The Mayan Way – in Oakland From: insidebayarea.com

Thump. Thwock. Martina Jimenez leans forward from the waist as she pulls a polished wooden board through a maze of strings. Each thump is another line completed in the weaving project she works on nearly every afternoon. One end of the loom is secured around her backside with a woven strap, the other end affixed to a metal hook above her closet door. The warp stretches the length of her bedroom.

This day Jimenez is weaving a black and purple skirt for her mother, who regularly sends her brightly colored wool and other supplies in the mail from Guatemala. Though she is thousands of miles from home, the 24-year-old Jimenez weaves traditional clothing to keep a tie to her Mayan culture, she said in Spanish. When she immigrated to the United States three years ago, she settled in Oakland, where her two sisters live, finding the city more affordable than San Francisco, which had, until recently, attracted more Guatemalans.”*

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