Riding off into the sunset? Take this book with you
Jimmy Cliff gives ‘Human Touch’
Jamaican Reggae singer,
Jimmy Cliff. Vision Addict
Caribbean Life, AUGUST 13-19, 2021 27
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
You were determined not to
get bit.
But in a totally different
meaning of the word, you were
equally determined that your
horse would accept one. Without
a bit in his mouth, he
wouldn’t turn, slow down, or
stop when you wanted to ride
– and of course, as in “Horse
Girls,” edited by Halimah Marcus,
the ride’s the thing.
Or is a sense of freedom the
best part of owning a horse?
Many girls think so, while others
just want their very own
Flicka or Ginger or Pie. Whatever
it is, Marcus says that
there’s a difference between
“horse girls” and “a horsewoman.”
The latter, she writes,
is “tough, no-nonsense… riding
every day… unsentimental
about horses but devoted to
them for life” — unlike many
of the women in this book who
gave up riding as young women
and re-established their love
for it later in life.
But what makes a horse
girl?M
arginalization, in the stories
here. These horse girls
often felt shame for not fitting
the norm, for being queer,
Black, “chubby” or poor – but
they still loved horses. Some
of the writers are lesbians, but
they didn’t understand it until
their girlhoods were over. Alex
Marzano-Lesnevich writes of
cross-dressing cowboys in history;
Sarah Enelow-Snyder
writes about Black cowboys
and of “curly Afros shoved into
unaccommodating cowboy
hats.” C. Morgan Babst writes
of cruelty and anorexia, a twopronged
part of her childhood.
Horse girls worry. A lot. They
worry about where their horses
went after they were sold or
given away. On the day she got
it, Adrienne Celt worried about
how she was going to bury her
horse if it died. They worry
about disappointing horse-loving
parents, and they fret about
the best way to introduce their
Book cover of “Horse Girls” edited by Halimah Marcus.
daughters to riding.
They ride with joy. They met
spouses through horses. They
remember the smell of a box
that once contained a plastic
horse – because, says T Kira
Madden, “the thing about a
horse is, it’s never about the
horse.”
Nope, it’s also about stories.
Fifteen of them, to be exact,
all inside “Horse Girls,” but
unless you’re the horsey-type,
you grew up in a saddle, or
your shelves once held plastic
1:9-scale horses, you can
just mosey along. In that case,
you’ll haaaaate this book and
that’s okay. It’s not for you
anyhow.
If you fit the former, though,
pommel, stirrup, and all, then
editor Halimah Marcus offers
stories you’ll devour, stories
of loving horses, even when
(especially when!) doing so
made you an anomaly. There’s
strength in that but loss also
looms large here, particularly
loss of childhood, innocence,
or imagination. Fortunately for
many of these storytellers and
for the readers invited along on
this ride, though, recollections
are resolved, reasons for them
are reconciled, and the endings
are mostly satisfying.
If you ever trotted around
the yard, pretending to be a
horse, or if you actually spent
your girlhood in a saddle, this
book will bring back memories.
“Horse Girls” is a book you
won’t want to miss, not even a
little bit.
“Horse Girls: Recovering,
Aspiring, and Devoted
Riders Redefine the Iconic
Bond,” edited by Halimah
Marcus
c.2021, Harper Perennia
l $17.00 / $21.00 Canada
304 pages
Horse Girls’ editor, Halimah Marcus. Bryan Derballa
By Nelson A. King
Jamaican musician, actor,
singer, songwriter, producer,
humanitarian, and global music
legend Jimmy Cliff on Aug. 6,
Jamaica’s Independence Day,
released “Human Touch,” his
first offering of new music in
almost 10 years.
Ronnie Tomlinson, a Brooklyn
based entertainment publicist,
told Caribbean Life on
Monday that “Human Touch”
was written to promote human
interaction just in time for post-
COVID realities and “exudes”
Cliff’s “spiritual maturity.”
“As an African descendant, I
am blessed and happy to display
our unique human story of survival
and triumph and to clothe
this stage of my musical journey
in the great achievements
and lessons of ancient Egyptian
enlightenment that has so influenced
the recent centuries of
human civilization as reflected
in obelisks and other Pharaonic
monuments in the major cities
and culture of the ‘New World,’”
Cliff said.
As one of the last surviving
members of the great generation
of Reggae pioneers who
have since passed — Bob Marley,
Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer,
Toots Hibbert — Tomlinson said
Cliff helped bring the genre to all
corners of the globe and helped
it gain worldwide popularity.
“Jimmy Cliff’s impact on
music and culture is inescapable,”
said the chief executive
officer of Destine Media, noting
that Cliff received Jamaica’s
highest honor “The Order of
Merit.”
Tomlinson said Cliff is one
of only two Jamaican Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame inductees; Bob
Marley being the other.
She said Cliff’s critically-acclaimed
album,”Rebirth,” was
awarded the GRAMMY Award for
“Best Reggae Album” and was
selected as one of Rolling Stone’s
“50 Best Albums of 2012.”
Tomlinson said immortal
anthems, including “Wonderful
World, Beautiful People”; “You
Can Get It If You Really Want”;
“The Harder They Come”; and
many of his other singles, such
as “Wild World” and “Hakuna
Matata” (with Lebo M.) have
had chart success across the
globe including Australia, Austria,
Belgium, France, Germany,
Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland,
the United Kingdom
and New Zealand.