Events, General, Press Release

I’ve brought back Africa with me

I just returned from a trip to South Africa with my two sons. I wish I could do it over again, not to change anything or do it differently.  Yet..if only I could experience the whole epic adventure again..and again..and again.

Chris, Margaret and Jonas

In the meantime I’ve brought Africa back with me.

By that I mean I’m intending Peace–the peace that happens when you have nothing you have to do except watch a hippo slowly walk across the sand, one huge foot at a time, and slowly lower itself into the Letaba River. The hippo will stay submerged in the cool water  like this all day with only its two round humps of eyes showing and you can stay too, just watching, just being there. Or wherever you are right now, watching hippo eyes.

Kruger National Park
Giraffe stepping out

I’m intending Happiness, the feeling you had as a child, the kind that makes you laugh at anything, like when you turn the corner and come upon a group of six young African maids in crisp, laundered uniforms at the foot of the stairs in a Polokwane hotel. They laugh aloud when you tell them they look pretty, and say you look pretty too, making tears come to your own eyes then and whenever you remember that hot morning, that corner of the stairs, those lovely dark faces laughing with you.

Baby monkey clinging to mother, with relative watching

I’m intending Awe, the majestic sensation of watching a pride of  lions saunter by in a line. You count them one-by-one, ten lions in all, pacing intentionally and very slowly along a grassy ridge at dusk. “They’re hunting,” says the expert Kruger Park guide. “The females are taking the young males out for their first hunt.” You realize you aren’t breathing and make yourself take a breath. You can do it now.  Just breathe.

Mother and baby elephant out for a walk

And finally  Gratitude, the abject gratefulness of a privileged American, getting what Africans have in their bones, their acceptance of life, of how close we are, all of us, to each other and to the animals. How amazing to realize we both love and protect our offspring. You know that when you repeatedly see adult elephants, giraffes, and white rhinos in the bush hover over those fabulous curious babies of theirs. You watch the adults stay close to their young, guiding them away from the road and you, sitting in rented cars, jeeps and SUVs, exclaiming and holding out your cameras or cell phones, attempting to to capture it all forever.

I’m bringing back Africa with me. Yes, it was the trip of a lifetime. How fortunate I am it was mine.

Jonas playing guitar for the children

 

Press Release

Dreamers, a Coming of Age Love Story of the ’60s

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Shelley Buck, 831-335-4355, [email protected]

Book Launch: Dreamers, A Coming of Age Love Story of the ’60s
San Francisco, California –Author Margaret Murray will launch her new book, Dreamers, a Coming of Age Love Story of the ’60s, on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at Alexander Book Company, 50 Second Street in San Francisco from 12:30—1:30PM. Also featured will be music by Chris Goslow (www.chrisgoslow.com) and chocolates from Sonoma Chocolatiers (www.sonomachocolatiers.com). Admission is free.

A Coming of Age Love Story of the '60s
by Margaret C. Murray

 

It’s the 1960s in America at the height of the Civil Rights showdown. Street-savvy Thomas, desperate for stardom, meets music student, Annie, desperate for love. To impress his struggling family, Thomas drives a flashy borrowed car home to Pittsburgh and is involved in a minor accident. What was a fender bender in a Christmas storm escalates into a confrontation with police and he becomes a fugitive.

In the suburbs, Annie evades yet another Christmas family fight by going to the theater, bumping into Thomas afterwards and mistaking him for the star. They’re both in the wrong place at the wrong time. But they’re dreamers.

What They’re Saying About Dreamers

I want every person I know to read this book.”—Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, Award-winning American theater artist and activist, author of Little Rock, Theaterworks, Palo Alto

“Take Annie, a fresh college grad from a traditional middle-class white family in Pittsburgh, stir together with Thomas, a handsome black man with baggage who’s hell bent for theater success, turn them out in New York City awash in weltschmertz, drugs and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, add a rich white sugar-lady who’s been paying Thomas’ bills in exchange for boudoir duty, sprinkle with innocent love and naked ambition, and you have a gripping novel served up by Margaret Murray.  Brimming with truths of the heart and spirit, here’s a unique coming-of-age love story you won’t want to miss.” —Naida West, author, www.bridgehousebooks.com

Margaret C. Murray was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began Dreamers in 1969 when she attended the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. She has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since the ’70s and recently moved to Sebastopol. She is the owner of WriteWords Press. This is her second novel.

Dreamers, a Coming of Age Love Story of the '60s
Author, Margaret C. Murray, inviting you to Dreamers Book Launch
Dreamers Book Launch
November 10, 2011
12:30 - 1:30PM
Alexander Book Company
50 Second Street (Between Market & Mission) San Francisco, CA 94105 Tel: 415-495-2992

photo by Charr Crail