is a story about a Hispanic boy\u2019s integration into the Anglo-American reality in El Paso when his father buys a house in a predominantly Anglo neighborhood. Unable to afford to pay on the mortgage, his father rents the house to an Anglo family from the military base and houses the family in the basement until they are able to annex a small apartment in the backyard. Their predicament could be considered an allegory of the relationship between Hispanics and Anglos in the Southwest; the children of many immigrants are living through a similar experience.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
What writers did you read growing up, and how did they influence you?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Victor Hugo, George Eliot, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emily Dickinson, Isaac Asimov, and other classics provided a solid foundation. However, it wasn\u2019t until I encountered Dostoevsky that my passion for literature blossomed. And, I must admit, that to this day his influence has been all encompassing. His influence led me to the equally powerful William Faulkner.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Your new novel, Sex as a Political Condition<\/em>, has been described as a raucous, hilarious journey into the wild, sometimes outrageous world of the Texas-Mexico border and geographical points south. What would you like our readers to know about your current book?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
A young Hispanic female writer from South Texas said, \u201cIf it weren\u2019t for the bathroom humor, Sex as Political Condition<\/em> would be a truly dark tragedy, and no one would read it.\u201d So, the bathroom humor is a rhetorical device\u2014comic relief, if you wish\u2014to draw and entertain readers while cushioning their encounter with the darker aspects of the reality portrayed. Another reader commented that the novel is \u201coutlandish, offensive, and on-target\u201d and advises that you will enjoy it if you \u201ccheck your outrage at the door.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Your website describes you as an author, professor, and Chicano activist. What is the current focus of your activism?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Throughout the years, I have involved in multiple projects, everything from launching a Chicano literary review, the Revista Rio Bravo<\/em>, to the establishment of the South Texas Writing Project, an affiliate of the National Writing Project. During the last five years I directed Teatro Chicano de Laredo. Currently, I am working on the establishment of a center for Mexican-American studies at Laredo Community College.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
This past summer, along with Sandra Cisneros and other noted Mexican-American writers, you published a piece in the anthology North of the Rio Grande: The Mexican American Experience in Short Fiction<\/em>. Do you agree with the notion that many people do not grasp the multiplicity and complexity that exists within Latin American culture?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The late Mexican poet and essayist Octavio Paz put it best when he stated in the 1960s that while Americans live in \u201ca monologue,\u201d Mexicans are \u201cgagged.\u201d Until these two conditions change, the two cannot engage in a genuine and fruitful dialogue. Have things changed, improved? Perhaps. But we still have a long way to go.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
What advice would you have for aspiring authors\u2014and specifically for Hispanic authors?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Less than 1 percent of writers in the United States get published, and 90 percent of published writers are lucky if they sell five hundred copies of a book. At least this is what I have read or been told by publishing-industry insiders. Also, while MFA programs churn out writers by the thousands, the reading of books has declined dramatically. I advise that people think twice before succumbing to the \u201cvirus\u201d of wanting to become a writer. As for Hispanic authors\u2014in fact, all writers\u2014I would suggest they serve an apprenticeship under a hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners seasoned editor or senior writer before thinking they\u2019re ready to be published. And plan for the long run.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Your hometown, Laredo, was formed in 1755, making it one of the most historic locations in Texas. What would you like readers to know about Laredo?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Laredo, Texas, is a fascinating paradox as both a provincial city and an international one. As a result of its history and its very close ties with Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, it is probably the most \u201cMexican\u201d of all the border towns. You can spend an entire lifetime here without speaking English, which enrages some \u201coutsiders.\u201d Like all the other towns on our southern border, it sits on one of the most controversial borders between two civilizations. For me, it has been the next best thing to living in Mexico or Europe, which I so much desired as a young man. Above all, it has been a demanding and implacable source of literary inspiration.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Interview with El Paso native Carlos Nicol\u00e1s Flores<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[229,53,83,30,8],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-authorinterview","tag-interview","tag-latinx","tag-lonestarlistens","tag-lonestarliterarycom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}