But as I got older and all these books by African American authors became known to me, I got a little defensive and asked "Where are the Latino authors?" And I didn't mean Marquez or all those other European-ish people of Spanish descent. I wanted to read books by brown people who lived a bilingual life like I did.
At that point I was directed towards some really nice Mexican American/Chicano writers and that was cool and all, but I wanted my professors to understand that YES, Mexicans and Dominicans both speak Spanish and we have that in common, but our stories are different. Hell, even our Spanish is different! I had to specify that the brown people I was looking for were Caribbean, not Mayan or Andean or Incan.
Enter Julia Alvarez.
I read "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent" and immediately I fell in love. she was Dominican, LIKE ME, and she made a life for herself writing stories, LIKE I WANTED TO DO! It was the role model I had been looking for all my life (which, by the way, I never found in the sciences, either. Where are my Dominican scientists? I really needed y'all in college but I couldn't find you!). Afterward I read "In the Time of the Butterflies" and the sequel to Garcia Girls, "Yo!" and again- love, love, love!
So imagine how ecstatic I was to meet Ms. Alvarez at a reading last week in Washington Heights! She spoke to us about her amazing journey as a writer and the other endeavors she's undertaken as a result of her writing projects, and then read from her book about the heroic Mirabal sisters a.k.a. Las Mariposas (If you don't know who they are it's OK. I didn't either until I read her book. Google them now!).
The entire experience was so informative and enlightening and inspiring, and I especially loved sharing it with K (who is totally in love with the Mirabal Sisters' book), who was shaking- a ball full of nerves- as she spoke with and got her book signed by Ms. Alvarez. (N was there, too, but could give nan one fuck. Too bad, too, because I was going to name her Julia before everyone vetoed my choice.)
When it was my turn, I told Ms. Alvarez how much I admired her work and looked up to her and hoped my own writing would one day be as revered. She wished me luck in my craft and told me I was beautiful, and that my daughters were beautiful, and what a great, creative bunch we were. To say I almost died would not give the moment its props.
This memory will live on with me forever and ever. Guaranteed!
*smooches...because I'm STILL so happy I could just burst*
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I've met other authors I admire before (Edwidge Dandicat, Zadie Smith, Walter Mosley, etc) but none made my heart stop like Ms. Alvarez. Not a one.
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