Reluctant Journey
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
The Golden Apples Of The Sun
....and pluck til time
and times are done
The silver apples of the moon
The Golden Apples of the sun, W.B. Yeats
Late August is a time for gathering in the valleys of northern New Mexico; The wood cutters, the pinon pickers, the alfalfa balers and the apple pluckers of Agua del Lobo up on the foothills of the San Cristobals. The honeybees had gathered their honey pollen and I had recovered my love. Life was good, it was purposeful and it was magical. Belica and I had re-ignited a relationship that had floundered and had almost been lost because of neglect and distance. I had come close to becoming the man that had gained a fortune and lost his soul, where all that he had left were the tears of an old man.
I started my first year of college at St. Michael's in Santa Fe in September and Belica started on her senior year at La Villa High School. I made friends soon after starting there, I even met up with Hernan Gallegos, my collegue at Rowe. And because I wanted to finish the college requirements as soon as possible, I maximized my academic load. I enrolled for twenty-one and twenty-two hours, when the maximum allowable was eighteen hours. The college advisor cautioned me against this practice, but I assured him that entering college at my age, I must make haste. Belica and I saw each other every weekend, beginning on Friday night and ending on Sunday night. I focused totally on my studies during the remaining of my time in college.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Reluctant Journey is about the life of Gibo Herrera, a young Hispanic, living in one of the villages of northern New Mexico at a time when life was new, nature was unspoiled, people were blissfully naive and the villages were beginning to come out of their isolation of two-hundred years.
Gibo, a native of La Cueva, or the idyllic Embargo, grew up among storytellers, provocative newcomers, mystics and characters with a past. In his adolescence, Gibo took to listening to the village wise men and through them discovers the history of his people and his own Hispanic-Penitente past. Young Gibo also happens upon the "love of his life," a beautiful young girl from one of the neighboring villages. Yet, for the rest of his young adult life he embarks on a reluctant journey, leaving his mountain home, his girlfriend and his family. His work as a railroad telegrapher takes him to another world, with other people who also have their own stories to tell.
Reluctant Journey is a story of wonder, of love and of yearning to return to a home and a past that was slowly drifting away.
Gilbert Andres Archuleta
About the Author
Gilbert Andres Archuleta was born in Questa, New Mexico. He attended and graduated from the schools there. Mr. Archuleta worked as an educator in New Mexico for twenty-five years. He taught at both the elementary and secondary levels of education and served as School Superintendent for ten (10) years. Gilbert received a B.A. degree from St. Michael's College in Santa Fe, NM and a M.A. degree in English from Arizona State University. He did graduate studies at the University of New Mexico and San Jose State University in California.
Mr. Archuleta has written a monograph titled: "Taos,The Melting Pot of the West," a paper that relates in part to the archival history of the inter-racial marriages between Taos citizens and Anglo and French newcomers from 1846-1856. This paper is a contribution to a forthcoming publication, "The History of Taos."edited by The History of Taos Committee. Gilbert has also written an educational booklet for the Migrant Division of the NM Dept. of Education, titled: "Linguistics for Teaching English to Migrant Students." Additionally, Mr. Archuleta has lectured on, "Protocol for Boards of Education" as well as "Teaching Strategies for Second Language Learners of English."
Mr. Gilbert Andres Archuleta and his wife Belinda Ortega Archuleta have three children (now adults), two girls and one boy. The male attends New Mexico Highlands Univ. in Las Vegas, NM. The two girls both work as teacher and principal, respectively in California schools.