After the attacks of 9/11 Terry Tempest Williams was asked by a friend and artist who specialized in mosaics if she would accompany her on a trip to Rwanda and act as her scribe. She had no desire to go but realized in the end that her own humanity depended on it. That experience makes up part of her new book, Finding Beauty in a Broken World.

If we are honest, says Williams, we will acknowledge that our world is broken. Our environment. Our economy. Our identity. The question then is how we rebuild the world around us. That is why the word mosaic has become a kind of guidepost for Williams, a way of making sense of the current moment. In other words we have to pick up the pieces and create something new.   

Comments Off   Spotlight