Since @gilbertgalindo.bsky.social has revealed the news over on IG, I will announce it here! The opera is THE LAND REMEMBERS, centered on a modern Mexican American family trying to decide whether to sell their ranch. We visit their ancestors at key moments of joy & loss across 5 centuries.
![Ihiyol—[teihiyo] the living spirit that animates the flesh and undergirds spoken spells; the subtle breath that may linger after death as a ghost, revenant, or possessing entity.
Masaliohwi—Path of the Deer. A term for a sub-society parallel to, and sometimes orthogonal to, mainstream society. Mages, vigilantes, bandits, refiners of tonalteyo, etc. are all living on the Path of the Deer, according to the Imperial Legal Code. This society exists in liminal spaces collectively known as Makispan.
Momaihmatilisli—martial arts (as practiced in Makispan, separate from yaotilisli, warfare)
Nawatlahtol—the language of the Toltekame, lingua franca of Anawak.
Teyochipawalisli—the art of refining the tonalteyo found in sunlight and living things so that one can channel it into one’s own triple souls (specifically the tonalli) and then through one’s teyokokohli (channels of divine energy), allowing one to perform feats of magic and skill (primarily shapeshifting).
Teyokokohli—metaphysical conduits spreading in a network that overlaps with the physical body, connected to the three souls. For most humans, these meridians are dormant and empty, but some are born with a stronger tonalli that bleeds into them. They can be filled through the refining and channeling of tonalteyo … or yowalteyo,
Toltekayol—the Toltec Way. Life lived by the laws and religious precepts of the Empire.
Tonalli—[tetonal] the soul, shaped from tonalteyo beginning at birth, that ties a human to a fate in the natural world; connected to one’s day sign; can be bolstered and enhanced to allow one to shapeshift or wield tonalteyo in other powerful ways.
Tonalteyo—divine energy (poured down in sunlight and retained by living things to varying degrees)
Yaotilisli—warfare using conventional weapons and skills under the auspices of a city-state
Yoliwani—[teyolia] the eternal, undying spiritual core of every sapient being
Yowalteyo—shadow or chaos energy (generated by death and destruction or darkness)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yw3pwrmndigjcaiut233fres/bafkreieuadzaoyqbvsaov3jsozp6z2kbknnznfxbvapy5lteecx7vm5qzm)
![In the last few days, I've watched several writers and librarians push back against criticism of Mac Barnett.
When a large number of kid lit authors, mostly from underrepresented demographics, attempts to hold the National Ambassador for Children’s Literature accountable, getting indignant and scholding us for being negative is absolutely NOT the right move.
Given the present racist autocratic move to make the US an [overtly] white christofascist apartheid terror state, it's shameful to see writers of the tone-policing respectability faction defend his honor as if he were some saint under attack by ... brown barbarians.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yw3pwrmndigjcaiut233fres/bafkreidz6ghrviri6nqpotftfzbxk7j7otayz6nuo3cgatet4uh2cnk7vq)
![The situation in Dilley, Texas should shock and horrify all of us and demand an urgent response from all of us. The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas — a sprawling complex of trailers and dormitories 72 miles south of San Antonio, run by the private prison firm CoreCivic — has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign. After President Biden closed it in 2021, Donald Trump reopened the facility quickly upon returning to office, and it has since become the primary holding site for immigrant families detained across the country. [Source: The Children of Dilley," ProPublica, by Mica Rosenberg, February 9, 2026. Read the original article]
What makes the current wave of ICE detentions new and unique is who is being held. The current population is largely made up of families who had been living in American communities for years — some for over a decade. They were detained at routine ICE check-in appointments, at bus stops, outside hospitals, and at airports. Many had active asylum cases, U.S. citizen spouses, or had been granted humanitarian parole. The vast majority of the adults had no criminal record in the United States.
Children and parents have described awful conditions inside the Dilley detention center: food with worms and mold; hard metal bunks shared by a dozen or more people; extreme medical neglect of children, including toddlers; and pervasive boredom and mental health crises.
Since reopening, roughly 3,500 people have cycled through Dilley — more than the entire population of the town itself. More than half are minors. A ProPublica data analysis found that about 300 children were held there for more than a month, in violation of the law.
Our neighbors being held inside the South Texas Family Residential Center need our voices. Join us in building public awareness of these grave conditions. We will #ReadThemHome.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yw3pwrmndigjcaiut233fres/bafkreid6yattfjw3iqjeq4lfhd6qc2ta7tmowu5dn3ivjuram4oofqbcay)
