The creation of wholeness

 

Finding Beauty in a Broken World
Terry Tempest Williams
416 pages, $26.
Pantheon Books, 2008.

When asked to accompany artist Lily Yeh to Rwanda to help create a memorial to the country's genocide victims, author Terry Tempest Williams initially refused. Perhaps best known for her book Refuge, which draws a profound emotional parallel between her mother's losing bout with cancer and the simultaneous flooding of Utah's Bear River bird refuge, Williams told herself she had seen enough death. Her brother had just succumbed to cancer as well, and she did not want to visit a country that had suffered through genocide. But she went anyway. "I came to Rwanda," she writes, "to step over my fears and find out for myself how a people who carry the history of genocide in their hearts not only begin to heal but move forward in the name of forgiveness and acceptance."

Though by far the most poignant aspect of her latest book, Finding Beauty in a Broken World, Williams' Rwanda experience is only part of the story. The book interweaves her time in Italy learning how to create mosaics with two weeks in Bryce Canyon observing endangered Utah prairie dogs and, ultimately, her time in Rwanda helping create a mosaic for a memorial to victims of the country's ethnic violence. These narratives exemplify Williams' broad idea of community — a web connecting all living things, in which human beings are responsible for the well-being of all species.

Though sprinkled with insight and poetics, her observations of the prairie dogs occasionally read like field notes. The terseness gets a bit tedious: "Unmarked baby—OUT—12:07pm at N9."

The majority of the book, however, is filled with the emotional honesty and grace we've come to expect from Williams, who has 14 works of memoir, poetry and natural history to her credit. Stories of entire villages massacred and neighbors brutally killing neighbors combine with stories of people standing up against all odds to protect one another. Art and community have the power to heal even the deepest wounds. "Through the meditation of mosaic," she writes, "both ... perpetrators and victims, masons and mosaicists, are working towards a unity of expression by taking that which is broken and creating something whole.

"These tiles, now the structure of mosaic, are the fragments of war reimagined."

 

High Country News Classifieds
  • INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS EDITOR - HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
    High Country News is hiring an Indigenous Affairs Editor to help guide the magazine's journalism and produce stories that are important to Indigenous communities and...
  • STAFF ATTORNEY
    Staff Attorney The role of the Staff Attorney is to bring litigation on behalf of Western Watersheds Project, and at times our allies, in the...
  • ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
    Northern Michigan University seeks an outstanding leader to serve as its next Assistant Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion. With new NMU President Dr. Brock...
  • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
    The Clark Fork Coalition seeks an exceptional leader to serve as its Executive Director. This position provides strategic vision and operational management while leading a...
  • GOOD NEIGHBOR AGREEMENT MANAGER
    Help uphold a groundbreaking legal agreement between a powerful mining corporation and the local communities impacted by the platinum and palladium mine in their backyard....
  • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
    The Feather River Land Trust (FRLT) is seeking a strategic and dynamic leader to advance our mission to "conserve the lands and waters of the...
  • COLORADO DIRECTOR
    COLORADO DIRECTOR Western Watersheds Project seeks a Colorado Director to continue and expand WWP's campaign to protect and restore public lands and wildlife in Colorado,...
  • DIGITAL MEDIA SPECIALIST, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: WYOMING, MONTANA AND UTAH
    Digital Media Specialist - WY, MT, UT OFFICE LOCATION Remote and hybrid options available. Preferred locations are MT, WY or UT, but applicants from anywhere...
  • GRANT WRITER (PART-TIME, FREELANCE CONTRACT) HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
    High Country News seeks an energetic, articulate and highly organized grant writer to support a growing foundations program. This position works closely with our Executive...
  • EXPERT COMPUTER & TECH HELP, PROVIDED REMOTELY
    From California, I provide expert tech help remotely to rural and urban clients. I charge only when I succeed. Available 7 days. Call for a...
  • ACCOUNTING AND OPERATIONS GENERALIST
    What We Can Achieve Together: The Accounting and Operations Generalist provides accounting and operations related services, including lease administration and compliance support, to the Arizona...
  • LANDSCAPE ECOLOGIST
    Landscape Ecologist, Arizona What We Can Achieve Together: The Landscape Ecologist provides technical and scientific support and leadership for conservation initiatives and strategies in landscape...
  • MULESHOE RANCH PRESERVE STEWARD
    What We Can Achieve Together: The Muleshoe Ranch Preserve Steward lives on site in housing provided by The Nature Conservancy and performs and coordinates construction...
  • ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY - INDIGENOUS HISTORIES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN WEST
    Whitman College seeks applicants for a tenure-track position in Indigenous Histories of the North American West, beginning August 2024, at the rank of Assistant Professor....
  • DAVE AND ME
    Dave and Me, by international racontuer and children's books author Rusty Austin, is a funny, profane and intense collection of short stories, essays, and poems...
  • CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
    Rural Community Assistance Corporation is looking to hire a CFO. For more more information visit: https://www.rcac.org/careers/
  • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
    The Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness Foundation (ABWF) seeks a new Executive Director. Founded in 2008, the ABWF is a respected nonprofit whose mission is to support...
  • CANYONLANDS FIELD INSTITUTE
    Field seminars for adults in natural and human history of the northern Colorado Plateau, with lodge and base camp options. Small groups, guest experts.
  • COMING TO TUCSON?
    Popular vacation house, everything furnished. Two bedroom, one bath, large enclosed yards. Dog-friendly. Contact Lee at [email protected] or 520-791-9246.
  • ENVIRONMENTAL AND CONSTRUCTION GEOPHYSICS
    We characterize contaminated sites, identify buried drums, tanks, debris and also locate groundwater.