ABBY PAIGE

It’s a tricky time to be a person with their feet in two cultures. If you’re someone who crosses borders frequently, you understand that borders are places of friction, where identity shifts or slips, where we are made vulnerable. This is what is beautiful about borderlands — and also what makes them sites of conflict. Some folks expect the world to adhere to hard definitions; they don’t like shifts or slips, and they definitely don’t like vulnerability. Other folks find themselves here and there at the same time; other folks live between the lines.

That’s the phrase my hometown newspaper, Seven Days, chose to describe my work in a piece out today. Thanks to their Hannah Feuer for a lovely conversation about Piecework / Travail à la pièce and the historic bonds between Québec and Vermont. (You should also check out Hannah’s excellent cover story on homesteading from last week’s issue!)

Tomorrow night we’ll celebrate Burlington’s Franco-American heritage and northern Vermont borderlands at my hometown book launch event, featuring music, readings, and conversation! I hope you’ll join us:

THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 7:00PM
OFF Center for the Dramatic Arts, 1127 North Avenue, Burlington
Admission by donation. Books available for purchase.

It is a tricky time to have your feet in two cultures. But I agree with the advice of the Reverend Daniel Berrigan: “Know where you stand, and stand there.” On the line if you have to, if that’s where you belong.

P.S. Copies of the book are now also available at Phoenix Books in Burlington, and for on-line purchase from the U.S. and Canada.