several years ago, joseph read the book, rain of gold, by victor villaseñor. it's a beautifully written book that tells the story of both sides of villaseñor's family, their travails in mexico, their migrations north, and, finally, how his father and mother come together. when joseph read this book, he was inspired to further explore chicano literature. this "exploration" led him to build a veritable library of chicano/a studies books.
we found out just the night before the victor villaseñor would be speaking at the chicano cultural center in riverside. it was a long day for me. i had to teach, meet with a student, write a postdoc application (yes, i procrastinated; it was due by 5PM). but we couldn't miss the opportunity to see victor villaseñor speak.
he was a great speaker, every bit the storyteller that i expected, but he was also very spiritual and motivational. by the end of the evening, he had also all yelling that we were "burro geniuses." burros, because we were tough; geniuses because we were intuitive and would listen to our hearts.
after a very long day of teaching and writing, too much trying to be smart, it was comforting to know that i might be able to rely on my burra genius.
@>-->>---
3 comments:
wow. that's so awesome that y'all got to hear him speak. i've been wanting to read that book for a while. maybe i'll have to pick it up over the holidays!
aw, what a nice picture! joseph must have been thrilled.
isa--it's a good one. i think you'd enjoy the book. it's historical! ;)
olga--he was trying not to show it, but i could tell he was really pleased. :)
Post a Comment