She is the translator of eleven books from the Brazilian Portuguese, an editor at The Massachusetts Review , and a volunteer emergency medical technician. We Live in Bodies , from which this poem is taken. How the Other Half Lived, A People's Guide to American Historic Sites by Philip Burnham, Faber and Faber, 1996. In this book, Philip Burnham, who received his MFA in creative writing in 1979, investigates the fictions that historic sites present to their visitors.
Some fictions are the fruits of distortion, others of omission.
Those who do appear may be deified or demonized . Burnham's commentary is fascinating, often funny, and well-written, if occasionally marred by snobbery. Still, his book is a welcome antidote to the oft-sanitized versions of history on bronze tablets. Ultimately, the book shows up not only the failures of historic sites, but the failure of all of us to demand more from the preservationists and conservators of our heritage. Cultural Diversity Fieldbook edited by George F. Simons, Bob Abramms, L. Ann Hopkins, with Diane J. Johnson, Peterson's, Princeton, NJ, 1996.