In recent years I’ve gone back to read some classic fiction that I was first asked to read in high school, 30 years ago, books like The House on Mango Street, The Great Gatsby, and The Catcher in the Rye. My first response to these second takes was surprise: “Why Read more…
I could never name just a few books that have changed my life. Reading in general has made that difference, as I come from a working class family that includes many immigrants. My paternal grandparents had only third grade educations when they immigrated from Mexico. My parents both graduated from Read more…
When I was about eight years old I owned several collections of poetry for children. I still remember many of the poems I read then, and though I rarely can remember where I put my keys these days, I can still recite some of those old poems by heart. (“How Read more…
When I was 18 years old, the author Ray Bradbury wrote to me. I’d told him that I wanted to be a writer more than anything else in the world, and while I was already making my way, I wanted to know even more how to be the best writer Read more…
As a child, I learned the small words first – the ones that were easiest to enunciate and that encompassed my life experience: Mama, Papa, food. As I grew, so did the words and the languages I spoke them in, until I realized that one lifetime is not enough to Read more…