Congresswoman Linda Sánchez and Congresswoman Loretta Sánchez.
NY: Grand Central Publishing. 2008.
ISBN: 9780446508049``
Michael Sedano
The first time I heard of Loretta Sánchez, I smiled in admiration at the woman's gumption.
LULAC Santa Monica had invited Lalo Guerrero to perform on a Saturday afternoon. I left a business meeting and sped across town for the opportunity to hear the legend.Before Lalo and his son took the floor, a woman in a red power suit spoke first. She announced she was running in Orange County against Robert K. "B-1 Bob" Dornan. A major league pendejo, Dornan nonetheless held a stronghold in the pendejo heartland of Southern California. I wanted to give the woman an abrazo of consolation out of puro admiration for her ambition and fearlessness.
Menso me, totally menso me for being an unbeliever. When, a few months later, I read the news of her by-the-skin-of-her-teeth victory, I stood and cheered that Loretta Sanchez had unseated B-1 Bob. Dornan's outraged braying was music to my ears. What a delight that not only had he lost his seat, he'd lost it to a Latina. Darn me, I cannot find my photos of Loretta addressing LULAC.
Better news than bidding adieu to the right wing extremist is the fact Ms. Sanchez has kept on winning that seat. Más mejor, now her sister, Linda Sánchez, has taken a neighboring district seat. The Sanchez sisters are the first sisters to sit in the US Congress at the same time.
They have a biography coming out in September. Look for news of their book tour coming to a bookseller in your town soon. It's a thoroughly enjoyable book, revealing and inspiring. Young adults and middle school children will find the book totally accessible. Because of this, it's an important title to get into their hands, especially with election time hard upon us.
The upcoming election will likely grow poisonously divisive and extreme as right wingers grow increasingly outraged that gente decente are finding their voices and places under the electoral sun. There's a lot of force in the truism, "tell a lie often enough and people will believe it". Similarly, persuasion research indicates that credibility redounds to messages that come from powerful sources like electronic media. Dream in Color can provide an effective antidote to the poison cable and broadcast media has already begun feeding to your kids and voters.
Special Offer for La Bloga readers from Hachette Books / Grand Central Publishing (five of us, at any rate).
Receive a free copy of Dream in Color: How the Sánchez Sisters Are Making History in Congress. The publisher will mail a copy to the first five gente who click here and type in a mailing (No PO Boxes) address.
Please, get your copy, read it, and let's have a La Bloga discussion of it when I review it couple of weeks from now. Maybe by then I'll have found my photos of Loretta and Lalo.
Just Out.
I just received my copy of Olga Garcia Echeverría's Falling Angels. Cuentos y Poemas, from Calaca Press. Garcia numbers among la chicanada's best poetas, so I'm looking forward to reading her first collected fiction, along with the twenty-two poems. A quick glance at the table of poetry contents highlights some work previously available only on spoken word CDs from Calaca, like "Sonia on Hope Street" and "Meztli Chingona." Look for my review of this title next week. In the meantime, treat yourself to your own copy by contacting Calaca at the publisher's website, http://calacapress.com/index.php, or their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/calacalandia.
Can you believe it, the third Tuesday of August already! Please join me next week to discuss Olga García's latest work from Calaca, plus a review of John Darnton's Black and White and Dead All Over, and who knows what the week will bring? In the meantime, enjoy the columns of my La Bloga colegas and remember, La Bloga welcomes your comments--click on the comment counter below and type away. La Bloga welcomes guest columnists. If you have an arts or literature review, an announcement or extended point of view on a subject of interest, click here to start the invitation process. Atentamente, mvs
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