Tales from La Perla

Tales from La Perla: A Misspent Hippie Youth chronicles Ralph's time as a freak in south central and southwest New Mexico during the 1970s before he dropped back in. The years in fictionalized La Perla and Edge City show humor and commitment to the rural lifestyle and culture in these out-of-the way places. The narrator introduces those who stayed in the community and others, not up for the challenges, who came and went. With limited material resources, abandoned homes are fixed up and new ones are built, a well is dug by hand, firewood gathered, feasts and solstice parties held, landscape and interpersonal relations explored, law west of the Rio Grande exposed, baby pigs saved, a hippie childbirth recounted, windstorm and weeds confronted, bathing improvised, home-made incense crafted and eaten, and enough income earned to get by. What is most affirming about the lifestyle are the sincerity and honesty of those who try to be in the world but not of it.
Tom Lane Books' editor and Ralph's widow Geri Rhodes published the manuscript after Ralph's death in 2017. Friends who lived there or who've been there contributed photographs, front matter, and an afterword.