Catherine Komp, radio producer at Virginia Currents on NPR (locally WCVE 88.9 FM,) recently sent me the audio documentary below. Created by her colleagues for a show called Making Contact, it examines migrant deaths on our borders.
A look at migration through magical realism
Finalist International Latino Book Awards, 2014
When I was writing The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, I struggled many times as I wrote scenes of unspeakable violence. Should I write such gruesome things for young people? Was it necessary or gratuitous?
In the end, I chose to include the awful details, leaning toward telling fiction as honestly as I could.
I hope you’ll carve out a little time to listen to the audio. January ushers in a new Congress and a fresh immigration battle. The debate will be heated on both sides, a healthy – if painful – exercise. What I continue to ask is that we remember that, in the end, we are talking about people, about human beings, and about the ethics of addressing suffering.
Thanks for posting this, Meg. I’m thinking about the same issue.