Messages in a Small Town : Nouveau Proletariat : 9780692537527 : 069253752X : 15 Oct 2015 : In this collection of short stories and essays, Nancy Davies, the author The People Decide, steps away from the turmoil of the Oaxaca uprising of 2006 to meticulously evoke intimate human aspects of life in Mexico. As both journalist and poet, she describes the lives of Mexicans riding the stream of cultural change since the onset of the new millennium. Some stories, like "Messages in A Small Town", deal with universals: the unchanging aspects of love, marriage, and betrayal, presented by Davies with the soft humor of lovers using the technology of cell phones to surreptitiously communicate. In the story "The Dogs Were Barking", she explores the sadness and resentment of those left behind, in this case a solitary elderly widow, whose sons left for the United States in pursuit of a better life and were never heard from again. Finally she finds solace with the help of a mysterious boy who appears