Los Cedros

Chicana writer Dorotea Reyna returns to visit her beloved childhood home in South Texas situated on the Rio Grande River on the U.S.-Mexico border. To her astonishment, she finds her father's village is now being monitored by a giant surveillance balloon and her mother's village framed by the Wall. Alarmed by these changes, she writes this memoir which takes her readers back to a more peaceful time on the border when she was a girl growing up in the 60s. In colorful vignettes which blend both facts and fiction, she recreates the spirit of the men and women who helped shape her including her pueblo's activist priest, the kindly woman who watched over her when her parents were teaching, and the village curandera. She also shares lessons she learned from her parents and abuelos regarding race and gender, as well as recounts her journey from a primarily Spanish-speaking world to an integrated "English only" classroom. Writing in vivid poetic language, with stories that express both wonder and despair, the poet attempts to recover the wholeness she felt as a child from the violence and demagoguery of today's political discourse. Cover Art by Anel Flores