize his determination to be "a selfless self, a person without a face" committed to serving as "the voice of the voiceless." It turns out that Marcos is actually university-educated and of European, not indigenous Mexican, extraction, but perhaps that makes his struggles on behalf of the landless people of Chiapas even more moving. Marcos writes in a number of styles -- the book includes his Calvino-style folk tales as well as impassioned letters to dignitaries and writers around the world -- and there's no doubt more in this massive volume than most readers will want to take in. But there's a palpable feeling of excitement about many of these pieces, as if we're privy to the ground-floor thinking of that rare thing, a principled, ethical person who is trying to change history.

--Maria Russo

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