new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Lisa Alvarado, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 8 of 8
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: Lisa Alvarado in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
By: Contributing Bloguistas:,
on 1/13/2011
Blog:
La Bloga
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
story,
fiction,
Lisa Alvarado,
Add a tag
by Lisa Alvarado
And in the fey light of morning, I pulled the T-bird into the alley and Rachel and Zoie slid into the back seat after a night with the two men they met on the train. "They're still asleep?" I clocked them in in the rear view mirror.
"Believe me, " Rachel laughed, "it'll be quite a while before those two are ambulatory."
"Any problems getting here from the station?"
Rachel shook her head, smoothing her skirt into place with a deliberation worthy of a priest wearing vestments.
Zoie just shrugged, dressed that full mouth of hers with crimson lipstick and lit a Gauloise. The smoke was a lazy snake caressing the side of my face. "It's all good," and patted the suitcase between the two of them.
Rachel held up two wallets, pouting a little. "They were fun, you know. Sweet."
Zoie threaded her fingers through her thick, midnight hair and sighed, "Good in bed, too."
Rachel giggled, "Lots of energy...Lovely, really."
"Yes, I know," I said. "But you know how I am about money."
I turned around and leaned toward them. Rachel's mouth was warm and soft, and Zoie's fingers found my nipple.
I pulled away and started the ignition, checking the alley. "Hungry are we?"
I looked up in the rearview to see Zoie smiling like a cat. "Famished. You know how it is after work."
Rachel scooted forward, leaned close, breathing in my ear, her blond hair spilling like a veil. "Baby, we missed you."
I hit the gas. L.A. was at least six hours away. There were passports and the plane tickets waiting. And five years ago, it was the boys and I making the same pilgrimage. They knew I'd done everything and anything for them, and it had been good, very good, for a long time. But they lied, and there was the money after all.
I wondered how soon I could get to a motel.
______________
Lisa Alvarado is a poet, novelist, and installation and performance artist. Her novel Sister Chicas (along with Ann Hagman Cardinal and Jane Alberdeston in 2006) was praised by Julia Alvarez, Pat Mora and Luis Rodriguez, and her book of poetry Raw Silk Suture (2008), garnered acclaim from Juan Felipe Herrera and Rigobero Gonzalez. Her one-woman show, The Housekeeper's Diary, focused on her life as a maid for one of Chicago's wealthiest families for sold-out audiences in Chicago and Washington DC. Her installation, Mexican Maid's Toolkit, toured the U.S. as part of Reimagining the Distaff Toolkit. She is Chicana, Jewish, working-class and devoted to writing about those identities, celebrating the body, the spirit, and the working life. She is a La Bloga contributor.
Dear editors & agents del mundo,
As a writer, I've worn a self-made button to writing conferences that reads: "Willing to work for serendipitous editor or agent." I inevitably get comments and once got an agent to ask me what I was pitching. He didn't take me on as a client, but the button did its job, one time.
In that spirit La Bloga provides this feature column with the message: Hechate un vistazo, which means take a peak. Here we're letting editors and agents, and all Bloga readers, get a peak at book-length stories hungry for an audience, and patron.
These will only be never-published works--novels, novellas, poetry collection, novelettes, screenplays, other collections, memoirs, children's books, anthologies--written by our contributors, complete and just itching to lock in your interest.
Consider this a service to our contributors as well as to publishing magnates out there. In the future we may give La Bloga readers a chance to feature their MSS here, so if you have one, send a 150-word pitch of your obra and a 25-word publishing history, as well as a way for people to contact you. Include the word count, genre, a photo and at least a working title for the story. If you want to include the opening 3 sentences of the story, we'll include that, too. Send to r.ch.garcia (ala) cybox.com. BEWARE: yes, your idea may be stolen because nothing is sacred nor secure in the Internet world.
Even if you're not an agent or editor, you may know one who one day writes you a big fat finder's fee for bringing one of these works to their attention. At least, we can imagine so.
Two MSS lead off today's parade. Who knows? Maybe this will do the job as well as my button and one day an editor/agent will call. BTW, if anyone should luck out, you MUST let us know.
____________________
Nine Days Dead a novel
by Lisa Alvarado
Florinda Cienfuegos, daughter of Oya and owner of a Chicago botánica, has dreams about criminals getting murdered and visions of a man flashing a detective's shield. Last night, she finally sees a name on the badge--David Ortiz, and tries to tell the police what she knows. When she's laughed out of the local precinct, she's overheard by Det. Naftali Gonzales. Gonzalez doesn't think it's a laughing matter. He had the same disturbing dreams; David Ortiz was his partner, killed in the line of duty nine days ago. What happens against a backdrop of Chicago's Puerto Rican and Mexican neighborhoods is a tale of the supernatural, crime/noir and two people drawn together to find out who or what has pierced the veil to exact justice.
Publishing bio: Lisa Alvarado is an educator, poet, novelist, and journalist. She is founder of La Onda Negra Press, and author of Reclamo and The Housekeeper’s Diary, originally a book of poetry and now a one-woman performance. Her first novel, Sister Chicas (written with Ann Hagman Cardinal and Jane Alberdeston) was bought by Penguin/NAL, and released in April '06. Sister Chicas is a coming of age story concerning the lives of three young Latinas living in Chicago and won 2nd place Best First Novel in English (Latino Literacy Nov. '07). Her book of poetry, Raw Silk Suture, is a recent release by Floricanto Press, and was reviewed by
Michael Sedano
Felicidades to "Author of the Year" Lisa Alvarado
If La Bloga had watercoolers we'd stand around them and toast the commendation of Lisa Alvarado as an Illinois Author of the Year. Lisa was named by Illinois' Secretary of State for her "ability to empower, educate, inspire, challenge and entertain readers."
Lisa, our comadre and retired La Bloga bloguera, was named along with Frank González-Crussí, Cristina Henríquez, Luis Alberto Urrea, Wilfredo Cruz, Cristina Benitez and Robert Renteria. Our hats off to Lisa on her recognition. A local news story carries biographical details of each of the awardees.
Congratulations, Lisa, on this recognition of your writing and art.
Latino Book & Family Festival Approaches
This weekend brings the 12th Annual
Los Angeles Latino Book & Family Festival at Cal State Los Angeles. It is Saturday and Sunday October 10 and 11. Admission to festival events is free but know that Cal State charges parking. A freeway flyer bus stop has an elevator and short walk to Salazar Hall, and beyond that to the plaza where the stages await the crowd.
The schedule is sure to lead to conflicting emotions when you are forced to choose between multiple events. As a painful example, the first hour on Saturday features four attractive events. Rigoberto Gonzales hosts a panel discussion on history in Latino novels. María Meléndez and Marisela Norte address Latino Poetry in the K-12 Classroom. In Spanish at that hour, Alfonso Silva leads a session on Self-Help and Cómo alcanzar el éxito.
Those start at 10:30, leaving some time to view the 10:00 a.m. start of the Folklorico Challenge. The competition continues both days as dance troups vye to win $350 or $100 in three age categories..
Including competitive folkloric dance in the festival adds a note of convergence among the arts with the current publication of novelist Reyna Grande's
Dancing With Butterflies. Grande is one of the principal organizers of the El Sereno campus event. Her novel revolves around four women whose lives connect around their folklorico troupe. Grande's exploration of the souls filling those colorful costumes will have you looking on folkloric dance performances with fresh eyes.
Click here to download a PDF document schedule of the Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. events.
On the March With NAMI Gente
The crowd strings out for several blocks. The head of the line is out of sight already. My group is glad for the temperate Santa Monica morning. We walk silently, George’s cane strikes in rhythm to his footfalls. It will be an easy walk. George has brought along a big old protest sign. I think of the song, "El picket sign".
The
NAMI walk doesn’t attract loudly boisterous tipos so today’s three mile walk will be easily accomplished. Near the halfway point the organizers set up an appreciation station. "Thank you for walking!" they call, taking turns or in unison. Nice touch, I admire the theory: catch workers doing something right, acknowledge them as their reward.
Several thousands friends of The National Alliance on Mental Illness assemble to listen to the welcoming rituals. A county politician with a practiced eloquence orates for allotted time. He's credited with being a supporter of mental health issues. His words sound like he’s preparing a run for congress, maybe governor. But he's not too enthusiastic, so maybe he sees this crowd for who we are, the huddled masses with loved ones stricken with serious mental illness.
Newspaper columnist Steve Lopez takes the podium to observe his well-known involvement with Nathanial Anthony Ayres, a musician Lopez is
helping find solid ground. Lopez offers the possibility of a special guest later in the program.
Ayres arrives. He makes a brief introduction of well articulated words. Then he picks up the instrument and touches the bow to the strings. Ayres practices excellent technique, the bow holds steady contact with the string. His tonality would be called rich if not for the vibrato that infiltrates the playing. His nervousness translates to shaking the violin as he pulls and pushes the bow. Eventually, Ayres finds a suitable comfort zone and begins playing a piece I do not recognize. The piece goes on and on into strung together snippets of melody but no structure, no central musicality to the sound. The Emcee eventually if somewhat tardily steps to the front and begins to applaud maestro’s work. Ayres takes the hint and disappears.
The P.A. system comes on loud and hard. A personal fitness trainer starts chanting the marchers onward. "Take your water!" My feet stride comfortably in my two tone leather shoes. I wind up carrying the picket sign half the time. "NAMI SGV Brain Trust" I proclaim.
That's the first Tuesday in October, 2009. A Tuesday like any other Tuesday, except You Are Here. Thank you for visiting La Bloga.
Free Books! Book Giveaway!
Hachette Book Group celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 through October 15, by giving away five outstanding Latina Latino titles.
Send your mailing address and answers to these La Bloga questions. All answers are posted in the current week's set of La Bloga columns:
1. Did Olga Garcia climb all the way to the top of the Statue of Liberty?
2. Title of KATHY CANO-MURILLO's new novel.
3. Her poem, "To Walt Whitman" is one of this poet's most quoted works.
4. Jesse Tijerina's guest column reviewed this poet's early work.
5. This character in Reyna Grande's Dancing With Butterflies steals money to buy cosmetic surgery.
One winner will be drawn from all correctly answered emails received
here on October 8. This is not the same contest
Liz Vega announced on her Sunday column. You have two opportunities to get the set of five novels.
La Bloga welcomes your comments and observations on today's or any day's columns. Simply click the comments counter below to share your views. When you have a column of your own, a book review, a report on an arts or cultural event, remember La Bloga welcomes guest columnists. Click here to discuss your invitation to be our guest.
Woodcut by Maria Arango
(When I was twenty-five.....)
RECLAMATION
In this dream,
I am whole.
I am no longer
saving other people’s stories,
scavenging their words;
sifting thru their remains.
In this dream,
my fingers run
thru Frida’s hair.
In this hair, I plait
dark flowers
the color of blood.
She tells me
the jaguar comes
to bring me power.
The medicine
to end this pain,
the food for this hunger.
In this dream,
I have made magic
from the mud of the Rio Grande.
Wrapped in corridas and ranchero music;
are spells
and incantations
to undo
the age of forgetfulness
and indoctrination.
In this dream,
I have a lover
whose face is stone;
ancient as a temple marker.
His mouth is full,
his eyes half closed.
He whispers:
“Come to me, mí índia,
mí pequeña perdida.
Remember who you are
Remember who you are.”
(And twenty years later...)
MEXICO: 90 DAYS AND COUNTING OR YOU
REALLY CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN
iridescent electric pink
bougainvillea
line the boulevard
next to where
someone’s pissing
right in the middle of the day
yesterday’s pozole
slick and greenish
stains the street
around the corner
from the Monument to the Revolution
where a golden angel
looks down on prostitutes
with imitation Chanel bags
and taxis are
green and yellow beetles
carrying sour businessmen
who ask the teenage pimps
how much
the cross-eyed
boy in the Lucha Libre mask
stares at me
and runs past barefoot beggar children
in clown makeup
but the clowns never smile
and they’re on every corner
they block the path
of women going to work
wearing not quite
put together
cheap copies
of clothes they saw
in Vogue or Cosmo
but nothing really matches
they always wear
white heels
or a belt with a giant buckle
and the requisite miniskirt that makes
their ass stand out
so that the pesero driver
with one gold tooth
always holds their change for just that extra second
I don’t get the shits
but baby-faced doctors run IV’s in both arms
for migraines and food poisoning
the fat man who served me
chiles rellenos
laughed at my buzz cut
and winked
when he slid me the plate
outside the ER
stand private guards
with tight lips and clenched pistols
working their job
they scowl at the howling sushi delivery boys
on motorbikes
who rush to the bar for a quick one
in between deliveries
inside the Museo Bellas Artes
I see the outstretched arms of Rivera’s peasants
and refuse the outstretched arms
of the Indian sitting at the bus stop
I clutch my postcards
with Frida’s self-portraits
the one with the red dress
the one with the hammer and sickle body brace
down the street from my favorite helado stand
the one with flavors like
guayaba mango cajeta
a man grabs my crotch
to see if I have any balls
I almost knock over
a tianguis stand of charro Barbies
the seller’s daughter
a girl with an olive oval face
blinks her long lashes in disbelief
What is this American doing here?
From Raw Silk Suture/Floricanto Press/2008
AARON A. ABEYTA COLORADO BOOK AWARD FINALIST
Rise, Do Not Be Afraid (Ghost Road Press, 2007), aaron a. abeyta's debut novel, is a finalist for this year's Colorado Book Award. La Bloga has featured aaron and his book in two interviews and a review. Congratulations to aaron for the recognition, and good luck at the awards banquet set for October 8, 2008.
THE AURA ESTRADA LITERARY PRIZE
Lucha Corpi sent me news about this new award; gracias, Lucha. Here's the website description:
The Aura Estrada Prize will be awarded biannually to a female writer, 35 or under, living in Mexico or the United States, who writes creative prose (fiction or nonfiction) in Spanish.
The prize will include a stipend (how much depends on how much we are able to raise for the endowment, but we hope it will be approximately $15,000.) It also, so far, includes residencies at three writers‘ colonies, Ucross in Wyoming, Ledig House in New York, and Santa Maddalena in Tuscany, Italy. Residencies can last up to two months each.
Granta en Español will also publish an excerpt of the winner‘s writing.
The Aura Estrada Prize will be formally announced and opened to submissions at the Guadalajara Book Fair in November, 2008.That day the judges will be announced, as well as all pertinent details regarding the application process. The first Aura Estrada Prize will be awarded at the book fair one year later.
And here's a bit about Aura Estrada:
Aura Estrada was born on April 24, 1977, in León, Guanajuato, Mexico. Her Master's thesis, Borges, inglés (about the influence on Jorge Luis Borges of William Hazlitt, Charles Lamb and Robert Louis Stevenson) was later published as a book by the Mexican small press, Scripta, as was a subsequent long essay, Borges, prologuista. She also studied at University of Texas, Austin (1998-99) and, on a visiting scholar grant, at Brown University (2002). In the fall of 2003 she enrolled as a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Literature at Columbia University. That year she also won a Fulbright Scholarship. In the fall of 2006, despite a heavy academic and teaching load at Columbia, she enrolled in the Hunter College MFA program, and began writing fiction in English.
While at Columbia, she also published creative prose journalism, reviews and short-fiction in Mexican and Latin American magazines such as Letras Libres, DF, Gatopardo, the online literary magazine, Letralia, and in the anthology El gringo a travéz del espejo; she published a story and an essay at Wordswithoutborders.org. And writing in English, she published book review-essays at Bookforum and The Boston Review. In 2009 a collection of Aura's writings will be published by Almadía, a Mexico-based independent publisher.
At Hunter she began writing a novel, in English, which she intended to revise and complete in Spanish. As a Hertog Fellow at Hunter, she was a research assistant for Toni Morrison.
On August 20th, 2005, Aura and Francisco Goldman were married. In July 2007, while vacationing in Mazunte, Aura suffered a fatal accident in the waves and died in a hospital in Mexico City.
NEW NASH CANDELARIA
Bilingual Review Press announced the January, 2009 publication of Second Communion by renowned writer Nash Candelaria. Bilingual's catalog describes this new book as a memoir that focuses on how and why the author became a writer. "As he investigates his family's more than 300-year history in New Mexico, the author undertakes a more intimate journey that leads him to understand truths about himself: why he chose to become a writer and why he chose the topics he did. Part family history and part self-examination, Second Communion is a must-read for aspiring writers, those interested in Southwest history, and students and teachers of Chicano literature." Candelaria has published four novels including Memories of the Alhambra (1977), a "seminal novel of Chicano literature," and Not By the Sword (1982), an American Book Award winner.
NEW PÉREZ-REVERTEThose of us who are fans of the swashbuckling Captain Alatriste can now pick up the third book in
Arturo Perez-Reverte's series,
The Sun Over Breda (Plume, 2008). The author's website says:
Arturo Pérez-Reverte has enthralled readers and critics around the globe with his Captain Alatriste series. Having sold four and a half million copies to date in the Spanish-speaking world, the series has made Pérez-Reverte a literary superstar and his fictional seventeenth-century mercenary a national icon. And the appeal of Pérez-Reverte's adventurer and his exploits continues to grow, as evidenced by the extraordinary reception for the first two translated volumes in the series -
Captain Alatriste and
Purity of Blood.
And now, in
The Sun Over Breda, Pérez-Reverte continues his thrilling chronicle of the swordsman-for-hire, as Captain Alatriste takes up his blade and rejoins his elite Cartagena regiment as they take part in the battles and siege of Breda. Fifteen-year-old Íñigo Balboa enlists to serve as his master's aide, and narrates their further adventures of swordplay and skirmishes, of mutiny and wartime honor. And, back in Spain, Alatriste's nemesis Luis de Alquézar grows more powerful, as Íñigo's mysterious friend Angélica hints at some plans upon his return.
RAW SILK SUTURE - LISA ALVARADOLa Bloga is proud to trumpet the publication of
Raw Silk Suture (Floricanto Press, 2008), from our very own
Lisa Alvarado. This poetry collection is set for release in September, and we warn all La Bloga readers to get ready to be swept away by Lisa's writing. Here's some of the press release:
In this stunning collection, Lisa Alvarado wields the pen and cuts deeply to the heart of Chicanisma, female identity, the use and misuse of the body, its restoration, and the power of love. With finely etched free verse, each subject is explored to the depth without hesitation, and boldly revealed.
Figures in black abound in Alvarado’s
perishable craft, her words of and for the unseen...her intensities are relentless. Alvarado is a poet of the abyss...Such an artist was
Frida Kahlo....Lisa does not offer an exit; this is one of her superb contributions. She conjures, that is all....Caress this book as you would hold your soul-to-be gasping for life. That is all." --
Juan Felipe Herrera, poet. Author of
187 Reasons Mexicans Can't Cross the Border and
Half of the World in Light, New and Selected Poems; Professor, Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair, Department of Creative Writing University of California.
Alvarado's call for
a quiet remaking of cells is nothing short of revolutionary. Read this book, look at yourself and the world around you and know: anything is possible." --
Demetria Martínez author,
Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana.Simply put,
Raw Silk Suture is
a scar / that has / become a flower. --
Francisco Aragón, Editor,
The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry Founding Editor,
Latino Poetry Review (LPR)
The poetry of Lisa Alvarado thunders across the page. Fiery and smoky, these are poems for midnight whiskey and pre-dawn espresso. These are poems for what ails us.--
Manuel Ramos, Author,
Moony's Road to Hell, and Founder and Columnist, La Bloga.
Lisa will kickoff the national release, Saturday,
September 20th, 7:30 PM, at:
Décima Musa, 1901 S. Loomis St, Chicago, IL, hosted by
Palabra Pura/Guild Complex. She will also appear at
Acentos in the Bronx, New York, on
September 23rd, 7:00 PM. (The Bruckner Gallery at Bruckner Bar and Grill, One Bruckner Blvd.; corner of Third Ave. and Bruckner Blvd.)
I expect that we will hear from many of you about Lisa's new book - don't miss it.
MORE RECOGNITION FOR ROLANDO HINOJOSA
At the beginning of this week, Thania Muñoz gave us an intriguing piece of a much longer interview with Chicano writer
Rolando Hinojosa as part of her excellent reporting from
Semana Negra. Be sure to check out her posts for a lively reconstruction of the surrealistic experience known to writers around the world as Semana Negra, the
black week of literature. I recently learned that Professor Hinojosa was awarded a Doctor of Letters by
Texas A & M University-College Station. That might have happened on his way to Gijón for Semana Negra. Congratulations to one of the maestros.
Later.
From my friend Lisa Alvarado, the following bit of news. Congratulations Lisa!!
Lisa Alvarado's Mexican Woman's Toolkit, Sin Fronteras is a large floral
tote bag hanging on wooden pegs, which visitors are invited to rummage
through. The bag belongs to a Mexican domestic in WWII-era Chicago: her
life is service to others, she has no privacy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markart/2414858942/
Reimagining The Distaff Toolkit
"Reimagining the Distaff Toolkit" is an exhibition of contemporary art,
each of which has, at its visible core, a tool that was important for
women's domestic labor in the past (the 18th century through World War
II). The old tool becomes the fulcrum for a work of art. Each work and the
exhibit as a whole have the power to speak to viewers independently,
Artists are placing objects such as a dressmaker’s figure, diapers,
graters, grinders, needles, pins, pots, pans, baskets,
garden-seed-packets, rakes, hoes, dress patterns, dish-rags, rolling pins,
brooms, buckets, darning eggs, knives, rug-beaters, and other tools at the
center of their work. One piece will have an early 19th century distaff at
its visible core. Part of the point of this exhibition project is to
explore the idea of "seeing as context." As I imagine the process here, I
look at a tool that facilitated very hard and repetitive labor and that
evokes women's degradation as domestic drudges. I look again, through my
early 21st century eyes, at a moment when "old tools" have become
commodified and expensive, and I see costly beauty. Reimagining the
distaff toolkit for the purposes of this exhibition might include
(overlapping) gestures in any of the following directions – or other
directions – history / memory / gender / labor / material culture /
household objects / family relations / power and powerlessness / drudgery
/ craft and beauty. Reimagining the Distaff Toolkit puts utility in
conversation with art, the past in conversation with the present.
March-May 2008 Bennington (VT) Museum
Oct-Dec 2008 The Mead Museum, Amherst College
Jan-Feb 2009 Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
March 2009 Oklahoma State University
Sept-Dec Union College, Schnectady, NY
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2008/04/double-double-toil-and-trouble.html
--
Lisa Alvarado, poet, novelist, literary critic
By: Manuel Ramos,
on 5/31/2007
Blog:
La Bloga
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Lisa Alvarado,
Add a tag
Manuel Ramos
OUR VERY OWN SISTER CHICA
I am pleased to add my congratulations to my bloga hermana, Lisa Alvarado, and her writing partners, Ann Hagman Cardinal and Jane Alberdeston Coralin, and their wonderful book, Sister Chicas (2006, Penguin/NAL) for winning second place in the Mariposa Awards for Best First Book in English at the BookExpo in New York City. Way to go, Lisa, you make us proud! I'll take this opportunity to also remind our readers that Lisa will be the featured performer at the June 18 Proyecto Latina: More Than Poetry, at Tianguis, 7:00 PM, 2003 S. Damen, Chicago, call 312.492.8350 for the details. It's way cool to hang out with such a talented person, even if we only get together online.
THE STORY
Here's an unpublished story I wrote several years ago. I never tried to get it published so I must have thought it needed some work. In any event, this story is copyrighted by me, all rights reserved. What do you think?
OUTPOST DUTY
The mountain air stimulated Corporal Martínez and it dawned on him that every sound, every smell was intense and vibrant. A reflection of the importance of his job, he thought. "Outpost duty is not so bad," he said to himself as he huddled near the campfire. "Except for the pig private."
He stared at the lump on the other side of the fire. The man infuriated him, almost made him physically sick. He was filthy, grotesque, and he smelled. Martínez understood that the private was in the federal army only because these were desperate times. Revolutions erupted in the countryside almost every month, or so the newspapers reported, and the government conscripts were men who had little value except that they could serve as bodies, numbers to swell the ranks, ineffective as soldiers.
Private Santos should count for two, Martínez thought to himself, and that made him laugh. He quickly stifled himself, not because of fear that he would waken the private, the man could sleep through an earthquake, but because he was, after all, on outpost duty and bandits were in the area.
His task was to watch for them. He had been selected for duty in the most advanced position the government controlled and he believed that was an honor, an opportunity created by the turbulent times that would not have come his way in peace time. He was a professional soldier, a man who thought to make the army his life's work, if only the private didn't sabotage his efforts. Santos was lazy and obviously a coward. Corporal Martínez believed that only his superior military skills would save them if, indeed, they had to confront the bandits.
Martínez knew exactly what he would do when he faced the enemy. He excelled at planning. Military strategy was his specialty. He mapped out vast maneuvers and campaigns in his head or scratched them in the dirt. His chance would come with the clouds of dust kicked up by the bandits' horses when the historic showdown happened between the federales and the bandits. Martínez would make a wild dash back to the division headquarters where he could give his valuable information to the Colonel and help plan the counterattack. Martínez would impress the Colonel with his well-developed military knowledge. He would be given command of a squad of crack troops, the main thrust of the offensive, and his men would shout his name in glory as he led them to victory, fame and his own promotion to colonel.
Yes, he was blessed with the gift to plan.
The routine had been the same for weeks. Martínez watched and waited for the enemy. He moved his outpost to avoid discovery. The days passed slowly in the worn out countryside. Santos was his first companion since the assignment had been given to him.
The mountains were unchanging, gloomy mounds of earth that reminded him of the graveyard in his home town. Impatience for action played on his concentration and his thoughts wandered to memories of his home and family. When he thought of Antonia, her soft skin and long, thick hair, he felt a loss, a pang of homesickness. He abruptly shook his head, made the unwelcome feelings disappear. He thought again about the importance of his duty.
Where are they? Even I am tired of waiting. Why don't they come? They have to move through this valley. Maybe through one of the other arroyos. Then Hernández or Garcia will see them, report them to headquarters, and here I'll be, stuck in nowhere with this miserable slob. That can't happen. They have to come this way. They have to.Santos snored, growled in his sleep and then rolled over like a fat bear in the zoo. Gray hairy insects crawled from under his hulk. The fire highlighted his mud-encrusted beard, testimony to his hard riding the past few days to get to the outpost. He had been in the attack at Zacatecas and then ordered to help Martínez. He dreamed of a naked woman, wanton and coarse.
Private Santos hated the army. He was a peón, a poor country boy with no special allegiance to the government or the rebels. He was forced to join the army and he accepted that as his fate, just as his poverty and struggle to survive were all part of life, part of the hand he had been dealt. He was taught in a week how to shoot, how to march and how to take orders and then thrown into battle against Villa's men. He killed to survive, without hatred or patriotic fervor. Now he waited in the desert, asleep and content that he would live another day.
The corporal did not affect him. The man had insane ideas about war. He obviously was ambitious, he talked high and mighty, and Santos knew that they had nothing in common. But that was life. One had to survive, that was one's obligation, one's duty.
Martínez kicked Santos's boot. "Wake up! Your watch. Wake up!" He kicked the sleeping man again.
The larger man woke, slowly, and then stretched his cramped legs and arms. He leaned close to the fire in an attempt to warm his chilled bones. He grabbed his rifle and stared off into the night. He asked for coffee. "I feel like I haven't eaten for days. What I wouldn't give for some lamb mole. Ay, anything except beans."
Martínez threw a scrawny piece of dried-up cholla on the fire. "We're lucky to have beans. If we cooked anything other than beans you can bet we'd have every bandit and coyote within ten miles sniffing around. With beans we're like every Indian around here. Anything else would be too suspicious. We have to manage with what we've got."
Santos snorted and moved his fat rear end off a rock. "You really think Villa is coming this way? You've been out here for how long, two, three weeks? Villa is long gone. He packed his men on the train and headed back north. They're probably in Juarez, maybe even the States. Long gone from around here."
"Don't say that. They'll come this way, I know it. They have to. They need to make a show of force to keep the peasants in line. If they retreat now they lose face and what little support they have. No, they'll come this way. They have to engage our troops one more time before they head north. They have to."
"If you say so. I'll let you know if I see anything. You'll be the first to know." Martínez could not see his smirk--the broad, toothy smile--in the darkness. Santos added, "If the enemy is near, this fire may be a mistake."
Martinez pretended not to hear Santos. His mumbled words drifted across the desert. "I've got to relieve myself. I'll be back in a quarter of an hour. Watch for me." Martínez walked into the desert. He was swallowed by the night.
"What an idiot." Santos drew a blanket tight around his shoulders and soon his eyes were heavy. He tried to focus on the horizon but all he saw was darkness, and he fell asleep. He dreamed again of the naked woman.
Mesquite and cactus hid Martínez as he squatted over the earth. Plans for elaborate military exercises filled his head as he waited for his bowels to move. He imagined leading an attack on Villa's camp. He saw himself wrestling the bandit leader to the ground and forcing him to surrender.
Mexico's savior. Long live Martínez!
"Look at this boys. A federale, bare-assed out here where the snakes and lizards could bite his balls off!" The laughter of men surrounded Martínez before he knew he was captured. He tried to jump to his feet but he fell backwards, tripped by his pants. His naked legs clawed the air.
Martínez squealed, "What? Who? How did you?"
The men laughed again. One of them stood with a boot on the corporal's quivering belly. "How pretty this one is. It will be a shame to shoot such a handsome soldier." He poked at Martínez with his rifle. "Hey, pretty one. Want to have some fun?" The laughter was rough and strained. The men knew they had a short time to enjoy the game, then it had to end. The war had to be fought.
Martínez tried to make sense out of what had happened. Maybe he should try to make a run for it. But the boot heel dug into his guts and he was forced to squirm in his excrement. He tried to explain. "You can't do this. You have to ride in, I have to tell the Colonel. It can't be this way, my squad, the offensive, don't you see, don't you see?"
The men were silent.
The leader handed his rifle to one of the others. He pulled a handgun from his holster and placed the barrel next to Martínez' ear. "Too bad, pretty one. We can't use crazy prisoners, we can't take any prisoners. God forgive me.”
Santos thought he heard a shot but his dream was too vivid to turn loose. He was deep in sleep thinking that it was one of life's unexplained ironies, and, therefore, regrettable, that dreams did not come true.
END
Later.
It's been a busy month with a lot of big doing at AmoxCalli.
Lisa Alvarado, author of Sister Chicas and a pretty amazing woman joined me in posting reviews here. Her reviews are insightful, profound and just plain wonderful. Lisa's started a new blog that reviews erotica called Bloodstone and Orchids (http://bloodstoneandorchids.blogspot.com/). She just finished reviewing Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's Lost Girls Collected, an astounding collection with amazing erotic artwork. I'd love to feature it on AmoxCalli, but because we do so many children's books here, we didn't feel it had a place here. Please swing by Bloodstone & Orchids and take a look at Lisa's incredible review on the collection. you'll be very pleasantly surprised.
I started a new blog over at Animation Blogspot, that great new blog portal run by Animation World Network (www.AWN.com). The Blogspot has been a long time dream of Dan Sarto and the gang at AWN and it's an honor to be included in their launch. My blog, The Flipbook (ginasflipbook.animationblogspot.com) is dedicated to industry news and buzz, recommendations of books that would make good animated properties, graphic novels, comics, etc. Lisa has kindly posted her review of Lost Girls there as well. There are a lot of Alan Moore fans in the animation world!
Thank you so much for being part of AmoxCalli. We have lots of new and exciting book reviews coming up from some amazing publishers and authors.
What a fine post, Michael. In particular, a big abrazo to Lisa Alvarado for the award. We at La Bloga always knew she was amazingly talented!
Also, thanks for the reminder regarding the Latino Book & Family Festival. The prime mover this year is novelist Reyna Grande who has put in a huge amount of sweat equity into the event. I note that I will be moderating two panels on Saturday at the Festival: one on my anthology, Latinos in Lotusland (in the morning), and another panel called "Latino LA: The City of Angels through Fiction, Poetry and Journalism." Come on by and enjoy!
Michael! Un abrazo to you and La Bloga...I stand on the shoulders of so many....Hey! I'm still a Blogista, no?
Lisa
Um.....do we really want the tag "Lisa Alvarado" next to the one "mental illness?" Don't answer that!! ; )
Congrats y DOS abrazos de mí a Lisa!
You'll always be a Bloguista, Lis. Already miss you.
Oh, and I like your poesía, too!
RudyChG
Muchas felicidades bloguera.
saludos,
Rene
Congratulations to Lisa and hope to see you all at the book festival.
Congratulations, Lisa. I'm sorry I couldn't be in Chicago to hear you introduce Juan Felipe Herrera recently.