EPISODE · Nov 3, 2025 · 25 MIN
Chapter Break with James Francisco Bonilla
from Midwest Writers Room · host Luella and Ken
BIO:James is a New York City–born Puerto Rican writer now living just across the Mississippi in Winona, Minnesota. He was born with congenital cataracts and has never had sight in his left eye. At age nine, he lost much of his remaining sight in the right eye due to a racial assault. A decade later a medical breakthrough restored the sight to his right eye. Because of his experiences his memoir follows his entry into the early disability rights movement which helped ground his work as a community organizer and, later as a nationally recognized social justice educator and environmentalist.SYNOPSIS:After a classmate hurled a horseshoe at his face James became legally blind. At home, too, he feared physical violence, experiencing the unpredictable outbursts of a single mother suffering from mental illness. Searching for relief and inspiration, he discovered an unexpected solace in the natural world, spiritual encounters with Mother Earth that led him toward both personal healing and advocacy. An Eye for an I presents both James and his aggressors with refreshing nuance and humility, inviting readers to empathize, be inspired, and consider their own potential to be of service in a broken, yet beautiful, world. LINKS:https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517919146/an-eye-for-an-i/
What this episode covers
BIO: James is a New York City–born Puerto Rican writer now living just across the Mississippi in Winona, Minnesota. He was born with congenital cataracts and has never had sight in his left eye. At age nine, he lost much of his remaining sight in the right eye due to a racial assault. A decade later a medical breakthrough restored the sight to his right eye. Because of his experiences his memoir follows his entry into the early disability rights movement which helped ground his work as a comm...
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Chapter Break with James Francisco Bonilla
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