Pittsfield — The term odyssey has long evoked feats of lengthy adventure, rife with trials and tribulations, thought to test the human spirit. Homer’s eponymous epic follows the Greek hero Odysseus, King of Ithaca, as he wends his way home following the Trojan War — a homecoming that takes a whopping ten years to complete. Alex Portillo’s journey, from Honduras to Baltimore, was equally harrowing albeit far shorter. This week, he and Jana Laiz take to the road in and around the Berkshires to celebrate the release of their new book, “Thirty-Five Days To Baltimore.” The bilingual book explores topics of migration, immigration, poverty, and hope, through the story of an unaccompanied minor, as he makes his way from Honduras to Baltimore, and ultimately the Berkshires.
“Faith was crucial to my family. It helped us to survive from one day to the next,” Portillo says in the opening pages of his book. One day, while working in the fields planting corn with his papi, Portillo revealed his plan to go to the United States. His father was getting older, and Portillo — anxious to help — didn’t want him to have to toil so hard in the hot sun. This is the premise of how then 17-year-old Portillo left Yoro, a tiny village high in the Zapatuco Mountains, where in his wake he left, “Poverty. Nothing. Nada.” Portillo, along with his cousin Carlos, left Honduras with the help of a coyote—an individual paid to guide migrants across the border into the United States. Together, the pair “embark[ed] on a dangerous journey to an uncertain future” spanning 35 days and 3,300 miles in total. The year was 2004.
“We sat at my kitchen table, literally every week for many years, writing… every step of the way together,” Laiz told The Edge, chronicling the collaboration that quickly took root after Portillo approached her in 2015 for help writing his story. As an ESL educator, former refugee resettlement counselor, and a writer, she was intrigued by the idea of serving as a conduit through which Portillo’s story could be shared with the world—something the Writer-In-Residence Emeritus at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead counts as a great honor, one she sees “hopefully changing minds and hearts along the way.”
The story begs a central question of Portillo and, by extension, all immigrants: Why did you come here? The answer, albeit unwritten, is addressed by poet Warsan Shire (born in Kenya to Somali parents) who not only gives voice to refugees but also provides some authentic understanding of the crisis in her 2009 poem, “Home,” inspired by a visit she made to the former Somali Embassy in Rome where young refugees were living. The opening line is as apt as it is wrenching: “no one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark.” A gut-wrenching sentiment to which Portillo can relate.
“I closed my eyes and tried to imagine a smooth and safe journey all the way to Baltimore,” Portillo recounts of a destination he chose due to family there. “[My cousin] worked in a bakery and I tried to imagine the smell of fresh bread and my hands covered with flour, but all I kept picturing were those guns,” he writes of the violence he and Carlos both encountered and endured along the way. In total, their modes of transport included the trunk of a small car, a flat-bed truck, the luggage compartment of a bus, and the cab of an eighteen-wheeler escorted by a driver high on cocaine and marijuana. The pair were disguised as Mexican campesinos (farmers), sought sanctuary in a church, and spent time in a jail cell; “All of us, trying to break the cycle of poverty and violence and find a way to a better future…mile by terrifying mile.”
Critics are lauding the book as an essential read necessary to fully understanding the trauma associated with the immigrant experience. Alberto Calixto Lopez Herrera, Founder of the Calpulli Mexican Dance Company and choreographer of Barrington Stage’s production of “A Crossing” called the book, “an inspiring story of struggle, courage and self-improvement.” Maxine J. Stein, President and CEO of Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, notes, “this immigrant experience honestly reflects the trauma, bravery, and survival against all odds that people go through in pursuit of freedom. It is truly an honest depiction of many immigrants’ journeys in pursuit of their right to survive and thrive.” Furthermore, the timeless and timely tale gives readers insight into the power the American dream holds for those suffering the hopelessness and violence of extreme poverty.
More than 18 years after arriving in the United States, Portillo is married with three children; after many years spent living and working in the Berkshires, he now resides in Texas where he is pursuing higher education. Over the course of one week, beginning on Saturday, June 18, he and Laiz will host a full slate of events in and around the region. All events are family friendly and bilingual. A portion of the proceeds of book sales will go to assisting immigrants.
Todos los eventos son familiares y bilingües. Una parte de las ganancias de la venta de libros se destinará a ayudar a los inmigrantes.
June 18 at 1 p.m.
Bushnell Sage Memorial Library, 48 Main Street, Sheffield, Mass.
June 19 at 2-4 p.m.
Zion Lutheran Church, 74 First Street, Pittsfield, Mass.
*a fundraiser for Berkshire Immigrant Center, LitNet & BCC’s Adult Ed Program
June 20 at 7 p.m.
Spencertown Academy, 790 NY 203, Spencertown, New York
*Fundraiser for Berkshire Immigrant Center, sponsored by Chatham Books and moderated by Cris Morales
June 22 at 4 p.m.
Williams Book Store, 81 Spring Street, Williamstown, Mass.
June 23 4 p.m.
Becket Athenaeum, 3367 Main Street, Becket, Mass.
*Fundraiser for Berkshire Immigrant Center, in conversation with Matt Tannenbaum of The Bookstore
June 24 at 5:30 p.m.
Herman Melville’s Arrowhead , 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, Mass.
*Book launch celebration
June 25 at 2 p.m.
The Bookloft, 63 State Road, Great Barrington, Mass.
Meet and greet with the authors
Today, Portillo’s dream is to be a member of his town’s volunteer fire department; his deepest sadness is that he cannot. “I pray that there is a change of heart, from [the Trump] administration or the next, and I can be a full-fledged member of my beloved community,” he says of his status which—despite spending countless years and thousands of dollars in pursuit of papers—remains undocumented. Still, he forges ahead, spurred by the greatest of all motivation: “I want my son and daughters to be proud of me.”
