“my Mamá Grande, a tiny Mayan woman, took me aside when I was an adolescent and told me several things that didn't make a bit of sense to my young and inattentive ears, and as young people tend to waste all attempts of our elders to relay to us wisdom accumulated over the decades, I thought my Mamá Grande had a few mice in the attic.” PeopleYoungBitsWasteEarsDecadesTinyMiceEldersAtticsRelays Book:Sapogonia: An Anti-romance in 3/8 Meter Source: Sapogonia: An Anti-romance in 3/8 Meter
“It is an absolute impossibility in this society to reversely sexually objectify heterosexual men, just as it is impossible for a poor person of color to be a racist. Such extreme prejudice must be accompanied by the power of society's approval and legislation. While women and poor people of color may become intolerant, personally abusive, even hateful, they do not have enough power to be racist or sexist.” PeopleMenMayPersonsEnoughPoorPowerImpossibleColorRacismPrejudiceAbsolutesExtremesRacistSexismApprovalLegislationPoor PeopleImpossibilityHatefulSexuallySexistAbusiveThis Society Book:Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xicanisma Source: Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xicanisma
“I think the possibilities are endless in terms of what the genre would be like. However, in terms of looking for sources of money, I think we have to be very careful not to fall into Hollywood's commodification of Chicano culture. We could look at the example of Piri Thomas, a successful Puerto Rican writer now living in the Bay Area, who has received repeated offers from Hollywood...and he said he's not going to write about his people doing drugs and going to jail.” PeopleThinkingWritingFallCultureTermSuccessfulPossibilityDrugCareful Author:Ana Castillo
“When I devoted myself to poetry - and poetry is a very serious medium - I don't think the people that knew me as an individual with that tongue-in-cheek kind of humor...well, it didn't always lend itself to my poetry. When you're writing poetry, it's like working with gold, you can't waste anything. You have to be very economical with each word you're going to select. But when you're writing fiction, you can just go on and on; you can be more playful. My editor's main task is to cut back, not ask for more.” PeopleThinkingWritingKindIndividualCuttingSeriousGoldPoetry IsSelectWriting Poetry Author:Ana Castillo
“People like to think of themselves as purists, but there is no such thing as purity, when there exists so much contact.” PeopleThinkingPurity Author:Ana Castillo
“You know you have that zealousness of the young person that feels like you can go out and do it all. You know you save the world, save your gente, save women and before you know it if you try to do that you will burn out very quickly. My feeling is that I always think that and my advice to young people regardless of what times in these decades we've been living in there's always work to be done. The point is what can you do personally that you can live with so that you can get up the next morning and have the strength to start it all over again.” PeopleThinkingWorldTryingDoneFeelingsMorningAdviceLike YouSave The WorldBurn Out Author:Ana Castillo
“Whatever it is that people find that they want to work on they also have to remember that they are human beings and they need to save some time for themselves for personal growth, for mental health, for their families, their loved ones so that they will have the strength to continue doing that work.” PeopleRememberGrowthMental HealthPersonal GrowthLoved Ones Author:Ana Castillo
“I feel that it's very important for young people to have a sense of history and do research and don't re-invent the wheel and don't think that you're the first martyr to discover social injustice but to take advantage of previous generations of activists and find out what they did and how they resolved things.” PeopleThinkingImportantInjusticeActivistMartyr Author:Ana Castillo
“When I hear that Jennifer Lopez is such a role model for Latinas, on the one hand I respect her for her business sense and I respect her for her ambition. But she's in the entertainment world. She's done it on her looks and very specifically on her anatomy. Madonna is also considered a great businesswoman and so is Yoko Ono. I feel if I had a young daughter right now, I would feel a little discouraged if that was my daughter's primary role model for success and for young people, for Latinas and Latinos.” PeopleWorldDoneAmbitionDaughterMy DaughterRole ModelsDiscouragedLatinoAnatomyJenniferGreat BusinessLatina Author:Ana Castillo
