Tlaxocamatl Tonantzin

In Mexico, I think nothing is more honored and adored than the Virgen de Guadalupe or, as I know her, Tonantzin. Her image is everywhere. Statues, candles, blankets, sarapes, scarves, murals, roadside shrines - her peaceful and radiant countenance blesses you. She lives in homes, tattoos, in the marketplace, in song, everywhere, she touches everything. Even one of the most popular singers in Mexico wrote a song for her! In fact, singers of all types - rock bands, mariachis, the
pop stars, the rancheros, EVERYONE loves the Virgencita Morena, the Goddess of the Americas.









She was the image on the banners and flags of Father Miguel Hidalgo and his followers in the fight for Mexican Independance. She is entrenched so deeply into our culture and ideology that she’s like an old and very beloved friend. We call her little mother. She’s our collective mother, the mother of a conquered but not defeated nation, the mother who fights for us, protects us and loves us no matter who or what we are and become. We live and breathe Guadalupe. In every family, someone, boy or girl is named Guadalupe and carries that name with pride.







The Catholic Church has it's story of the Virgen de Guadalupe and Juan Diego, we indigenous people have another. Somehow, like so much in Mexico the two things blended and we have Catholic dogma mixed with indigenous belief. Tonantzin wouldn't be erased and she lives stronger than ever in our hearts and minds.



Every year on her day, December 12th - thousands of people gather at her shrine on Tepeyac to give her honor, to pay homage, to dance prayers for her, to sing Las Manañitas to her and to show their devotion. Indigenous people from all over Mexico leave their villages and walk or crawl up to the sierra de Tepeyac in an ancient pilgrimage. The actual holy ground is a little hill behind the Basilica. This hill was sacred to Tonantzin and consecrated to Her by the indigenous people of Mexico long before the conquest. The pilgrimage was happening in pre-Columbian times as well.



As far back as I can remember my life was dominated by the Guadalupe. In the sala (living room) my grandmother Lupe’s house (her name was Maria Guadalupe) in the place of honor on the wall was a huge, framed print of the Virgen de Guadalupe standing on the hill of Tepeyac with Juan Diego kneeling at her feet, tilma open and filled with roses. It was a beautiful print with a soft washed from age look to it. You could clearly see the nopales (cacti) that were growing on the hillside. Every day my grandmother would put fresh flowers in front of that print. “Flores para la virgen”, she would tell me, “Flowers for the Virgen”. I learned to cut fresh roses and other flowers from the garden for vases throughout the house, keeping only the best and showiest to put in front of the print. Just like my grandmother, I’d say a little prayer to her as I left her her flowers. She was as real to me as my sisters were and I talked to her far more freely. La Lupita was my confidant, my protector, my dear little mother.



At church, my grandmother was a member of a society called Las Guadalupanas and they were devotees of her. Every morning, my grandmother Lupe would don her lacy mantilla and head off for mass where she’d pray to the Virgen de Guadalupe. See, she’s everywhere and in everything.



In Aztec culture, Guadalupe was Tonantzin, the mother of all, Mother Earth, The Goddess of Sustenance, Honored Grandmother, Snake, Aztec Goddess of the Earth. She brought the corn, Mother of the Corn. Even then She was All and Everything. She represented mothers, fertility, the moon, the sacred number 7. In fact, she was sometimes known as 7 Serpent. She was always there and she was always our little mother.





Corn is sacred to Tonantzin. The flowers we know as poinsettias were called Cuetlaxochitl were also very sacred to her and they grew on Tepeyac in wintertime as tall as ten feet high. Tunas (cactus fruit or prickly pear) are also especially sacred to Tonantzin growing as they do on the cacti that grows on her sacred and holy ground. Filled with seeds inside and a rich, juicy red fruit, the tunas represent both fertility and the womb, the blood of women and the sweetness of life. Tomatoes are another sacred fruit to Her. On my altar, I often put flor de noche Buena (another word for poinsettias meaning flower of the good night), tunas, chiles, cacao beans and tomatoes. The colors red, white and green, the colors of the Mexican flag are sacred to Her as well.



Early tomorrow morning, the morning of the 12th at 2a.m. at the Placita Olvera (Olvera Street) in Los Angeles, mariachis, devotees of the Virgen de Guadalupe, Aztec dancers, folklorico dancers, deer dancers, musicians, priests, nuns, and many more will start paying homage to Her. We will sing Las Mananitas, the traditional birthday song, we will pray and dance. Aztec dancers will dance at Catholic masses everywhere and they will do the prayer dance Tonantzin first. They will dance various variations of Tonantzin and give Her honor. In Mexico, on a much larger scale, celebrities, the elite, the politicians, Zapatistas, narcotrafficantes, men, women and children will all pay homage to our beloved Virgen de Guadalupe. We will give thanks to her for all we’ve received from her merciful hands, we will pray for the sick, the prisoners, the homeless, the helpless and we know that She is mercy, kindness, acceptance and love. She commands a tremendous devotion from the people that love her just by being Guadalupe. I believe she has given me much – my life, my children, my grandchildren, the food I eat. She is the goddess of the harvest, she represents the mother in me and in all women. She simply is and so I say Tlaxocamatl Tonantzin, thank you virgen de Guadalupe for all you have given. Tlaxocamatl Tonantzin. Ometeotl.







From the City of the Queen of the Angels, desde la ciudad de Nuestra Reina de los Angeles,

Atonatiuh Eloxochitl
Mar y Sol Datura Flower
otherwise know as
Gina MarySol Ruiz
Who is on her way to dance for the Virgen de Guadalupe and one for her Grandmother Lupe too.

The Virgin’s Guide to Mexico

The Virgin’s Guide to Mexio
Author: Eric B. Martin
Publisher: MacAdam/Cage
ISBN-10: 1596922109
ISBN-13: 978-1596922105

The Virgin’s Guide to Mexico is a compelling tale of a young girl and her search for identity. Alma, a bright but homely student who is nothing like her beautiful, Mexican mother decides to take a year off after being accepted into Harvard. She plans to go to Spain but her parents don’t allow it so she’s stuck in Texas having to go to the local college for a year.

Alma finds some letters of her mothers from a grandfather she never knew she had that lives in Mexico. Curious as to why her mother never speaks of her life in Mexico and having that typical teenage disdain for her parents, she runs away to find her grandfather and the secrets her mother hides. Alma hopes that Mexico will welcome her. She has a vision of Mexico as something out of a dream, a warm and welcoming place. She’ll find her grandfather and somehow, everything will be better.

Alma’s first foray into Mexico is frightening so she heads back into the US, disguises herself as a boy and attaches herself to a group of guys heading over the border.

Through Alma’s eyes we find out about the true Mexico, not the beautiful imagined dream. There are strange characters and unsavory ones, a strange old man who lives in a shack filled with beautiful paintings and the guys she hangs out with. The underbelly of Mexico is exposed with visits to whorehouses, bars and parties. Underneath the beautifully written prose is this dark hint of menace throughout. It’s a little unsettling and keeps you riveted to the page.

Alma’s quest alternates with that of her parent’s to find her. Her beautiful mother wonders what she did wrong, while her dot com rich father is determined to find her.

Eric B. Martin weaves a multi-dimensional and emotional tale of love, secrets, misunderstandings and modern Mexico. He sheds light on the tremendous poverty and challenges facing Mexico and it’s people. Martin also manages to show the shimmer of brilliance and beauty, the glory that was once Mexico and at times still is.

La Perdida

La Perdida
Author: Jessica Abel
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN-10: 0375423656
ISBN-13: 978-0375423659

La Perdida is the story of Carla Olivares, a Mexican-American woman who decides to live in Mexico knowing virtually nothing about the real Mexico. She doesn’t speak Spanish and she has the romantic view that Mexico is somehow perfect. Like a lot of us Chicanas here she sees Mexico as her homeland and as something very different than what it really is.

Carla crashes at the apartment of her ex-boyfriend, a wealthy WASP till things get so bad he throws her out. Her time is spent visiting Frida Kahlo’s house, the pyramids and other monuments that she feels will help get her in touch with her Mexican side. She meets up with a bad group of people and some of the choices she makes are horrendous. I felt for Carla but was exasperated by her at the same time. Her treatment of people who are just trying to be her friends is apalling but understandable. I get why she's being such a bitch even while I'm cringing at her behavior.

The people Carla decides are her friends are petty criminals posing as revolutionaries. They play on Carla’s American guilt expertly, calling her conquistadora, a conquerer. To be a Chicana and to be called a conquistadora really hits home and these guys know how to play it up. Carla gets deeper and deeper, more and more sucked in, keeps making these incredibly stupid choices and Mexico becomes a dangerous nightmare. It’s an incredibly riveting story.



I know so many people like Carla (without the poor choices) so its easy to understand her. I get why Memo and Oscar give her such a hard time too. Jessica Abel writes so convincingly and it all rings very, very true.

The art just makes it even more incredible. Jessica Abel has such a commanding way of drawing characters. She manages to speak volumes with the way she draws a shoulder, an expression, the way people move. There are some great illustrations of the city that bring Mexico to life. I love the jacaranda trees that line the streets. They're so beautiful that I can almost smell them and feel their velvety purple blossoms.

Chicanos and Chicanas or pochos as they call us that grew up here longing for our homeland. It’s easy to glorify Mexico and its culture. It’s something we grew up lacking. Still, we are privileged here like it or not and when we go into Mexico, we’re perceived as American however much we see ourselves as Mexican. I’ve lived both in Mexico and here and even though for the most part I’ve fit in, there’s always been this sense of otherness that doesn’t quite fit.

La Perdida does a fantastic job of showing the angst felt by Mexican-Americans, our wanting to belong to our homeland while feeling cut off from it. It shows how much we love our culture and how different real Mexican life is from what we percieve it to be. The graphic novel medium adds incredible depth and intensity to the already riveting story.

Diego

Diego
Author: Jonah Winter
Illustrator: Jeanette Winter
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; Bilingual edition (January 9, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0679919872
ISBN-13: 978-0679919872

Diego is an information packed little picture book that focuses on the young life of famed Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera.

The book tells the story of Diego as a little boy, struggling with school and how his parents supported him in his art. It also tells that he was a twin born in Guanajuato, Mexico and that his twin brother died before he reached age two. Diego was then sent to live with an old curandera in the hills for fear that he would take sick and die as well. While being separated from his parents caused some trauma, for the most part his life with Antonia the curandera was pretty magical and influenced his art for the rest of his life.

Both the author and the illustrator have done such a great job in teaching small children about this very important artist. Diego’s love of his culture and homeland shine through the book as does his social conscience. His tumultuous personal life is not addressed and personally, I don’t think it needs to be for a book that caters to such a young age. They’ll figure that out later because they’ll have a great interest in Diego after reading this book.

Each page has a great picture done in the style of a Diego Rivera painting with succinct sentences that convey much in both languages. Each page is lavishly illustrated in Diego’s own style. Paintings are bordered in Mexican style with birds and other tropical nuances. There are some great illustrations of Diego as a little boy holding a paintbrush.

The Spanish translation is clear and simple. It flows easily. I think the book is great learning tool for children trying to learn Spanish or English as well as learning about art and the artist himself. Jonah Winter is so eloquent in the short sentences that he compels the reader to like Diego, want to try to understand him and know more about him while Jeanette Winter’s lovely and lively illustrations show her love of the subject and suggest that she was very influenced by this artist. Her brilliant color choices also reflect Diego’s love of nature and of Mexico itself. Highly recommended!

Book description from the publisher:


Diego was a boy who loved to draw; he drew on everything, even the walls. In time, he would become known as one of the greatest muralists in all of Mexico—in all the world. "An accessible picture book about the life and work of Diego Rivera sounds like an oxymoron, but Winter and Winter succeed beyond belief," announced School Library Journal in a 1991 starred review. With spare, lyrical text—featured in both English and Spanish on every page—accompanying miniature murals done in Rivera's own vibrant style, this celebrated picture-book biography now makes a much deserved return to hardcover after a seven-year absence.

Napí

Title: Napí
Author:Antonio Ramírez
Illustrator: Domi
Publisher: Groundwood Books
ISBN: 0888996101

Napí is the story of a young Mazateca girl who lives in a small village near the bank of a river in Mexico. The story is ethereal and dreamlike as is the artwork. Napí likes to dream, she dreams of colors, of feelings, of herons flying through the wind. She talks of her village, of her Naa (mother in Mazateca) making tortillas and of the ancient pachota tree that is the center of her village.

Napí is poor, at least she says so. However, her story is of a girl who feels safe and secure, who loves her village, her huilpilli's in bright colors and her family. She loves the pachota tree under which her belly button cord is buried, the herons who live and nest in it and the colors of nature and her village. Color is important in this book, each page is dedicated to it and the lovely wash of watercolors in brilliant and vibrant colors enhance and compliment Napí's dreams of colors and the river.

Domi illustrated Subcommandante Marcos' The Story of Colors and I love her use of color and the way her paintings have not only a dreamlike quality but also of their indigenous look and feel. This is especially true in this book of an indigenous girl living in her Mazateca village. Domi is Mazateca herself and this book reflects her love of her people and their customs. My favorite illustration is the one where the pachota tree becomes alive at night with as the herons fill the branches like blossoms. It's simply beautiful.

Antonio Ramírez is an artist who has worked in many media, including books and murals. Thisis his first book. He lives in Mexico with his wife, Domi and they are both very active working for the rights of Native people in Mexico, especially in connection with the Zapatista movement in Chiapas through the Colectivo Callejero, of which they were founding members.

I hope you will find this book as beautiful as I did and enjoy it.

El piñatero/ The Piñata Maker

I love piñatas! They hold a special place in my heart and memories. When I was seven years old, my grandfather brought back from Mexico a beautiful, traditional piñata called piñata de picos. It was gorgeous a shard and I still have mine all these years later.

El piñatero/ The Piñata Maker with tons of brightly colored paper and streaming tassles on each cone. I remember being so excited when it was time to break it. We sang the piñata song, dale dale dale... The best part of all was when one of my cousins broke it and we found it was made of clay. Each of us children kept is a fantastic little photo journal about a piñata maker. There are full color photos of the process of making piñatas. It is the story of Tio Rico, a traditional piñata maker. His pinatas are exquisite, especially the Swan which is elegant and feels almost alive. There are pages dedicated to my favorite, the piñata de picos, my birthday piña. I was thrilled to find this amazing little book dedicated to an almost lost art. No Spongebob piñatas or tacky Ninja or tacky Ninja turtles made of cheap paper and plastic in this book.

It's a treasure and I share it with you on in the hopes of reviving the art so that our children can be as enchanted as I was on my seventh birthday.

Little Night/Nochecita

Little Night

Author/Illustrator: Yuyi Morales

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

ISBN-10: 1596430885

ISBN-13: 978-1596430884

From the book jacket:

As the long day comes to an end, Mother Sky fills a tub with falling stars and calls, “Bath time for Little Night!”

Little Night answers from afar, “Can’t come. I am hiding and you have to find me, Mama. Find me now!”

I loved this book! I recently received the BLAD (book, layout and design) of both this and the Spanish language version, Nochecita and simply fell in love with Yuyi Morales’ sumptuous illustrations. Each page is a feast for the senses. The art is so rich, so deep, so textured that it is almost tactile. It feels like you could walk right into the page and in doing so, you would be walking into a dream world make of silk and velvet.

The face of Little Night is one of sheer joy. She is imbued with the spirit of childhood and laughter. Even without the fun hide and seek story you’d be completely engaged because the art tells the story on its own. That said the story is fun and adorable. The imagery of Yuyi Morales’ writing is beautiful and poetic.

Mother Sky is beautiful as well. She embodies the spirit of the india in her gorgeous huilpil and braided hair. She makes me think of Mexico, of my grandmother and her comadres, of paintings by Siquieros and Rivera but with a more feminine, almost sensual feel.

Nochecita sounds a little better in Spanish, but overall the translation is seamless and you get the same sense of fun in both versions of the book.

Little Night won’t be published until April but it is available for pre-order in most bookstores. I’m running right out to pre-order it and I highly recommend that anyone do so. Children will love the sense of fun in the book as well as the illustrations and adults will adore the dreamlike sensuousness of the art.

About the Author:

Yuyi Morales is an author, artist, puppet maker, fold dancer and was the host of her own Spanish-language radio program for children. Other books she has written/an or illustrated include Just a Minute, winner of the Pura Belpre Medal, Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, a Pura Belpre Honor Book, and Los Gatos Black on Halloween. She has also received the Jane Addams and Christopher Awards for her work. Born in Veracruz, Mexico, Yuyi now makes her home in the San Francisco area.

The Uncomfortable Dead

The Uncomfortable Dead, A Novel by Four Hands: What’s Missing is Missing
Author: Subcomandate Marcos, Paco Taibo III
Publisher: Akashic Books
ISBN-10: 1933354070
ISBN-13: 978-1933354071

I’m a big fan of both Subcomandante Marcos that mysterious Zapatista storyteller that lives in the jungles high in the mountains of Chiapas and Paco Ignacio Taibo, III or PIT 3 as he is affectionately called by his many fans. I fell in love with Marcos’ writing back in 1994 when the first communicados started working their way to La Jornada, a Mexican newspaper that I read almost religiously, although now I find myself reading it on the internet. PIT 3 swept me away with the first Héctor Belascoarán Shayne novel I read, No Happy Ending. The idea of both of these iconic figures writing a book together was just too exciting.

I had read parts of The Uncomfortable Dead in Spanish when it was published in La Jornada in alternating chapters and it drove me crazy waiting for the next week’s installment. It was the talk of our danza circle with everyone printing out the week’s installment on their computers and then passing them around and excitedly jabbering away in Nahuatl, Spanish and English about it. It was more exciting than waiting for our last dance presentation of the night at Zamora Brothers in East L.A. on Virgen de Guadalupe day.

The Uncomfortable Dead is an insanely funny murder mystery. It’s all about good, evil and the crazy politics of Mexico. The book touches on the disappearances of people over the years and of one man named Morales’ involvement in them all. The chapters written by Marcos originate in the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico, and his investigator, Elias Contreras just happens to be dead, while those written by Taibo are mostly based in Mexico City starring his famous cigarette smoking, coca cola guzzling, one-eyed detective Shayne.

After having had the opportunity to read at Mexico’s Vicente Fox’s oh so casually released report (http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/1121-09.htm) admitting to over 30 years of murder, torture and rape among other atrocities that the government is has been responsible for, well the book really made a bigger impact upon me than I think it would have if I had read it in it’s entirety sooner.

I loved how at times, the characters would discuss their roles in the book and even critiquing it. I found that to be simply hilarious.

Taibo’s Shayne finds more questions than answers as he digs deeper into the search for Morales which started with a late night answering machine from a dead guy. The cast of characters in the book are a comical jumble. There’s a Tijaunero porn star paid to masquerade as Osama Bin Laden in terrorist videos, Pancho Villa, Barney, various ghosts and Gustav Mahler.

I’m not saying anymore because it’s will just seem weirder and weirder. The book is political, funny, wry and insanely entertaining. You’ll just have to read it to find out more.

Ringside Seat to a Revolution

Title: Ringside Seat to a Revolution
Author: David Dorado Romo
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
ISBN: 03854253090-938317-91-1


Ringside Seat to a Revolution: An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juarez : 1983-1923 by David Dorado Romo

El Paso/Ciudad Juarez was a big deal in my family. It was where my great grandparents walked to from Abasolo, Guanajuato when they left Mexico trying to escape the Mexican Revolution. It is where my great grandmother Teresa waited, out of money for word from her husband, my Papa Tino (Florentino Gonzalez) who was then working in the orange fields of Piru, California. There are many family stories about Ciudad Juarez and I've often wondered what it was like back in that wild and crazy time. David Dorado Romo's incredible book takes me right there. I'm sitting in that bar, watching the revolution happen.

Ciudad Juarez was more than just my great-grandparents landing/waiting place. It was host to Pancho Villa, the Santa de Cabora, Teresita Urrea, photographers, spies, soldaderas, escapees, immigrants, the movie industry, journalists, bullfighters, feminists, military bands, deserters, armies, you name it – it was in Juarez. The author calls it "one of the most fascinating periods in the region's history." It's amazing. There are great stories like the one about El Paso's gringo mayor wearing silk underwear because he's afraid of Mexican lice. The book is replete with photos from the era. There are over 200 black and white photos that give this fascinating and a little surreal place surprising depth and humanity. There are newspaper clippings and timelines as well.

Pancho Villa is pervasive throughout the book, after all Juarez was his town. The author admits that it was hard to find a place that Pancho Villa hadn't been. The town was a favorite of Villa's wife Luz Corrales as well. There are photos of the most random and what I think are unthinkable things like white tourists posing as soldaderas for photos to send home to family back east. Weird. You don't think of a war that your family left home to get away from as entertainment. At least I don't. It's wild to me that so many people came to this town to just sit on grandstands and watch the war. It's crazy. I guess it's no more crazy than me sitting in front of my TV and watching a war movie or the nightly news, but still, reading this book is an eye opener.

Romo's writing is clear and profoundly descriptive. He brings to life the happenings and time so adeptly that you feel you are there. His writing draws you in and keeps you rapt. I loved it all, the pictures, the writing, the essay by John Reed. This book is an education. Some of the photos are hard to take, there are executions, a man dying alone in the street, some of the faces and expressions are so heart-wrenching that it hurts to look. The face of the Mexican Revolution is a weary, pained one that changed millions of lives and I for one, feel the pain of that time still. I'm a product of the change and upheaval it brought. I think we're still all so connected to our Mexican past, us Xicanos, connected and disconnected. We're a strange breed and this book helps fill the gaps we have, those disconnected little pieces and ties them to the connected parts. At least that's what it does for me. For those that aren't Xicano, it is still an amazing and educational book.

My favorite part of the book is the quote from Enrique Flores Magon that says, "We are aliens to no country, no are we aliens to any people on earth. The world is our country and all men are our countrymen. It is true that, by birth, we are Mexicans, but our minds are not so narrow, our vision not so pitifully small as to regard as aliend or enemies those who have been born under other skies."

About the Author:
David Dorado Romo, the son of Mexican immigrants, is an essayist, historian, musician and cultural activist. Ringside Seat to a Revolution is the result of his three-year exploration of archives detailing the cultural and political roots of the Mexican Revolution along la frontera. Romo received a degree in Judaic studies at Stanford University and has studied in Israel and Italy.

La Bloga: THE LEGEND OF THE VOLCANOS

La Bloga: THE LEGEND OF THE VOLCANOS

'68 by Paco Ignacio Taibo II

In the fall of 1968, 325 students were massacred by the Mexican police in the public square of Tlatelolco during a protest. One person I know who was there remembers running, running and slipping on the blood of his fellow students – agruesome memory that will haunt him all his life. In ’68, Paco Ignacio Taibo documents the student movement leading up to the bloody massacre.

In 1968, I was only seven years old and living here in Gringolandia, but I remember Tlatelolco. I remember my grandparents hearing the news from family in Mexico and grabbing me out of the living room to stay quietly with my tia in her room. Such things weren’t meant for little girls to hear. Being an overly curious child, I snuck out and eavesdropped when I could. I heard my grandparents crying over the news that came in slowly. I know now that there was a news blackout for some time. I remember my mother and my uncle whispering about it and of people they knew in Mexico, wondering if those people were some of the dead. I remember bits and pieces but I remember Tlateloco. Reading ’68 brought those bits and pieces to the front of my memories and filled in what I didn’t know.

The student movement was at one time a half million strong and led to a 123-day strike in high schools and colleges throughout Mexico. Mr. Taibo was one of that student movement and writes from his memory of nights spent painting buses, printing flyers, guarding the school. He talks of madness, the quest for freedom, of brutal police beatings, the disappearance of bodies, of his own near arrest, of friends who disappeared into prisons and his own feelings of guilt for not being in Tlatelolco at the time of the massacre. He puts faces onto the students and talks of friends in the Moviemiento.

There are chapters so haunting and atrocious that it becomes hard to read but too important, too absorbing to put down. Each chapter is evocative, telling and passionate. The chapters have titles like “Of Women and Mattresses, The Sound of Marching Feet, Wherein We Learn the Tanks Have Arrive, Throwing Corncobs and Even Liars Know the Truth”.

It is a chilling and enlightening view of the things that went on behind the scenes, from the student’s point of view in the months and years leading up to the Massacre that some of us know so little of. The Mexican government covered up much of what happened and even now all these years later, information is not clear. Paco Ignacio Taibo II does much to uncover what remains hidden.

He asks, “Where did they throw our dead? Where did they toss our dead? Where, for fuck’s sake, did they throw our dead?” We should be asking the same.

Seven Stories Press has this title available in both English and Spanish along with other important books. Please visit and support this publisher.

Modelo Antiguo

This book was another great find from one of my favorite publishers Cinco Puntos Press. The translation into English by Sharon Franco and Joe Hayes is smooth, catching all the Mexican dialogue and chistes with ease. Cinco Puntos is doing such a fantastic job in bringing over these great Mexican novels by writers like Luis Eduardo Reyes and Paco Taibo II that before I write my review on the book, I have to take a moment to thank them and encourage them in this wonderful task they are undertaking.

The novel centers on Juan, a young taxi driver and Barbara, a 74 year old virgin who wants to die in her vintage, cherry old Ford and so hires Juan as a chauffeur to drive her around Mexico City – the Mexico City that she remembers from her youth. It’s a wild ride through the streets of the city and the reader is made familiar with these crazy Mexican streets.

Barbara is a well-bred lady and Juan, a rude, crude and not so honest man. They start off hating each other. Juan’s nefarious intentions are to steal the car and whatever money he can get from Barbara but something keeps bringing him back on this strange ride through Barbara’s memories and the city streets. Slowly they begin to fall for each other and this strange romance ensues as they dodge danger, visit hotels and pharmacies as they try to deal with their feelings and emotions.

It’s a funny, wry, absurd and wonderfully surreal tale of Mexico City and love.

The Moon Will Forever Be a Distant Love

“AMID THE MARKETS AND CANALS of the great city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, smack on the corner where nowadays Dolores Street runs past the Chinese restaurants and umbrella stores, Conquistador Balboa is in a rush to run an errand for the Marquis, and the Indian girl Florinda is walking to the flea market.”

This is the first sentence in this marvelous, surreal novel by Luis Humberto Crosthwaite, one of Mexico’s well-known novelists and Cinco Puntos Press has done a marvelous thing in bringing this author’s work to the US for us to enjoy.

The book is about Florinda and her Conquistador love, Balboa who is fired from his bureaucratic job with the other conquistadores because of downsizing. The two leave to Tijuana by bus hoping to cross The Border into the Northernish Empire.

As with many couples, real life intrudes on their fairy tale. They find without the proper papers they cannot cross The Border, Florinda (Xochitl) has to live with Balboa’s lisping Castillian family who treat her like a maid. Meanwhile Balboa’s uncle gets him across the border stuffed into the trunk of a car while still wearing his conquistador armor.

In this bizarre and wonderful quirky novel, centuries are traversed and lives change. Florinda comes to work in a factory in Tijuana, becomes a serious shoe-aholic and learns to live on her own. Balboa starts wearing jeans and a t-shirt, loses his lisp and takes up with the fair haired waitress Maryanne before getting rounded up by La Migra. This is such a fun and well told story filled with chistes and puns. I think my favorite part was when the Conquistador gets picked up by La Migra and deported. I encourage everyone to read this book and to find more Crosthwaite in his native Spanish. Kudos to Cinco Puntos for bringing him to the light here in the Northernish Empire!

The Queen of the South

The Queen of the South is a fast-paced thriller with the most unlikely of heroines, Teresa Mendoza, the girlfriend of a drug runner and pilot, Guero Davila in Sinaloa, Mexico. The book starts with Teresa’s special phone ringing, the phone that is the indication her lover is dead and they are coming for her. With the ringing of the phone, we are thrust into Teresa’s world, one of drug trafikkers, killers and mafiosos. Teresa has to think fast, run fast and outwit the people coming to kill her simply because she was Davila’s woman. Riverte takes us on a wild chase with this daring and soon to be dangerous woman. We explore the underbelly of Mexico, Spain and Morocco as Teresa’s life changes and she becomes a woman to be reckoned with – The Queen of the South.

At times frightening and always thrilling the book spans 12 years and follows Teresa and a host of characters. There is the frantic escape from Culiacan, the deadly boat race from the law while running drugs with her new lover, a boat ride that lands her in prison and many other fascinating bits of her life.

Riverte, who unabashedly emulates Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo creates the most amazing Edmund Dantes in Teresa. The Chateau D’If is the prison El Puerto de Santa Maria, where Teresa meets her spoiled drug addicted partner Patty who will eventually lead her to a fortune. Teresa, however becomes the leader and dominates the world in which Patty taught her to live in.

The Queen of the South is a fascinating look in the world of the underbelly of the world we live in. Teresa is not your typical character and honestly, I didn’t like her, but you don’t have to like her to be caught up in her world, to be swept away before you know it. Arturo Perez-Riverte has written yet another captivating and interesting novel with fast-paced narrative, elaborate story and scary characters.

The Hummingbird's Daughter

I just finished reading the most remarkable book by Luis Urrea called The Hummingbird’s daughter. It was absolutely astounding and I would encourage everyone to run out and buy a copy of it right away.

The book is based upon a relative, a distant aunt or cousin who was something of a legend called the Saint of Cabora – Teresita Urrea, a sixteen year old illegimate daughter of Cayetana, an indigenous woman called the Hummingbird and Don Tomas Urrea, the powerful rancher.

The book begins with Teresita’s birth in the poorest of circumstances. Her mother abandons her and leaves her with an aunt who mistreats her and abuses her. Teresita is a strong and determined child and overcomes much. She is determined and driven and somehow finds her way to the ranch where she meets Huila, a crusty and wonderful old curandera. Huila finds something in Teresita, a power to be reckoned with and begins to teach her the indigenous ways of healing, of plants, of power and dreaming.

As Teresita grows to young womanhood, she learns more and more. She demands to be taught to read, something even the rich lady wife of Don Tomas isn’t allowed to do. Teresita learns. She learns of the unrest in Mexico as well, learns of the whispers of revolution and the plight of the Yaqui Indians. She learns more of healing from an apprenticeship with an old curandero at Cabora and begins to feel her own power.

There comes a day when Teresita finds out that Don Tomas is her father and he in turn realizes she is in fact his daughter. He brings her to live in the ranch house and tries to turn his wild daughter into a young lady. Teresita again proves her strength and fights for her independence. She will only concede so much. She continues to do her healing, to work as a partera or midwife with Huila. She and Tomas have long discussions, argue about politics and novels. She begins to blossom.

One day something terrible happens and Teresita lies in a coma from which everyone believes she is dead. The doctors can do no more for her and a coffin is made. Imagine everyone’s surprise when she awakens! Now Teresita is more powerful than ever and has the gift of prophecy. Pilgrims flood Cabora and Teresita is worn out with all the healing. She begins to be a threat to the Diaz regime as well as the Catholic Church and insists on writing political commentary and demands the land back for the people who work it.

This is an amazing book and an equally amazing journey into a life before the revolution. Mr. Urrea is a fantastic storyteller who writes with conviction and amazing poetry. The language of the book is stunning, intense and panoramic.

Teresita, Tomas, Huila and the rest of the characters were so real to me that I could see them. There is Aguirre, an engineer turned revolutionary, Buenaventura, the bastard son of Tomas who is hated as much as Teresita is loved, Loreto, Tomas' wife, Gabriela, his mistress and other rich characters. Each of the characters in this amazing book crackle with life and energy.

Two decades were spent researching and writing this novel that is based on old family stories about his aunt Teresita. His descriptions are vivid, colorful and magical. The Sonoran desert, the ranch, the corrupt political officials, bandits and Rurales are all vividly portrayed. This is truly a book to be treasured and read over and over. It is simply remarkable.

Loving Pedro Infante

“If you’re Mejicana or Mejicano and don’t know who Pedro Infante is, you should be tied to a hot stove with yucca rope and beaten with sharp dry corn husks as you stand in a vat of soggy fideos”

- Denise Chavez (Loving Pedro Infante)



Okay, I just had to start my review off with that passage because when I read it, I laughed aloud. It is just such a typical Xicano, Mejicano curse that I’m sure we’ve all heard something like it from our abuelitos or our parents.

Loving Pedro Infante is the story of Teresina Avila and her friend Irma “La Wirms” Granados who live in Cabritoville and belong to the Pedro Infante Club #256 along with other women in the small town. These women are Pedro crazy and I can understand that being a big Pedro Infante fan myself.

The story is also about love and obsession. Tere is in love with an hijo de la… named Lucio who is of course, married and a slimy worm. That doesn’t stop Tere from loving him though and from being obsessed. She sneaks off to meet him in a motel, battles with her best friend over him, hides and sneaks. She is ashamed of the relationship but that doesn’t stop her from seeking him out. Why do some guys do this to us? I think all of us women have had our Lucio. Handsome devils, good at making us feel that we are unworthy when all the time, the problem is their own insecurities, bullshit and emotional issues.

The book is great. I loved the characters, was at times frustrated with Tere, liked her, thought she was an idiot, wanted her to kick Lucio’s tight Mexican butt all the way out of Cabritoville and cheered her on. The fan club were so much like all my abuela’s old friends that swooned over Pedro Infante and loved their daughters and families fiercely. Denise Chavez tells a hell of a story.

Denise Chavez’ Loving Pedro Infante is a book that I started off loving and couldn’t put it down to a book that I tossed behind my bed in a corner to collect dust and accuse me until I picked it up again. Why did I toss it? Because the character that Teresina Avila is in love with – Lucio was so much like my own hijo de la… ex boyfriend that it made me uncomfortable. We were in yet another or our cycles where we were together again after having been broken up and the book made me see things in him that I didn’t want to see or wasn’t ready to. No, mine wasn’t married but he was still an hijo de la… all the same. He pulled his disappearing acts like Lucio and he was just generally unavailable and I was just as obsessed as Tere which is probably why I was so darn mad at her for half of the book.

It’s not often that an writer can look into the reader’s heart and soul and pluck the strings so well that the reader believes the book is about their own life. Denise Chavez does this easily and while I was uncomfortable at times, it was a damn good book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved reading about Pedro Infante too. She gives lots of great tidbits of his life and films, which were a nice bonus for this Infante fan.

Viva Pedro Infante and Viva Denise Chavez! Oh, and to my Lucio (you know who you are), go stand in the soggy fideos!

Goddess of the Americas by Ana Castillo

These essays by modern writers on the Virgen de Guadalupe are incredible. It is so wonderful to read these writers’ thoughts and feelings on the much beloved Guadalupe, patron saint of Mexico.

Since La Lupita is such a cultural icon both here in the US and in Mexico, I feel this is an important book. La Lupita permeates the consciousness of the Mexican and Chicano people. Ana Castillo gives the reader, not a glimpse but a full sense of that consciousness. This book is an education and a joy to have.

The poems and stories contained within are a glimpse into the personal journeys and thoughts of important writes and how Tonantzin or Guadalupe plays her magical role in their lives. You will find private and personal reflections by Ana Castillo and Sandra Cisneros (Caramelo); there is a wonderful essay by the very talented writer and documentarian of gang life in L.A., Luis Rodriguez; a brilliant essay by Richard Rodriguez (Hunger of Memory) as well as contributions by writers like my personal favorite Elena Poniatowska, Pat Mora, the beloved Octavio Paz and many others. You will read it over and over again.

Rain of Gold by Victor Villasenor

The first time I read Rain of Gold, I thought to myself, “My God this is my family!” Victor Villasenor has the ability to draw in the reader and make he or she feel that they are living the story. This is particularly true in Rain of Gold.

The book follows two people and their families very different journeys through the hard times of the Mexican Revolution and into the U.S. and the very different life waiting for them there. They meet new challenges in and find each other as they adjust and learn to make a life in this new country.

The book abounds with the mystical love of spirits, nature and God that is so commonplace for us Mexicanos. I believe it is hard for people not of our culture to understand just how real the spirits are to us. This is not magical realism but daily life us. Mr. Villasenor shows that aspect of our culture, our grandmothers so well that it brought tears to my eyes as I remembered my own mystical, wise and wonderful grandmother.


The fact that Victor Villasenor is extremely dyslexic and encountered myriad problems in school at a very young age makes this book all the more astounding. He writes with pathos, humor and his love for his beautiful family shines through it all. His simple style of storytelling makes you feel you’re sitting on the floor listening to an uncle or other family member and you are completely enraptured and caught up in his spell

Soldaderas in the Mexican Military by Elizabeth Salas

Elizabeth Salas’ Soldaderas in the Mexican Military: Myth and History is such a fascinating and useful book. I first came across it when I wanted to find out more about the Soldaderas in the Mexican Revolution. I was shocked to find that there wasn’t very much material on the subject except for brief mentions in books about the Mexican Revolution and of course songs like La Adelita. I was angry that there was so little material on a subject that I believed to be highly overlooked.

I bought the book, not expecting much after all the dead ends that I had found on this subject and was blown away by it’s detail and wealth of information.

Ms. Salas book is an excellent reference tool and an absorbing read. It sheds light on these amazing women who fought bravely for their country. Ms. Salas not only references the Mexican Revolution, she goes from pre-Conquest times and the warrior women who fought then to the Xicana activism of the 1970’s.

Soldaderas in the Mexican Military breaks the stereotype of the soldadera being a camp follower or a basket toting wife of a soldier. Sala’s tells of women who held high ranks in the military and even drew pension. She lets the reader know just how important these women were and how hard they fought. These women were spies, lieutenants, corporals and generals. They provided food, smuggled in arms and fought just as hard as any man. Viva la Mujer!

Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co.

I first encountered Maria Amparo Escandon in her lovely little novel, Esperanza’s Box of Saints which made me a die hard fan for life so it was with great joy that I finally got to meet her at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Ms. Escandon was charming and very gracious. While there, I bought Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co. and brought it home to read. While I expected a wonderful story, I in no way expected to be so moved, so absorbed. I finished the book in less than a day and have to say that this far surpasses her first novel. I loved it!

Gonzalez and Daughter is the story of Libertad and her father Joaquin who was once a professor in Mexico City in the time of the massacre at Tlateloco told by a woman in a Mexicali Prison for women who has taken for her nickname, Libertad.

For reasons I won’t get into (buy the book), Joaquin escapes into the United States and becomes a trucker. Libertad grows up in the 18-wheeler and the book is littered with wonderful characters, interesting stories within stories and the growing pains of a young girl who longs for a home that doesn’t move. Libertad and her father love books. He is after all, a former college professor. They have no room in the truck to store all the books and so when they are finished with a book, they toss it out the window and onto the highway.

Their story is a beautiful one, filled with love, loss, misunderstanding and the trials of life. It is about learning and growing, about friendships made and true devotion. I was sad to finish it and happy to find out what happened to them.

There are other stories as well, as Libertad is a Mexican-American Scheherazade, jealously guarding her stories until the next week’s installment of the prison Library Club. Both the prisoners and the reader are caught in the spell of Escandon’s masterful pen and we hold our breath captivated by it.

I, even now an hour after finishing the last chapter am still enthralled and will read it again tomorrow and probably a few more times before sending it on to a loved one currently stationed in Iraq in the hopes of brightening his time there. Having typed that last sentence, I realize I can’t part with the book and will just go out and buy another copy to send as well as maybe a few more because this is a book that just screams to be shared, to be talked about, to share passages with your dearest friend.