Author Scene

Gary Soto; hi
Luis Rodriguez; hey
Gary Soto; what is your name?
Luis Rodriguez; I am Luis Rodriguez.
Gary Soto; so where you stay at?
Luis Rodriguez; I am from El Paso, Texas and you
Gary Soto; I am from Fresno, California
Luis Rodriguez; that is nice
Gary Soto; Yup
Luis Rodriguez; so what’s your latest book/poem you’ve written?
Gary soot; Poems of love and longing and yours?
Luis Rodriguez; my nature is hunger
Gary Soto; so what are you doing here at the mall?
Luis Rodriguez; buying something for my sancha
Gary Soto; dam you got a sancha? Why?
Luis Rodriguez; hell yeah, because she got mental issues
Gary Soto; dam you should send her to a mental hospital
Luis Rodriguez; that’s what I’m going to do soon, she freaks me out
Gary Soto; so do you have any sons?
Luis Rodriguez; yes, just one, indeed I made a book about him, about gangs
Gary Soto; dam that’s nice, are you planning to have more?
Luis Rodriguez; no indeed their annoying and can’t stand them
Gary Soto; dam you should kill them. But by the way how many books have you written?
Luis Rodriguez; I’ve written 10 books through my writer life and you?
Gary Soto; I’ve lost count but I know I’ve written more than 60
Luis Rodriguez; dam that’s a lot of work you’ve wrote
Gary Soto; well I got to go
Luis Rodriguez; ok good bye
Gary Soto; nice talking to you
Luis Rodriguez; same here, bye

Wild Card Essay

What I got in my mind right now is many things. Like what I’m I going to do afterschool with my friends or cousins. We might kick it then go to the park and play soccer. Like we usually do. Then go to pizza hut and eat some pizza with my cousins. Then go home and play PS3. Then eat some Pollo Loco. Then tomorrow get up shower dress get a water bottle. Then walk to school while I’m hearing my IPOD. Then check out some girl. Then go to the donut shop get a donut, sunny D, and a pack of winter fresh gum. Then walk the entrance while James is checking if I got my uniform. Then lets me go and walk up the stairs; which is very tiring. But finally get to the 3rd floor and rest. Then greed the homies. Then walk into class and take my chair down. Then take out my notebook and do my warm up while hearing my IPOD. Then talk across the room to tell Evet that no she can’t use my iPod cuz I’m using it. But she keeps on asking me which is very annoying. But then she starts fighting with Robert cuz he wants to use it too. So I don’t let one borrow it. Then the bell rings to go to class. Then walking into my Spanish class and take out my notebook because all my stuff is in there.

Author Profile

Luis J. Rodriguez was born in El Paso, Texas in 1954. He was an American poet, novelist, journalist, critic, and columnist. His work has won several awards, and he is recognized as a major figure of contemporary Chicano. His best-known work, Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., is the recipient of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, among others, and has been the subject of controversy when included on reading lists in California, Illinois, Michigan, and Texas schools due to its frank depictions of gang life. Rodriguez has also founded or co-founded numerous organizations, including the Tía Chucha Press, which publishes the work of unknown writers, Tía Chucha's Centro Cultural, a San Fernando Valley cultural center, and the Chicago-based Youth Struggling for Survival, an organization for at-risk youth.
Rodriguez was born in the United States-Mexico border city El Paso, Texas. His parents, natives of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, had their children on the U.S. side of the border to ease the transition into the United States, where they had intentions of relocating. His father was a high school principal and his mother, who is descended from the Raramuri, a people indigenous to Chihuahua, was a school secretary. The elder Rodriguez, who refused to be dominated by local politicians from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, relocated the family to South Los Angeles when Rodriguez was two. There he spent the first part of his childhood and witnessed the 1965 Watts Riots. The family later moved to the San Gabriel Valley, and he joined his first street gang at the age of 12. He had joined the Lomas gang during their early wars with the Sangra 13 gang (Chicano slang for "San Gabriel"). The two gangs are still active as of today in the San Gabriel Valley and still maintain a fierce rivalry despite gentrification.
After all that happened Luis became a writer of novels and poetry. He had left his “vida loca” for simply becoming a writer. The first poem he wrote was “Poems across the pavement” which was published in 1989. After he wrote that poem he started writing more and more books and poems. There’s one I consider the best “Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.”. I like that book because he wrote about his son joining gangs and doing drugs. “You get a busted lip. So what? It’s worth it.” His son was about to get in a fight and he didn’t care if he gotten a lip busted. So then his son gets in love with a prostitute. But he didn’t care that she was a prostitute all he cared about was they both loving each other. "Art is the heart's explosion on the world. Music. Dance. Poetry. Art on cars, on walls, on our skins. There is probably no more powerful force for change in this uncertain and crisis-ridden world than young people and their art. It is the consciousness of the world breaking away from the strangle grip of an archaic social order."
“Poetry
Rodriguez, Luis J. (2005). My nature is hunger : new & selected poems, 1989-2004. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press. Rodriguez, Luis J. (1991). The concrete river. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press. Rodriguez, Luis J. (1989). Poems across the pavement. Chicago: Tia Chucha Press. Rodriguez, Luis J. (1998). Trochemoche : poems. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press.
Nonfiction
 Rodriguez, Luis J. (2001). Hearts and hands : creating community in violent times. New York City: Seven Stories Press.
 Rodriguez, Luis J. (1993). Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press. Rodriguez, Luis J. (2005). Music of the mill : a novel. New York City: Rayo.
Fiction
 Rodriguez, Luis J. (2005). Music of the mill : a novel. New York City: Rayo.
 Rodriguez, Luis J. (2002). The Republic of East L.A.. New York City: Rayo.
 Rodriguez, Luis J.; Daniel Galvez, illustrator (1999). It doesn’t have to be this way : a barrio story / No tiene que ser así : una historia del barrio. San Francisco, California: Children's Book Press.
 Rodriguez, Luis J.; Carlos Vasquez, illustrator (1996).”