Interview of Donna Miscolta by Xánath Caraza
Donna Miscolta’s
third book of fiction Living Color: Angie Rubio Stories, about lessons a
young Mexican American girl learns in a world that favors neither her race nor
gender, was published by Jaded Ibis Press in September 2020. Her story
collection Hola and Goodbye, winner
of the Doris Bakwin Award for Writing by a Woman and published by Carolina Wren
Press (2016), won an Independent Publishers award for Best Regional Fiction and
an International Latino Book Award for Best Latino Focused Fiction. She’s also
the author of the novel When the de la
Cruz Family Danced from Signal 8 Press (2011), which poet Rick Barot called
“intricate, tender, and elegantly written – a necessary novel for our times.”
Recent essays appear in pif, Los Angeles Review, and the
anthology Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19.
Find her at donnamiscolta.com.
1. Who is
Donna Miscolta?
I’m of Filipino and Mexican heritage. I was born in San
Diego, CA and lived my early years there except for two years in Hawaii. When I
was nine, my parents bought their first, last, and only house in National City,
which is on the south and west boundaries of San Diego. It was a perfectly fine
place to grow up. Only when I was older did I realize how it was looked upon by
others in the region. Its nickname was, and still is I guess, Nasty City. It
had a reputation as being dangerous and full of trouble. Other high schools
feared coming to our turf for home football games. Too many Mexicans, they
said.
This post on a forum in response to a request about what National City is typical of the
opinion held by outsiders:
National City is kind of at the bottom of places most people would want
to live in San Diego. It's "ghetto" to some, but nothing too terrible
but nothing really nice either. Lots of Filipinos and Mexicans in that area, so
it's very ethnic. Unless you like ethnic food and stores I don't see a whole
lot there for you. If you were thinking about this area b/c it's cheaper, well
there is a reason for that. It's not terrible but it's just a typical working-class
ethnic city.
I mention this because the places where we grow up
help shape who we are and how we see ourselves in the world. I was never scared
living in my city. I felt safe, yet not exactly at home. I knew I would leave
at the first viable opportunity. Maybe it’s because I knew there was a bigger
world out there. National City felt confining to me. My family never ventured
far. We never took vacations. We stayed in our neighborhood.
We lived ten miles from the border with Tijuana, but I
was never allowed to cross over. My grandparents went often, and my aunts and
uncles on occasion, but for us, the grandchildren, it was off limits. Other
things were deemed unnecessary to our lives such as knowing Spanish or Tagalog.
So I grew up in an “ethnic city” where it was
difficult to fit completely within the Mexican or Filipino communities,
especially since my parents were so determined to be seen and accepted as
“Americans.” When I write fiction, my characters are either Mexican or
Filipino, not a blend like I am, which I have yet to figure out how to convey on
the page. My first book When the de la Cruz Family Danced featured a
Filipino American protagonist. My second book Hola and Goodbye is a
collection of stories about three generations of a Mexican American family. My
latest book is a collection of stories about the life lessons a Mexican
American girl learns as she progresses through each grade in school. I think
it’s through non-fiction, through a series of personal essays I’m working on,
that I’ll best be able to write about these two aspects of my heritage.
2. I know you have a new book coming out. What’s this book about?
Living Color: Angie Rubio Stories came out September 21 from Jaded Ibis
Press, a small press whose mission is to publish “socially
engaged literature with an emphasis on the voices of people of color, people
with disabilities, and other historically silenced and culturally marginalized
voices.” It’s available from Bookshop, IndieBound, and other online sellers. You can also order it from your favorite
independent bookstore.
The book is a collection of stories that follow Angie
Rubio, a Mexican American girl, through her years of school as she learns
lessons in and out of the classroom about race, class, and gender. Except for
the first one, all the stories are set in California in the 1960s and ’70s and
take place against the events on the nightly news—the Cuban missile crisis, the
Watts riots, Beatlemania, the Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics. These
events are the backdrop to the minor dramas of Angie’s life. Yet her mini-tragedies
reflect the greater turmoil of the larger world. The shunting of children of
color into “dumb” classes, the inequities of the education system, and routine
and normalized microaggressions are the stuff of Angie’s existence that she
tries to understand and navigate. They were the stuff of my existence and
probably that of many who will read this book. Ivelisse
Rodriguez, author of Love War Stories, captures the
universality of Angie’s experiences in her description of Living Color:
“We have all been Angie Rubio, voiceless, rejected, but always on the
precipice of being more. Throughout this endearing collection, you will become
more than a reader, you will become Angie’s champion until the world she
inhabits catches up. Miscolta writes with heart for all the brown girls who
feel invisible. These stories say with love and sincerity: I see you.”
3. Do you plan on having an online book release?
I did have an online book launch sponsored by Hugo
House, the writing center in Seattle, and the iconic Elliott Bay Book Company.
The evening was supposed to have consisted of a conversation between me and
writer Kathleen Alcalá, author of six books. Kathleen and I have known each other for well
over thirty years. We met as members of a newly formed Seattle chapter of MANA,
Mexican American Women’s National Association, in the early 80s. We both grew
up in Southern California, Kathleen in San Bernardino, and me just south of San
Diego. We made our separate ways to Seattle in the years after college. We were
going to talk about
our California girlhoods, leaving home to find our
place in the world, racism, and monsters. Unfortunately, Kathleen’s internet
connection on the island where she lives failed. It was disappointing, but Rob
Arnold, Hugo House Program Director and also a writer,
graciously and seamlessly stepped in, and we touched upon many of the same
topics Kathleen and I had originally planned. I have several other online
events coming up and they can be found on my website. One event that is not yet listed is scheduled for November 23 with Town
Hall Seattle. I’ll be in conversation with another Latina writer in
Seattle whose book Flying Free also came out in September. Cecilia
Aragon is a brilliant, amazing woman who overcame her shyness
and fear of flying and became the first Latina to make the U.S. Aerobatics Team.
She’s also the first Latina full professor in the College of Engineering at the
University of Washington. I hope some La Bloga readers will join us for what I
think will be a fun event.
4. Color, diversity, girl power surround Ruby in your upcoming book. Tell
our readers about her.
Angie Rubio is an observer mostly because she is too
shy and insecure to be in the mix of things. But she does engage at the
periphery, leading at times to unexpected forays into the spotlight which
transform into moments of reckoning, usually at the expense of her self-image.
But she is also a thinker, reflecting often on her brownness, her name,
friendships and sisterhood, being female, and her future. She feels confined by
the smallness of her world, which seems to have no place for her to fit. While
she often feels defeated, she also carries within her a determination to move
forward to some as yet undefined future.
5. Is this an enjoyable book for all ages?
Definitely. There’s a misconception that if a book
features a young protagonist, then it must be for young readers. This book will
appeal to young readers, though it wasn’t meant to specifically target that
readership. Anyone who was once a kid, who experienced social awkwardness, who
suffered from a sense of dislocation or not belonging, who was looking for a
place to fit in the world will relate to the stories in Living Color.
6. What else would you like to share with our readers.
I hope people will view the book
trailer for Living Color. I know there’s some doubt
regarding the effectiveness of book trailers in book promotion. But there’s so
much reliance now on online modes for distributing information, news, and pleas
for attention. Small press books often don’t have a chance against the books
from the large presses with more resources to hail a book’s entry into the very
crowded book landscape, which is why I made this book trailer. Plus, it was a fun
project. The illustrations are by Daniel Ramirez, my daughter’s partner, whose
visa process to come to the U.S. was interrupted by the pandemic. He remained
in his native Ecuador, while my daughter and their infant son left on one of
the last flights out in March because she had accepted a job here in the
States. I think that doing these illustrations helped Daniel a little in
alleviating some of the difficulty of his solo quarantining in Quito and waiting
for consulate services to resume.
I described to Daniel what I had in mind for each
drawing and he delivered perfectly. In one of the drawings, he inserted Ilio’s
name. I like to challenge viewers to find it. Having my grandson’s name in my
book trailer that contains illustrations done by his father is part of what
makes it special for me. Also, I did the narration because I wanted my voice
connected to the stories I had written about Angie Rubio, a character whose
experiences mirrored mine and possibly those of many of my readers. The book
trailer, like the book, was a labor of love.
