A Better Place: A Memoir of Peace in the Face of Tragedy

by Pati Navalta Poblete

Overview

Pati Navalta Poblete's world is shattered when her 23-year-old son, Robby, is violently killed. She blames God, gun violence and the town where he was born and died, even herself. Two years later, she shares how Robby’s death was transformative for her and many others -- including their family and friends, and even the first journalist on the scene.

The Bay Area native takes the reader on a raw, heartbreaking journey from the scene of the crime, to a Buddhist monastery in Northern California, to Asia where she travels for work, to Robby’s favorite beach in Hawaii to mark the first anniversary of his death -- everywhere she goes trying to make sense of what has happened. Along the way, she offers glimpses into her and Robby’s lives, underscoring what makes his loss so tragic and why every loss such as his matters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781946706003
Publisher:	Nothing But the Truth Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	05/22/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	15 Years

About the Author

Pati Navalta Poblete is a longtime Bay Area journalist, serving as the Community Editor for the Vallejo Times-Herald, News Editor at the Alameda News Group, and Editorial Writer and Columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle, where she was nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize for her editorial series on the need for foster care reform in California. She later worked as the Asia Regional Director for an international organization that works with national governments and intergovernmental agencies on shaping sustainability policies. She is the author of “The Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents of America” (2006, Heyday Books), and the author of the upcoming book, “A Better Place” (Nothing But the Truth Publishing), to be released in 2018. She is married to Cicero A. Estrella, and is the proud mother of two children, Robby and Julie. She is committed to honoring them every day through The Robby Poblete Foundation.
Pati Navalta Poblete is a longtime San Francisco Bay Area journalist, previously serving as Editorial Writer and Columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle, where she was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for her editorial series on the need for foster care reform in California. She later worked as the Asia Regional Director for an international organization that works with national governments and intergovernmental agencies on shaping sustainability policies. She is the author of "The Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents of America" (2006, Heyday Books). Today Pati is Executive Director of the Robby Poblete Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Through its gun buyback program, the foundation takes unwanted and potentially dangerous guns out of circulation and works with artists to transform them into pieces of art used to raise awareness about gun violence. The foundation also provides vocational programs to individuals and communities affected by violent crime. She lives in Fairfield, CA.

Table of Contents

Looking Back ix

Part 1 Shock

Chapter 1 The Call 5

Chapter 2 Nine Days 13

Chapter 3 Saying Goodbye 19

Chapter 4 Send Me a Sign 27

Chapter 5 The Dark Night of the Soul 33

Grief

Chapter 6 Let It Out 43

Chapter 7 I Don't Know What to Say 51

Chapter 8 I Feel Your Pain 57

Pathway

Chapter 9 Follow Me 67

Chapter 10 His Books 73

Chapter 11 Planting Seeds 79

Chapter 12 Shasta Abbey 83

Chapter 13 Be Still 91

Chapter 14 Baby Buddha 99

Life

Chapter 15 I'm Still Here 109

Chapter 16 Passport 117

Chapter 17 Back to Work 125

Chapter 18 24 133

Part 2 Anger

Chapter 19 One Year 145

Chapter 20 White Sandy Beach 151

Chapter 21 Someone to Blame 159

Chapter 22 It Just Is 167

Meaning

Chapter 23 Scarecrow 175

Chapter 24 Robby's Shop 181

Chapter 25 All In 187

Chapter 26 Always Forward 193

Joy

Chapter 27 The Strong One 203

Chapter 28 Love and Basketball 209

Chapter 29 Mothers and Sons 217

Purpose

Chapter 30 Mothers and Movements 229

Chapter 31 Forgiveness 237

Chapter 32 Going Before the Judge 241

Looking Forward 245

Acknowledgments 253

Editorial Reviews

"Author Pati Poblete eloquently writes about her first-hand experience of the pain and aftermath resulting from the tragic death of her only son... Ultimately this is a story of a mother's faith, fortitude and redemption in the face of tragedy." – Congressman Mike Thompson, 5th District, CA and Chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force in the U.S. House of Representatives

From the Publisher

2018-02-19
An author shares her struggle to find a meaningful mission after her son is killed in their California hometown.Poblete (The Oracles, 2006) spent many years as a San Francisco Bay Area newspaper reporter; later she worked with international governments and agencies, addressing issues of climate change and environmental crisis. But her memoir focuses on her physical, emotional, and spiritual journey to overcome the paralyzing grief she endured after her 23-year-old son, Robby, was gunned down in broad daylight. Robby was the 14th of 18 homicides in Vallejo in 2013. As Poblete makes clear early on, she is not interested in giving any space to the four perpetrators; this story is about Robby and how his joyful embrace of life inspired her to follow his path. Once she was able to drag herself out of bed, Poblete, a Roman Catholic, began reading Robby's books on Buddhism and went to a Buddhist monastery for a three-day retreat. Carrying readers through the two years following Robby's death, she emotionally details her sorrow and rage until she discovered a cause—fighting for and overseeing the creation of a singular gun buyback program in Vallejo. Of her determination to move forward, she writes, "I had a clear decision to make: Wake up each morning fueled by hate and revenge, or wake up fueled by love and forgiveness." Poblete alternates between heartfelt reflections on moments in Robby's life and engrossing recollections of her road to recovery, offering a vivid and succinct articulation of the lasting experience of grief: "You remember the call you got. You think of the shock that will ensue, and the long, lingering pain that will ebb and flow, like the phantom pain of a lost limb." Yet her commitment to the Robby Poblete Foundation, which ensures that a portion of the melted-down guns is turned into art and the remainder donated to welding workshops for disadvantaged teenagers, allows her to conclude: "I felt and continue to feel profound sadness and a deep loss. But I also feel gratitude, happiness and even hope."An eloquent message of comfort directed toward fellow travelers.

Kirkus Reviews