About this item
Overwhelmed with her fast-paced, competitive lifestyle, Amy Ragsdale moved with her husband, writer Peter Stark, and their two teenage children from the US to a small town in northeastern Brazil, where she hoped they would learn the value of a slower life. In this culturally rich and economically poor region, Amy and her family learn to fundamentally connect with their neighbors across language and customs. In the year they spend there, Amy grows close to her new neighbors, from the men who cut sugar cane to the clinical university students, as they became the family's guides to Brazilian life.Elegantly written and vibrant in detail, Crossing the River tells a global story through a personal memoir, examining life without the trappings of modern American culture, and revealing surprising truths about identity, family, and love.
About the Author
Ms. Ragsdale is a writer and choreographer based out of Missoula, Montana. Her travel memoir Crossing the River, from SEAL Press, arrived in bookstores in October 2015. Her articles and columns on travel and dance have appeared in High Desert Journal, Mamalode and Outside Magazine On-line, where she initiated the column Raising Rippers.
Ms. Ragsdale's performing career included Impulse Dance Co. in Boston and Fred Benjamin Dance Co., Laughing Stone, and Ze'eva Cohen and Dancers in New York, and being a guest performer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co. and Douglas Dunn and Dancers. She moved to Montana following a man and became head of the Dance Program at The University of Montana. She has also taught contemporary dance in Spain, Indonesia, Martinique, Mozambique and Brazil. Her choreographic work has been performed throughout the Northwest and in New York, and televised on Montana PBS, KSPS, and CNN's World News. She is the founder of Headwaters Dance Co., www.headwatersdance.net, and the recipient of the University of Montana's Outstanding Faculty Award and a 2009 Governor's Arts Award for the State of Montana. Amy earned a B.A. in Art History from Harvard College and an M.A. in Movement Studies from Wesleyan.
She lives with her husband, writer Peter Stark, their bumptious black lab, Maggie, and is the mother of two great travelers. She's currently wrangling middle schoolers, teaching language arts and social studies at Sussex, an alternative K-8 school in Missoula.
