Re-Creation: Laughing Buddha With a Fiddle

The Laughing Buddha walks from village to village and hands out treats to children-he evokes joy with his own joy. Madsen’s journey of re-creation serendipitously provides her with a personal version of the Laughing Buddha-she plays the fiddle in parks and waysides, and children’s eyes-and adult’s eyes-light up with joy. Madsen’s previous memoir, Guilty By Degree, ends with her survival of events that threatened not just her life, but also destroyed her livelihood and standing in the community. Here is the story beyond survival and into re-creation-she relives her past with strength and love that reshapes her current self, and learns how to walk amongst those who outcasted her. She describes herself as a semi-hermit living in a cave on wheels, who often stops for moments of being a Laughing Buddha with a fiddle.