February 2008 Archives
In Praise of Mouthy Girls
"You save yourself or you remain unsaved," writes Alice Sebold in her riveting memoir Lucky. Essentially, I agree. Unfair as it may seem, whether you caused the terrible situation in which you find yourself or not, it is ultimately on you to get out and do repairs. But sometimes a wake-up call from someone else sparks your getaway.
That's what happened to me, at fourteen, when I was living in a pathologically abusive home, and a mouthy friend's words rescued me.
Raised from birth by my mother, a devout Jehovah's Witness, to be a virtuous girl-child--which meant being silent, passive, obedient, and submissive--I had few resources for coping with the beatings, verbal abuse, and sexual predations of my stepfather (who later went to prison for child molesting). For two years, while he destroyed our family, I did little more than pray.
Then a girl in my class shocked me. Beth was brilliant, funny, irreverent, and mouthy. Her atheism and swearing were shocking, but her warm, frank friendliness disarmed me. I trusted her immediately and completely; she felt like bedrock.
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The difference college makes
As a first-generation college student who is, at the age of 40, still paying off her college loans--but who's grateful to have had the chance to go to college at all--I was struck by a new report that warns that "widening gaps in higher education between rich and poor, whites and minorities, could soon lead to a downturn in opportunities for the poorest families."
The New York Times states that, in terms of college degrees earned, Latinos and African Americans are "falling behind" whites and Asian Americans, and that "[e]conomic mobility . . . has not changed significantly over the last three decades." The report is by the Brookings Institution, and there's bound to be controversy about the explanations for the differences; conservatives and liberals differ on the reasons for the gap.
But the hopeful news . . .
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Pat Alderete rocks.
She read us the short story "Wanda," which was terrific (Pat said it's published online, but I haven't been able to find it--if you find it, let me know!), and then an essay, "The Plush Pony," which is in the cool new collection of GLBTQ memoirs and essays about living in Los Angeles, Love, West Hollywood, forthcoming from Alyson Books.
Pat's a terrific performer; her stories have a lot of dialogue, and she's got all the voices down. She turns on a dime from hilarious to ominous, too. If you ever get a chance to see her read, definitely go. The evening wound up with the first part of another short story, which I think was called "Miss Johnson Comes to Dinner" (?), and it appeared in this great journal Vanderbilt University puts out, Afro-Hispanic Review. Creative writers, check it out! Pat left us hanging in the middle, so I've got to go track it down.
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Kudos for bravery and reconciliation
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Race & Writing Centers
This month, we were critiquing a piece by Frankie Condon, a brilliant, warm woman who directs UNL’s Writing Center director and is the co-author of The Everyday Writing Center: A Community of Practice. She’s due to give the plenary keynote lecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s conference Race in the Writing Center: Towards New Theory and Praxis, which looks pretty cool.
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Chicana Writer Tuesday!
Rockin’ Chicana writer Pat Alderete, whom I met at the Macondo Workshop down in San Anto, will be here at UNL on Tuesday! She reads at 7:30 p.m. in the Bailey Library, which is on the second floor of Andrews Hall on the UNL campus.
Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Pat Alderete writes from an insider’s perspective about the beauty and brutality of varrio life, rendering the complex inner worlds and strict social hierarchies of a community too seldom observed in literature.
Her reading’s free and open to the public (and there’ll be a reception afterward—i.e., free eats). Come out!
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Rum & Coke!
“You are not free, because you’re Cuban and you’re not home,” the grandmother (played by Peláez) tells her
If you’re in Nueva York, go see it—the show runs through March 2 at Abingdon’s June Havoc Theater at
Brava, Carmen!
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