by Ester Marie Griego
Daily Lobo
What do you get when you take three gringo journalists and stick them in the heart of Mexico?
You get Hat Dance, a new novel by UNM professor Michael Thomas. Thomas, a trained anthropologist, uses his experience with Mexican culture to tell a story of the challenges a group of American journalists face in a small Mexican village.
Lee White, the novel's main character, goes to investigate a rumored rebellion in the rural Mexican Village of Huatepac. His daughter, a documentary filmmaker and her cameraman/boyfriend Kevin, want to film the Fiesta de Santiago, the town's feast day dedicated to it's patron saint, so they accompany White.
"Lee's relationship to his daughter is estranged," Thomas said. "He has been an absent father. The story is about their relationship and what happens to them. Of course, they run into trouble."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
In Thomas' novel, trouble takes the form of the Mexican Army, which is trying to keep an eye on the revolutionaries and "an American, maniac, solider-of-fortune thug who is going around trying to intimidate people."
"But the revolutionary group only has one .22 pistol and one box of bullets," Thomas said.
Other characters along for the ride are Checo Rivera, Lee's cultural partner, and Checo's girlfriend Roc°o, who has starred in several adult Mexican movies.
The story includes "lots of conflict and lots of bloodshed," Thomas said. "A good time was had by all."
Thomas has drawn from his extensive knowledge and experience with Mexican culture to write Hat Dance. Thomas has been going across the border for at least a month each year for most of his life.
"I know the country really well," he said. "It's a dynamic and vivid place, and it's a joy to write about."
Because of his cultural knowledge of Mexico, it was important to Thomas that his portrayal of the country and its people be as accurate as possible.
"It's a really authentic look at Mexico," he said. " There is no American (expletive) or stereotyping. The book is informed by my experience. My blood is on the page. I did the best I could to make it real."
As the novel centers on rural life and experience in Mexico, Thomas wanted his title to be instantly recognized as having to do with the country and its culture. But the title Hat Dance also represents the humor in the book.
White purchases a straw cowboy hat at the beginning of the novel.
"Everyone says it looks stupid and dorky," Thomas said. "One character even calls it a mushroom on a pile of cow (expletive)."
For many readers the title will simply bring to mind Jarabe dancers. But for Thomas, the hat is the one thing that ties the book together.
"It's fast moving and it's funny," he said. "But it has an undertow of serious issues."
These issues include rural poverty in Mexico and the corruption of the Mexican government and military.
Thomas will be reading with V.B. Price, who also has a new book called Oddity, at the UNM Bookstore Saturday.
"We tried to figure out how to make one of these events not boring," Thomas said. "So, I'm reading his book and he's reading mine, and then we are talking about them." Thomas is a professor in the University Honors Program and directs Conexiones, a cultural exchange program at UNM. He has authored two other novels, Crosswinds and Ostrich.
What: Michael Thomas
When: Saturday at 2 p.m.
Where: UNM Bookstore
Price: Free
