Latinoland by Marie Arana

LATINOLAND by Marie Arana is subtitled “A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority.” Arana, a prolific author and finalist for the National Book Award, is very honest, creative and personal in her approach to this topic. She notes that “today one in five souls on American soil claims Hispanic heritage” and “we are not a unified people.” Her efforts to share her experiences and the stories of individuals like Carolyn Curiel or Ellen Ochoa add detail. However, as even she points out “one book cannot possibly capture the whole” and this necessarily broad brush tends to cloud summary conclusions. I had expected more data to be readily available and wish that Arana had been able to include more charts and graphs in addition to the sweeping historical reflection and moving stories she shares. LATINOLAND is extremely well-researched with Arana including copious notes that comprise almost a third of the text. Both Booklist and Kirkus (“an impressively wide-ranging overview”) gave Arana’s work a starred review.

Did you know that there are plans to open a National Museum of the American Latino on the National Capital Mall in 2035? There are so many interesting written works and resources available. Examples include Harvest of Empire (revised in 2022) by Juan Gonzalez, many of the books by Héctor Tobar, and (especially for high school readers) Living Beyond Borders (2021) edited by Margarita Longoria. The much older (2013) Latino Americans from Ray Suarez was also a series on pbs; the accompanying website features ideas for lesson plans and educational materials such as updated statistics from Pew Research Center.  Numerous schools and colleges have crafted libguides for Hispanic Heritage Month; one of the most comprehensive is from Rice University’s Fondren Library. No doubt Marie Arana (who disparages Nixon’s efforts to create the original week in honor of American Hispanics) would at least encourage more conversation around these materials; as she says, “although we account for more than half of the US population growth over the last decade … it seems as if the rest of the country is perpetually in the act of discovering us.”

Our Hidden Conversations by Michele Norris

OUR HIDDEN CONVERSATIONS by Michele Norris, an award-winning journalist, offers an excellent and fascinating look at “What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity.” As described in this Washington Post article, she began The Race Card Project several years ago, using postcards to collect people’s 6 word comments on race. Her book is filled with those statements, often with accompanying stories, background context, and photos; at one point, she refers to it as a scrapbook. Some content will seem familiar, perhaps, and other chapters will surprise, maybe even shock, readers. As Norris writes, “the people who spend time with The Race Card Project might not find common ground, but they are exposed to new ideas and worlds beyond their realms.” Due to the uniqueness of each contributor's experience and the willingness to show vulnerability, OUR HIDDEN CONVERSATIONS is inspiring, honest, and thought-provoking. One of the most haunting comments: “after all, if you've paid any attention to how minorities have been treated in this country over centuries, you might reasonably be concerned about becoming one.” OUR HIDDEN CONVERSATIONS received a starred review from Booklist (“an eye-opening read and …. wide-angle look at others' thoughts on race”). Highly recommended.

Norris points out that she is compiling a piece of the American story that we normally don’t get to hear; in addition to her amazing book, you can hear and see more on NPR’s special series site from roughly ten years ago. And, for those intrigued by Norris’ postcard project, Six Word Memoirs have been with us from Not Quite What I was Planning (2008) to I Can't Keep My Own Secrets (from teens in 2009) to A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year (filled with pandemic reflections in 2021). Concise yet clever opportunities for reflection.  

PLEASE NOTE: Michele Norris will be speaking on January 19 at 11:30 Central time on Washington Post Live. More details are available at this link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2024/01/19/michele-norris-our-hidden-conversations-about-race-identity/

Added: Here is an interview with her from PBSNewsHour

  

Lone Stars Rising ... fifty years of influential people

LONE STARS RISING compiled by the Editors of Texas Monthly is all about “The Fifty People Who Turned Texas into the Fastest-Growing, Most Exciting, and, Sometimes, Most Exasperating State in the Country.” Since it is the golden anniversary of Texas Monthly’s publication, they decided to compile some profiles of “fascinating personalities we've been blessed to write about over the past half century.” The debates about whom to include would have been quite interesting, right? This text itself is very engaging, too. Sections correspond to decades and lists statistics like state population, the Democrat/Republican split in the Texas House, Austin’s rank amongst US cities, and even the cumulative number of Willie Nelson albums! The end of each decade has a list of books, films/TV, music, and sports related to Texas. And in between are four to five page summaries (with an accompanying picture) of influential Texans; here are just a few of the names: Barbara Jordan, Tom Landry, Larry McMurtry, Bill Hobby, Charles Butt, Molly Ivins, Karl Rove, Selena, Beyoncé, Hugo Ortega, and Brené Brown. Filled with factoids (did you know that Texas’ economy would rank “9th in the world, just behind that of Brazil and ahead of South Korea”?), LONE STARS RISING is a remarkable text to browse, and patterns emerge looking chronologically. Of course, the essays included here are rather short and it could have been fun (and informative!) to include additional references and resources about each of these individuals. For example, there is a new podcast about Lady Bird Johnson’s life as well as the In Plain Sight podcast which was told in her own words. Yes, the LONE STARS RISING collection succeeded in making me more curious about Texas and its inhabitants. I am looking forward to learning more through Stephen Harrigan’s Big Wonderful Thing and Lawrence Wright's God Save Texas.

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

HOW NOT TO DROWN IN A GLASS OF WATER by Angie Cruz is a fairly unique reading experience. The story (set in 2009 in New York City) is told almost as a stream of consciousness from Cara Romero, a fifty-something immigrant from the Dominican Republic. She has lost her job at a factory and meets for twelve sessions with an employment counselor for Seniors so that she can collect benefits and hopefully find another position. As observers of her one-sided interviews, readers learn about her family, including sister Angela and estranged son Fernando, about her neighbors, including la Vieja Caridad (an older woman who needs her help) and her friends like Lulu. There are numerous Spanish (or Spanglish) phrases which the reader has to interpret from context, but that experience adds to the sense of isolation and marginalization which Cara must feel in an environment where she is not a native speaker. Increasingly in need of money for rent, Cora considers work as a nanny, caregiver, school security guard and more. Her responses to the bureaucratic forms are instructive about her perspective, if cringe-worthy at times. Cruz has creatively and sensitively crafted a story involving poverty and gentrification, family ties and survival. 

Mecca By Susan Straight

MECCA by Susan Straight, National Book Award finalist, is a complex work of historical fiction told from alternating viewpoints, almost like a set of interconnected short stories. Straight introduces a young cop, Johnny Frias, his friends, and their girlfriends in a novel which spans several decades. These are mainly working-class Californians – butcher, florist, maid – of Hispanic and Indigenous descent. And there is ample opportunity for Straight to highlight the prejudice they encounter: “People like him always said up and down. They came up from Mexico. I’m never going down there. For their parents it was, they came across from Ireland. England. Germany. On a boat.” Frias deals with that prejudice at work and with misunderstanding from friends and family, especially after a police shooting of a young, unarmed teen. Sexual assault, an abandoned baby, undocumented workers, a long-ago murder, and the Covid pandemic are all woven into the well-written story. MECCA was named a Most Anticipated Book for March 2022 by the Los Angeles Times and USA Today; was an Amazon Best Book of March 2022, and received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. The Economist sums it up, calling MECCA a “triumphant, polyphonic new novel [in which] the working people behind the glamour of the Golden State are revealed in all their multiplicity, with Ms. Straight’s trademark tenderness and humour.”