About
Producciones de la Hamaca Editorial Board:
Dr. Joseph Palacio, Chair
Anna D. Hoare, Secretary
Osmany Salas, Treasurer
Judy Lumb, Editor
History of Producciones de la Hamaca
On February 25, 1985, at 8:15 am I suddenly felt ill. It must be the flu. I had taken public transportation to work, so looked at my watch to see if someone might be there with a car to take me home. I was the Acting Chair of the Biology Department at Atlanta University, had my own cancer research laboratory, and was raising two teen-aged boys by myself. But it wasn't the flu, but chronic fatigue syndrome, which didn't go away. After two years of struggle, my two sons graduated from high school and I went to Caye Caulker, Belize, for a complete rest thinking I would get well and return to my active life in Atlanta, Georgia.
Why Caye Caulker, Belize, you ask? My cousin had been here and told me two things: "They have electricity, but nobody wears shoes." That seemed like the right combination. I had a fever all the time, so I was always felt chilled. Tropical temperatures should keep me warm. And, if they had electricity, I could take my computer and continue my theoretical research.
I didn't get well, but learned to live an interesting life within my limitations based on desk-top publishing from my hammock. I couldn't think sitting up, but if my head was propped, as in a hammock, and I didn't have a deadline, I could wait for the right word to come. I asked a friend how I could make a contribution to the ground-breaking environmental work that was going on in Belize with my computer. He said, "If the Belize Audubon Newsletter could come out regularly, that would really help." So, I walked into the Belize Audubon Society office and volunteered. That was 1989 and I am still doing their newsletter.
Then a friend asked me to type up her late mother's poetry for the family. I suggested we do a book of them, so Poetry and Me a Poet by Mary Constance Belknap Straughn became my first book. I registered with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) as a Belizean publisher and got an ISBN publisher prefix for the international book numbering system.
I had heard about the environmental work in Belize, but the cultural diversity was a pleasant surprise. There are four indigenous languages with cultures to go along with them, as well as several lively immigrant languages and cultures. I was interested in Garifuna, so I wanted to go to a Garifuna village. Some little boys came to my house selling bread, who were not from Caye Caulker. They said they were from Hopkins. When I said I wanted to visit, one said, "Mrs. Marcella Lewis teaches Garifuna to people like you." That seemed like a pointed message, so I went to Hopkins and looked up Mrs. Marcella Lewis. I told her that I didn't have money to pay her for language lessons, but suppose we use her work as the text for my lessons and in return I make a book. Her answer was, "Better than that would be nonsense!" So, Walagante Marcella: Marcella Our Legacy was my second book, a bilingual one in Garifuna and English.
In 2009 Producciones de la Hamaca was incorporated as a non-profit, a non-governmental organization (NGO) devoted solely to publishing.
