Your
name is what?
I am named for Juliet
Thompson, a Baha'i artist;
and Bahiyyih Randall Winckler, a dear Baha'i friend of my parents
who lived in southern Africa.
What about Mabasotho? In Lesotho,
children are named by their grandparents. Since my grandparents
were on the other side of the world, a Baha'i chief who was a friend
to my parents took me as his granddaughter and named me Mabasotho,
which means "Mother of the People." It is incredibly special
to me, and even though I never really knew my adoptive grandfather,
he is still in my prayers.
Where is Lesotho?
In southern Africa. It is an independent country landlocked
by South Africa. I lived there till just before my first birthday.
Are
you an Afrikaner?
No, my parents are Americans of British-Isles ancestry. We were
living there when I was born. My dad bought a brickyard and paid
in bricks for part of the hospital bill for my birth. How do you
think that makes me feel?
Why were your parents living in
Lesotho?
A couple of reasons. First, my parents are members of the Baha'i
faith, a religion that encourages service to humanity and world
citizenship. Second, my parents are adventurers from the get-go.
They have spent a large part of their married life outside of the
U.S., always living on a shoestring, trying to be of service to
the community wherever they were living.
Where else have they lived?
Cordoba,
Argentina (where my older brother was born); Natal,
Brazil; Curacao; Yap,
Micronesia; Cabo
Rojo, Puerto Rico
What's the Grand
Junction, Colo., connection? That's where my dad's
family is from, so we moved there to be with my grandparents as
they got older. I loved being close to my Avoa, our name for my
father's mother. She was the angel of my childhood, and I still
carry her spirit close to my heart. We moved to Guatemala when I
was 13, two years after my Avoa died.
Why did you live in Guatemala and
Mexico? Basically the same reasons we lived in Lesotho.
My father, ever the jack-of-all-trades, taught English, designed
and sold solar water heaters, and tried a whole slew of other things
to keep us in shoes and paches, a delicious Guatemalan tamale made
from potatoes. We moved to Mexico after four years in Guatemala,
trying to become more economically stable, but had to return to
the U.S. after about six months.
Was it great to travel and live in
other countries? Actually, it's difficult to go through
adolescence with very little sense of home. Still, I wouldn't trade
it for a sack of gold. Otherwise how would I have learned Spanish,
eaten the aforementioned paches and lived the zillions of little
moments that made me who I am today? I am so grateful that I have
seen how little money people live on in the developing world. Why
do we Americans feel we need so much? In Guatemala and Mexico I
got to see what true wealth is, and it has little to do with money.
Wealth comes from friendship, service to others and a willingness
to look on the bright side of things. Learning that from people
who know it in their bones is a tremendous gift. Besides, the frugality
I learned from my time in Latin America has served me well, especially
putting my husband through music school on just my income! Now he's
supporting me through school, and we've been able to save up a small
down payment for a house. Wish us luck finding one!
How long have you been married?
Five years in July, 2003.
How did you meet your husband?
Mutual friends introduced us back when we were young and crazy.
He was a drummer in a punk band called Los Crudos, and I was friends
with a lot of people in the punk scene. Contrary to punk rocker
stereotypes, he was so honest and unpretentious that I liked him
right away. We dated for about four years before we got married
at the Baha'i House
of Worship.
Is he a Baha'i, too? No, he
is a Catholic. Baha'i teaches that all the world religions have
come from one God, so there is no problem for a Baha'i to marry
a Catholic, or a follower of any religion.
You studied biology as an undergrad,
and then journalism? Yep. I decided to change fields because
I felt like my natural strength lies in writing, even though science
is a major interest for me. After struggling with science for years
because it was a challenge for me, I decided to play to my strengths
instead of my weaknesses. Writing still takes work, but it's something
I enjoy and am decent at.
What does your life look like now? Pretty crazy a lot of the time, but good. There's a song I love that says, "Maybe we won't find easy, but baby we found the good." (The Good, by Rachel de Azevedo Coleman) I think that sums it up. Paula is a spirited kid with significant hearing loss, and keeping up with her ever-changing needs, moods, hunger for knowledge and vivacious personality takes up most of my energy. I also do a little light housework. Joel and I have started dating again almost two years after Paula's birth, a monthly outing that provides us a much-needed chance to whisper during movies. Paula's therapy appointments crowd our weekly schedule and we try to fit in some fun and unstructured times so we don't forget why we're doing all this in the first place.
Any more questions
I didn't cover? Email
me
|
