In this New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, the son of working-class Mexican immigrants flees a life of labor in fruit-packing plants to run in a Native American marathon from Canada to Guatemala in this "stunning memoir that moves to the rhythm of feet, labor, and the many landscapes of the Americas" (Catriona Menzies-Pike, author of The Long Run).
Growing up in Yakima, Washington, Noé Álvarez worked at an apple–packing plant alongside his mother, who “slouched over a conveyor belt of fruit, shoulder to shoulder with mothers conditioned to believe this was all they could do with their lives.” A university scholarship offered escape, but as a first–generation Latino college–goer, Álvarez struggled to fit in.
At nineteen, he learned about a Native American/First Nations movement called the Peace and Dignity Journeys, epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America. He dropped out of school and joined a group of Dené, Secwépemc, Gitxsan, Dakelh, Apache, Tohono O’odham, Seri, Purépecha, and Maya runners, all fleeing difficult beginnings. Telling their stories alongside his own, Álvarez writes about a four–month–long journey from Canada to Guatemala that pushed him to his limits. He writes not only of overcoming hunger, thirst, and fear—dangers included stone–throwing motorists and a mountain lion—but also of asserting Indigenous and working–class humanity in a capitalist society where oil extraction, deforestation, and substance abuse wreck communities.
Running through mountains, deserts, and cities, and through the Mexican territory his parents left behind, Álvarez forges a new relationship with the land, and with the act of running, carrying with him the knowledge of his parents’ migration, and—against all odds in a society that exploits his body and rejects his spirit—the dream of a liberated future.
"This book is not like any other out there. You will see this country in a fresh way, and you might see aspects of your own soul. A beautiful run." —Luís Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels
"When the son of two Mexican immigrants hears about the Peace and Dignity Journeys—'epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America'—he’s compelled enough to drop out of college and sign up for one. Spirit Run is Noé Álvarez’s account of the four months he spends trekking from Canada to Guatemala alongside Native Americans representing nine tribes, all of whom are seeking brighter futures through running, self–exploration, and renewed relationships with the land they’ve traversed." —Runner's World, Best New Running Books of 2020
"An anthem to the landscape that holds our identities and traumas, and its profound power to heal them." —Francisco Cantú, author of The Line Becomes a River
ISBN-13: 9781646220533
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: Catapult
Publication Date: 03-02-2021
Pages: 240
Product Dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)
NOÉ ÁLVAREZ was born to Mexican immigrant parents and raised working-class in Yakima, Washington. He holds degrees in philosophy and creative writing from Whitman College and Emerson College, respectively. He studied conflict analysis, peacemaking, and conflict resolution at American University and in Northern Ireland, received a fellowship at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, and researched U.S. drug policy, military aid, and human rights issues in Colombia’s Putumayo jungles. He lives in Boston, where, until recently, he worked as a security officer at the Boston Athenæum.
Table of Contents
Outline of the Run xiii
Prologue xv
WE
1 Warehouse White Noise 5
2 The "Palm Springs of Washing" 21
3 Ganas in Carver Country 24
4 Getting Out 33
5 Walla Walla Walkabouts 37
6 Cold Feet 44
RUN
7 The Arrival 55
8 Tree Noodles 72
9 "Indian Time" 79
10 La Cruz de Campos 87
11 Glacier Dip 90
12 Washington Gray 95
13 Goldendale 99
14 An X-Man 102
15 Apache Medicine 108
16 Cougar Country 112
17 City-Slicker Natives 118
18 Tlaloc in L.A. 123
19 Southern Fire 128
20 Man in the Maze 134
21 Running the Wrong Way 139
22 The Devil's Coffin 142
23 El Chapito 146
24 Deer Runners 147
25 Chihuahua 150
26 Touch of Treasure 152
27 The Rebirth of Story 154
28 Nayarit 157
29 Mangoes 161
30 Santo Coyote 164
31 Hardware Store 166
32 Weaving Words 168
33 The Flying Men of Teotihuacán 171
34 Descending Eagle 177
35 Oaxaca 179
36 Zapatistas: Rebel Country 182
37 Acteal 187
38 Guatemala 190
FREE
39 Old Orchard 195
40 Today 204
Acknowledgments 217
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