FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY FROM THE DULCE BREAD AND BOOK SHOP

   
    Brewing your sabor for sweet bread and books of color.

THE DULCE BREAD AND BOOK SHOP
Teresa Carbajal Ravet
Multicultural E-bookstore
http://www.dulcebreadandbookshop.com/
http://www.sententiavera.com/

Q:   When and how did you start the Dulce Bread and Book Shop? Are you a physical bookstore or just an online bookstore?

Dulce Bread & Book Shop, LLC was formed in February 2009 when I made the decision to dedicate myself to work on the venture full time. My first business, Sententia Vera, Spanish Language Services initiated the thought of an independent bookstore specializing in multicultural and multilingual literature. For some time, clients of Sententia Vera had been requesting literary sources to continue their need for additional independent education and reference guides. I would research available resources on the internet and often found myself frustrated at not being able to find a diverse and worthy selection. This dissatisfaction sparked the thought of opening an independent bookstore carrying a diverse and worthy selection of ‘books of color,’ that is, multicultural and multilingual books with an emphasis in the Hispanic culture and the Spanish language.

DulceBreadandBookShop.com was launched a year later in February 2010 after a lengthy remodeling project of my language office, converting it into a quaint 200 square feet bookshop. While the online bookshop is open to worldwide customers, the brick-and-mortar shop is open to private groups. At this time the inventory includes only books, and we are working on adding cultural sidelines and eventually, ethnic sweet breads. The goal of moving the brick-and-mortar shop into a larger, and more visible, space continues with a spring 2011 target.

Q:   Do you sell only Latino authors or ALL books?

Dulce Bread & Book Shop sells ALL books, having available an inventory of over 2 million titles! Dulce specializes in books of color that include a large selection of Latino authors. Other cultures and languages in our in-store inventory include, Asian, German, French, and Hebrew.

Q:  What books are your bestsellers? What authors are your bestsellers?

Currently the books selling best are the foreign language reference texts and the bilingual children’s books. As Dulce’s name gets out to the Austin area public and in cyberspace the books that have started selling are those by Latina authors which I review and promote, such as Belinda Acosta, Misa Ramirez, and C.M. Mayo.

Q:  What are YOU reading now? And who are some of your favorite writers? What are some of your favorite books?

At the moment, I am reading THE DREAMER by Pam Muñoz Ryan & Peter Sís and THE MOSES EXPEDITION by Juan Gómez-Jurado, and I just received my review copy of THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING by Mayra Calvani & Anne K. Edwards and am anxious to get started. As a Spanish linguist and foreign language educator, I make every effort to read in Spanish as much as possible, therefore LOS MITOS DE LA HISTORIA ARGENTINA by Felipe Pigna is on my to-read-next stack. Everyone is invited to peruse through my Goodreads bookshelves to see what is on my reading shelves and my Sententia Vera blog site to read through my book reviews as this is the official blog for Dulce Bread & Book Shop. As for my favorite books and authors, the two at the very top of my list are EL INGENIOSO HIDALGO DON QUIJOTE DE LA MANCHA by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and EL LABERINTO DE LA SOLEDAD by Octavio Paz. These are the two titles that I can read over and over and over again.

Q:  Do you see any trends in books by Latino writers?

My hope is that Latino writers make the effort to share their cultural experience with their readers, whether or not they are writing about Latinos, with Latinos, or for Latinos. Some Latino writers hesitate to incorporate their Latino culture and/or Spanish language in their writing for fear of rejection from publishers and/or readers, even to the point of creating an Anglicized penname. I understand and can empathize with the desire and need to do everything possible to get your work published and into readers’ hands. However denying your cultural experience to fit into mainstream and the mass market can only hurt the future careers and experiences of the cultural melting pot that is the US. I support and advocate for a literary trend that stresses the positive awareness brought about by a multicultural and multilingual experience.

ABOUT TERESA CARBAJAL RAVET

Born in Monterrey, Mexico and raised on the border in El Paso, TX, Teresa grew up in a bicultural and bilingual environment. As a young girl she struggled to find a public identity that would allow both cultures and languages to exist as one. Living in the US during the school year and spending holidays and summer breaks in Mexico was a cultural advantage as well as an identity battle. This personal and public conflict with a dual identity sparked her curiosity in self-realization and social definition and deepened her determination to make the multicultural identity advantageous and acceptable by society at large. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish Language and a Master of Arts degree in Modern Languages, specializing in Spanish Literature & Linguistics from Texas A&M University in College Station, TX. She has devoted her professional career to the teaching of the Spanish language, literature, culture, and history through the Spanish folk soul, inspiring in her students the importance and merits of being a world citizen. Through her writing, Teresa furthers her aspiration to share the multicultural experience and initiate a genuine interest and awareness in world cultures and languages in others. Sententia Vera, Teresa’s blog, has allowed her to reach a larger audience, connecting her readers to the Spanish culture through language, translation, and literature. The recent launch of her multicultural e-bookstore, Dulce Bread & Book Shop, is expanding her reach on a personal level, as she moves the bookstore into a larger brick-and-mortar location in the greater Austin area. Teresa has been married 15 years and is raising five children.

FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY!
Leave a comment at the Latina Book Club site by Friday, Sept 10, and you will be entered to win a free copy of HECHO EN TEJAS: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature, edited by Dagoberto Gilb, University of New Mexico Press.  Good luck.

~Carlos Fuentes 

Recently I have been identified as being diplomatic and idealistic, two adjectives that I would not have chosen for myself. I suppose I continue to have the same self-image I’ve had for some time, without taking into consideration the development my identity has experienced. Identity has always been an intriguing subject. The multicultural identity is fascinating and often overlooked. Why? Perhaps it is a misunderstanding? Perhaps it is easier to understand a clearer, more black and white definition? Or perhaps I am attempting to intellectualize a subject that cannot be understood completely through the intellect and better through instinctive knowledge. So, yes, I suppose that the desire to share the sensitive and cultural experiences of diverse people in a tactful and exploratory manner, with the goal to collectively appreciate all sundry cultures, would then make me an emissary with a tendency to experience life in the pursuance of the ideal global community.

A multicultural identity should be positively recognized, should be appreciated, and should not be denied. Earth is old enough, approximately 4.55 billion years old, and populated extensively, that ethnicities have intermixed and multicultural groups have evolved. Denying their identity and obligating such groups to choose one cultural over another could only cause harm, and has.

Saturday evening I attended the screening of a 1980s documentary, “…and the dead shall rise” produced by Carlos Aceves and Gabriel S. Gaytan from El Paso, Texas. Through film, these activists shared the effort of many Chicano activists in reconnecting with their indigenous ancestors and identity. They focused the film on the affirmations of an 80 year old native leader, Rafael Guerrero, a Yaqui veteran of the Mexican Revolution. Don Rafael prophesied the rebirth of the lost indigenous heritage and traditions in the native communities of the American Southwest and south through the Americas. Indeed, the native dead would rise to give light to the indigenous identity of Aztlán.  This declaration would be among his last dying words.

There were two impressions that have stayed with me since viewing this film. First, I was taken back to one of my graduate classes on Chicano literature and the anger I sensed from reading various Chicano poets and writers. I distinctly remember one author, Richard Rodriguez, and his first book, Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, and how disturbing it was to read it. Disturbing in its claim that in order be a successful and contributing member of society, a bicultural individual is required to reject one of his cultural identities. The progression of choosing the prominent identity and denying the existence of any other lesser cultural identity is difficult and harmful but must be done, so claims Rodriguez. Eliminate culture, eliminate language, and eliminate history to fully prosper and succeed in another. Furthermore, Rodriguez goes on to claim that it is the parents’ responsibility to select the superior cultural identity for the children in order to spare them the anguish of a multicultural identity. Troubling, to say the least. I cannot accept that a multicultural identity is in any way harmful, less successful, or insignificant as a single cultural identity. In fact, I contend that a multicultural identity has an advantage over other single identities in that it can facilitate the liberated movement between the various cultures without shock, awkward adjustment, or living with that foreign feeling.

Subsequently, a disquieting belief was repeatedly voiced after the viewing of the film, by some panel and audience members. Again, I sensed anger and hatred. The fact that the white man invaded the Americas and raped the native women, giving life to our present day, had a negative resounding torment. A collective pain that made me uncomfortable and defensive. I certainly do not consent to, nor have forgotten, the merciless atrocities and inhumane treatment the native people received from the white man upon their encounter. However, to deny some of us that we are the product of that rape and ask us to repudiate our true multicultural heritage and compel us to choose a somehow better cultural ancestor is just as painful. I advocate for the understanding, the appreciation, and positive mestizaje culture that most of us share today. We have the joy and advantage of being one with many. I can identify with the indigenous as I can with the white man. I can connect with the traditions of the indigenous as I can with those of the white man. And I can certainly communicate with the indigenous as I can with the white man. Anger, I have none. Pain, I have none. Fear, I have none.

Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed my teaching assistantship. The graduate mentor and director of our group of TAs was phenomenal, Dr. Richard Curry. I am certain he continues to be a unique treasure for the Department of Hispanic Studies at Texas A&M University. Dr. Curry had an intuitive way of knowing each of our diverse personalities and talents and used this knowledge to guide and instruct us in our teaching. He made me realize that although teaching was not in my future’s reality, it lending itself to what was on my agenda. He had my modus operandi pegged. My agenda and manner of working was, and continues to be, the sharing of cultural experiences in order to promote the appreciation of diverse cultures, ethnicities, races, and genders. A cultural experience is not void of the culture’s language(s) and learning a foreign language does not only require the memorization of vocabulary and grammar, most importantly, it requires the experience of the people giving the language life. Hence the ability to teach a foreign language demands a sharing of its culture(s). A quick shout out to Dr. Curry and a caluroso agradecimiento.

Herewith, I will share a cultural experience with you and invite you to join me.

Last weekend I attended a cultural workshop with an intriguing title, Taino 101: History, Myth & Reality. Sponsored by the Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center and presented by the center’s director, Dr. Ana María Tekina-eirú Maynard. Tekina-eirú is a blood descendant of the native Tainos from the island Boriken, known as Puerto Rico. She has devoted her energies to sharing her Taino heritage & culture with the Austin community, Central Texas, nationally, and abroad. Together with her Boriken pueblo, she has worked to change the perception that the Tainos did not survive the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. Through the 2010 Census the Tainos have made a strong effort to be counted as surviving indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere.

Taino heritage and descendants have grown to an identified 61% Puerto Rican population, and many more unknown, with the sharing of the Taino reality. Since 1992, El Concilio Taíno Guatu-Ma-cu A Borikén, a 501c3, has been working to “bring awareness and increase public knowledge of the Taíno people through education and the restoration and sharing of our culture.” Reviving of the Taino consciousness in Puerto Rico and abroad has given many the opportunity to recognize their roots, to take pleasure in the wondrous traditions passed down through generations, and to return into the Cordillera Central mountains of the island and experience the ceremonial grounds and petroglyphs in mountain caves. To others, El Concilio Taino’s mission gifts the opportunity to share in this indigenous experience and connection between us.

Saturday, August 21, 2010, the Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center will again open its doors to the Austin community and share the film premier of “…and the dead shall rise.” A documentary about the efforts of the Chicano Movement to revive the indigenous tradition throughout US communities, “…and the dead shall rise” guides the viewer through the “literal rebirth of practices once thought lost in a remote time.” A panel discussion will follow with the film’s producers, Carlos Aceves and Gabriel S. Gaytán and Dr. Ana María Tekina-eirú Maynard.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center

701 Tillery Street, Austin, TX 78702

7 PM

FREE!

The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Peter Sís is the children’s book that will take a parent back to the evenings that she shared with her child enjoying a good read. A journey back to the bedtime routine that was shared snuggling and slowing down after a fast-paced day with a book, before kissing her toddler good night. The Dreamer will bring this moment back as it is the book to be shared between parent and child! It will move all that have shared a reading experience with another.  

Neftalí is a young, creative, and timid boy coming of age in Chile, having a stern and working-class father, a gentle, loving mother, an older candid brother, and a protective little sister. Neftalí’s imagination is inspired by all his senses, the things he sees, the smells, the sounds. Everything is welcomed into his inner world and lovingly guarded. A finder and gatherer, Neftalí carefully displays all his treasurers in his room. He is a gentle soul that enjoys the world as a marvel and curious place and evades others, especially his father, due to their misperceptions and misguided attempts to pull him out of his dreamy world.

It is possible for a parent to be able to recognize Neftalí in one of their children. Daydreamers, collectors, gatherers, off in their own world, leisurely experiencing its wonders through touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste. It can prove frustrating to a parent in the busy, reality of adulthood. Nevertheless it is during these exasperating moments that we might remind ourselves of the poet within us that is longing to be heard and the poetry that is life, and instead appreciate these moments and that child that has gently reminded us to slow down and enjoy. The Dreamer is the book to start enjoying a shared experience once again with your child.

About the Book

From the time he is a young boy, Neftalí hears the call of a mysterious voice. Even when the neighborhood children taunt him, and when his harsh, authoritarian father ridicules him, and when he doubts himself, Neftalí knows he cannot ignore the call. Under the canopy of the lush rain forest, into the fearsome sea, and through the persistent Chilean rain, he listens and he follows… Combining elements of magical realism and biography, poetry, literary fiction, and sensorial, transporting illustrations, Pam Muñoz and Peter Sís take readers on a rare journey of the heart and imagination.

Shyness

I scarcely knew, by myself, that I existed,

that I’d be able to be, and go on being.

I was afraid of that, of life itself.

I didn’t want to be seen,

I didn’t want my existence to be known.

I became pallid, thin, and absentminded.

I didn’t want to speak so that nobody

 would recognize my voice, I didn’t want

to see so that nobody would see me.

Walking, I pressed myself against the wall

like a shadow slipping away….

~The Poetry of Pablo Neruda

But first, a little bit about ProductCamp, it is a participant-centered collaboration in which attendees volunteer to organize, teach, share, present, and moderate the unconference in order to be able to offer itself for FREE to product management and marketing professionals! To boot, the support of valuable and loyal sponsors guarantees a successful day for all involved. This year’s ProductCamp expanded into other professional fields including entrepreneurship, my reason for participating. It is definitely a camp that I recommend should go on every professional’s calendar. The next ProductCamp Austin is scheduled for Saturday, January 15, 2011.

While deciding on ProductCamp sessions in which to participate, a sole thought kept resonating in my mind. This was, to stay true to the company’s mission in communicating meaningfully stories to its audience, clients, and guests. Consequently, to share the missions of Sententia Vera and Dulce Book Shop as one, a new format will bring them into a unified sisterhood.

Now I know what you may be thinking… or questioning. Unified sisters? I’ll be the first to admit that sisterhood can be a little competitive and opposing relationship. I, myself, am sandwiched between two beautiful sisters. Our childhood, although not the norm, was a paradigm of the competitive and opposing nature of sisters. However, as maturity developed and experiences suffered we have become a unified force to consider.

This is where Sententia Vera and Dulce Book Shop have evolved. Two mature and talented sister companies, aware and committed to their unified mission, offering their audiences, customers, and visitors a quality, cultural experience through foreign language, literature, and world art. Visit often, share your experience, and take away a cultured, global appreciation through books, music, and more.

Tune into the New Cultured Experience

Mondays & Wednesdays | Review Days: book, music, film, and cultural event reviewed

Tuesdays & Thursdays | Language, Cultural, & Historical Lesson Days: brief & useful sessions on Spanish language acquisition

Fridays & Saturdays | My Culturist Perspective | Personal experiences & upcoming events

In 1969, under El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, the Chicano Movement ushered in a renewal of the consciousness of mestizaje, the mixture of Spanish and Indian as a basis for cultural identity. By 1980 many Chicana/o activists had decided to steer a different course, that of reclaiming indigenous identity. “…and the dead shall rise” documents their efforts in both local and international settings, outlining an ideological framework that now resonates in nearly all Mexican American communities.

Through a narrative guided by the words of 80 year old Rafael Guerrero we witness the literal rebirth of practices once thought lost in a remote time. Don Rafael, a Yaqui veteran of the Mexican Revolution, founding member of the United Farm Workers, and graduate of the University of California, speaks with a compelling authority.  He convinces the viewer that his message was prophetic and it continues to resonate whenever we hear Evo Morales speak before the U.N. or read blogs about 2012 on the internet.

The film premiered at the International Latino Film Festival in Chicago in 1990.  Now you can participate in its revival and decide for yourself if don Rafael’s prediction that the “dead shall rise” is becoming a reality. Join us for the Austin premier and participate in a dialogue of what constitutes an indigenous identity. Special guests for a panel discussion after the viewing include Dr. Mario Garza, Indigenous Cultures Institute; Dr. Tekina-eiru’ Maynard, Tekina-Suania, Concilio Taino; and the film’s producers Carlos Aceves and Gabriel S. Gaytan.

Semign cacona guari,

Que Dios te cuide y te guarde siempre.

WHAT:     Screening of film “…and the dead shall rise”.

FREE to the public.

WHEN:      August 21, 2010, 7:00 pm

WHERE:   Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center, 701 Tillery Street, Austin, TX, 78702

CONTACT: Maria Rocha, Indigenous Cultures Institute, (512) 393-3310, ICIinfo@IndigenousCultures.org

GAHCC Capital of Texas Small Business Awards Finalists Annouced

Austin, Texas – The Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GAHCC) Capital of Texas Awards Luncheon will take place Tuesday, September 14, 2010 from 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at the Hilton Austin Hotel. This is the second year that the GAHCC has honored small businesses in the greater Austin community with this specialized award. Notably, Secretary of State Hope Andrade will be presenting the Texas Gas Service Rising Star Award.

The Capital of Texas Awards Luncheon will recognize seven small businesses for their accomplishments in their respective fields, leadership, special skills, community contributions and overall achievements. Businesses were nominated by the GAHCC Board of Directors and Ambassadors. A selection committee of leaders within the Chamber selected three finalists for each category. Finally, the community can vote on who will be honored in each category. Online voting is open until August 13^th at www.gahcc.org/vote.

Award Finalists are:

U.S. Foodservice Food & Beverage Award

Nuevo León

El Sol y La Luna

Dario’s

United Healthcare Healthcare Award

People’s Community Clinic

Practical Care Continuum, Inc.

Pediatric Center of Round Rock

General Motors Media Award  

Echo Earth Media

Austin Woman Magazine

Popular Hispanics

¡ahora sí!/The Statesman Retail Award

Ben White Florist

downSTAIRS Men’s Apparel

WhiteFire Diamonds and Fine Jewelry

Texas Gas Service Rising Star Award

campus2careers

Marketing Uncorked

CHOCbite

Texas Gas Service Services Award

Offices of Marc A. Rodriguez

RegainYourTime.com

Mercury Mambo

Time Warner Cable/Time Warner Business Class Nonprofit Award

RISE Austin

The Settlement Home

Celebration of Love

Tickets for the luncheon can be purchased online at www.gahcc.org/CTA2010. Early bird pricing ends August 15^th. For more information please contact Mercedes Feris, Director of Events and Tourism, at mferis@gahcc.org

Media Contact:

Brittany Brunson

bbrunson@gahcc.org

Austin Minority Chambers and City of Austin Partner to

 MECA’s 4^th Annual Multicultural Career and Opportunities Expo

Austin, Texas, July 8, 2010 – The Multi-Ethnic Chamber Alliance (MECA) is proud to present the 4^th Annual Multicultural Career and Opportunities Expo in partnership with the City of Austin. The Expo will take place Friday, August 6th from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 6121 North IH 35.

To kick off a lively day, Kevin Johns, City of Austin, Director of Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services Office, will address the Minority Chambers and participants at the event’s ribbon cutting at 9:30 a.m.  The Career Expo is intended to foster opportunities for minority job seekers and facilitate various career-training sessions for Austin area residents. This power packed Career Expo will consist of four training sessions focusing on Resume Development, Job-Hunting Techniques, Interviewing Skills, and International Trade.

The Multi-Ethnic Chamber is proud to partner with the City of Austin as they are proud advocates of the importance of diversity in all aspects of economic development.   Kevin Johns, Director of the City of Austin Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office stated, “In a globalized age, attracting talent is a sought-after commodity for industries. We appreciate partner opportunities, such as the MECA [Multi Ethnic Chamber Alliance] job fair, to help attract diverse talent while helping Austin’s businesses grow.”

The Multi-Ethnic Chamber Alliance is a partnership between the Austin Asian American Chamber of Commerce (AAACC), the Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce (CCAACC), and the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GAHCC). Each organization will be taking an active role in securing prominent companies for the Expo, organizing training sessions, and coordinating appropriate accommodations for all participants.

Last year over 60 participating companies and 500 attendees participated in the expo.  This year, MECA is preparing for even more participating vendors and job seekers at the all-day expo.  Companies that have committed to attend the Multicultural Career Expo to date include:

AECOM

Austin American Statesman/¡ahora sí!

Austin Community College District  

Austin Human Resource Management Association

Austin Police Department

Boy Scouts of America

Campus2Careers

Chase Bank

Cintas-Round Rock

Citibank 

City of Austin Fire Department

Data Agility Group

Edward-Jones

Encotech Engineering Consultants, Inc. 

Epoch Time

Evins Personnel Consultants, Inc.

Farmers Insurance Group

FedEx Ground & Home Delivery

Goodwill Industries 

Goodwill Staffing Services

Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc.

HEB

Hodes Group

LCRA 

LegalZoom

Modern Woodmen of America

Nationwide Insurance

New York Life Insurance Company

Otis Spunkmeyer, Inc.

Progressive Insurance

Senior Work Solutions

Southwestern National Bank  

Stark Talent

Temple-Inland

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Texas Department of Agriculture

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Texas Gas Service

Texas Roadhouse

The Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas

The Driskill Hotel

Travis County

U.S. Foodservice

University of Phoenix

Univision Radio

Univision Telefutura

US Marines 

US Navy

Workforce-Solutions Capital Area

About the MECA:
The Multi-Ethnic Chamber Alliance (MECA), founded in 2002, has grown to be an economic development, educational and networking resource for minority and women-owned businesses and the community at large. MECA is working with the City of Austin Small Business Development Program to offer various group business training and courses, and one-on-one technical assistance to individual business owners and associates. MECA also helps businesses with MBE/WBE certification. MECA aims to help businesses to grow and to connect in the Austin Community.

For more information on the 4th Annual Multicultural Career Expo please contact Nayeli Gallegos at (512) 462-7502.

     The second of the Quinceañera Club Novels, Sisters, Strangers, and Starting Over, was released recently in early July by Grand Central Publishing and I had the opportunity to review the sequel, the second time for author Belinda Acosta. I’ve got to hand it to her, she took a risk as I was impressed with her debut novel, Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz and its effortless and genuine bicultural, bilingual qualities, that the sequel would have to be not just as good, but better. And again, Acosta delivered! This time with a focus on biethnic relationships and the trials and tribulations that differing ethnicities bring to a relationship and family. Moreover, Acosta adds a worthy tangential social message, one that most readers, not from the El Paso area, would not have any knowledge, but to those aware of border politics and tragedies would definitely recognize and stop to consider, if for a moment. The tragic and exasperating situation of the Women of Juarez is not one to take lightly as these women are strangers, nevertheless our sisters and friends. Don’t misunderstand, this is a fun, yet deep, read. A cultural read that is enlightening with a peek into the differing and similar customs of two cultures, a living mestizaje of ethnicities.

     “Only one girl gets to be the prom queen, and you might not get married, but everyone turns fifteen.” The turning of age in any culture garners wonder and curiosity from others. “Quinceañeras can be expensive. Why is it so important to you to have one?” Fancy bridal-like dresses, tuxedos, limos, ballrooms, banquets, the list can go on and on as to the emergence celebrations orchestrated for both girls and boys alike within diverse cultures. The one commonality among all traditions is the familia. It is certain that all family members get involved, or want to get involved, in the planning and decision-making for the special day. Just my two-cents quickly turns into, “Oh, we could plan the whole thing!” Sisters, Strangers, and Starting Over is a harmoniously orchestrated vibrant celebration of family, particularly the biethnic, non-traditional families of today.

About the Novel

     Sometimes the family you’ve lost can lead you to the family you need. When Beatriz Sánchez-Milligan turned her back on her troubled sister, she ushered in a lifetime of regret. So when the niece Beatriz never knew she had appears on her doorstep–announcing that her mother has died–she can’t help but see fourteen-year-old Celeste as a chance to redo the past… despite her own family’s objections.

     But Celeste is skittish around her new family. She can feel the tension radiating from her uncle and cousins and, despite her aunt’s enthusiasm, is hesitant to share her dreams of the traditional quinceañera she and her mother had been planning. Overwhelmed, Celeste does what her mom did years ago: she vanishes. Terrified the past is repeating itself, Beatriz scrambles to uncover the mystery surrounding her sister’s life and death, and build a future in which the niece she dearly loves is truly part of her family.

About the Author

     Belinda Acosta has written and published plays, short stories, and essays. As a journalist, her work has appeared in the Austin American-Statesman, The Austin Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News, The San Antonio Current, and AlterNet. Her short story Tortilla Dough appeared in Saguaro, a publication of the University of Arizona in 1992. In 1993, she produced, directed and performed in a multi-media dance-theater performance of La Llorona. National exposure came in 1995 when she read her personal essay Gran Baile, on Latino USA – the Radio Journal of News and Culture, carried on National Public Radio.  Acosta received a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from The University of Texas in 1997.  She lives in Austin, Texas and is the TV and media columnist for The Austin Chronicle.

     It would be incredible if not for my own cursory experience living in a gang neighborhood such as that of Lady Q’s Humboldt Park. I had a close friend, Johnny, who was a leader of my neighborhood’s gang family and we would talk in length of the differences between him and me. The one chief difference, family. My family was not born into this neighborhood, my family traveled through this neighborhood from another country in search of a better life, work, and education in the US. My family, however dysfunctional it may seem, has hope and is firm in its belief that greater life choices lie ahead for the younger generation through work and education. Alternatively, although he rarely talked in depth about his family, experiences he guarded sturdily, I sensed hopelessness and surrender to the life that had been destined to his family. A sense that I disliked and with which I disagreed. I therefore attempted to convince him that he possessed the capacity to move out and live whatever life he wished, going as far as to ask him to join me in my plan to move out of town. He, in turn, took off his rosary, one which he had made and worn daily, and handed it to me saying, “This has protected me for some time, you will need this more than I where you are going.” I could not understand what could possibly make him think that my life would need Divine protection more than his. I have carried Johnny’s rosary throughout my life’s journey and often think of him as I make my way through tough experiences, knowing that it could never compare to what he has been living. A tough read indeed, yet one that must be made in order to help break the desperate gang cycle.

     Condor Books, an Amazon affiliate, will donate all proceeds from the sale of this book to Latinitas Teen Reporter Intern Program.

About the Book

     A former member of the violent Latin Kings street gang, Reymundo Sanchez brings his hard-earned experience and insight to bear on the issue of young women in gangs, tracing the heartbreaking transformation of a bright young girl named Sonia Rodriguez–who tried desperately to avoid the drugs, violence, and gang members that infested her family and neighborhood–into the ruthless and powerful Latin Queen leader known as “Lady Q.” From throwing punches and running drugs to getting shot at and doing time in prison, Lady Q follows the same dangerous, dead-end road as so many young men in gangs, until she realizes that saving herself and her children means changing course before it’s too late.