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March 1996
THE WAND
Vol. 13, No. 3
Womynspace Activities / Networking Directory
Inside:
Comics, Kate Clinton & Georgia Ragsdale
Diana Jones CD Release Party
Breast Cancer Prevention Study
Film: Antonia's Line
Author Appearance at Inklings Bookshop: Achy Obejas, author of We Came All The
Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This Sunday, March 24 3:00 p.m.
The following review is excerpted from Lambda Book Report.
Island People by Terri de la Perla
During my early childhood, my parents were friends with Reina and Fico, a
middle-aged Cuban couple. Cubans were rare (at least to mfe) in 1950s
southern California, and in my little girl eyes more fascinating than
provincial Mexican-American relatives. Cubans were Latinos like us~yet
totally unlike us. They came from an island, spoke Spanish faster, used
different phrases and dropped their syllables. They even spiced their meals
with unusual flavors. Though I have faded memories of bird-like Reina, and
no doubt my reminisces confuse boisterous Fico with my beloved Desi
Arnaz, I definitely recall that couple's fun-loving personalities, their
contagious laughter! My 85 year old mother remembers her friends with
fondness, she honors Reina every Thanksgiving by recreating her
tantalizing cornbread-and-raisin turkey stuffing.
While reading Achy Obejas' seven brilliant stories in We Came AH
The Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?, I wondered what
Reina and Fico or even my mother would think about this intimate look by
a Cuban immigrant writer into an urban Chicago filled with Latina lesbians,
Latino gays, people with AIDS, immigrants and addicts. Doubtless the
older folks would be scandalized by these stories, which means the rest of
us are guaranteed to love them, no? My immediate response to both the
cuentos and the book's title is this: anyone who can write with the fluid
versatility, the sensitivity, honesty and humor of Achy Obejas can wear any
damn thing she wants! For clarity's sake, the title refers to the horrified
reaction of a Cuban-born father to his consciousness-raised daughter's
suede, fringe and bell-bottomed outfit. She answers him "...you didn't come
[to the U.S.] for me, you came for you." While this story seems the most
personal, the other six stories are unparalleled in their first-person candor,
their blunt realism.
Each story reminds me of a performance piece, a spoken
monologue rife with on-the-edge-hilarity. In "Wrecks", a Latina lesbian
admits to an inevitable car accident after each break-up. Though "The
Cradleland" recounts a sexual fantasy turned real, its finely crafted lines
reveal more substance: the long friendship between a Latina Lesbian and a
Latino gay with AIDS. "Man, Oh Man" actually was adapted for the stage;
I won't give away its grittiness. The lesbian activist in "Forever" tells us
about "being a woman-loving-woman in the face of danger as well as
boredom." In this story, Obejas write of the pleasures — and troubles —of
being out, and a sometimes unwilling role model.
Achy Obejas is one companera whose works I want to feast on
again and again. Her fiction is sumptuous, delicious, spiced with credible
characters and on-the-mark dialogue—and I want to read many, many more
of her stories.
Terri de la Perla is the author of two novels, Latin Satins and Margins, both from Seal
Press.
Achy Obejas is a widely published poet, fiction writer and
journalist. Her poetry has been published in Conditions, Revista
Chicano-Riquena, and Beloit Poetry Journal among others In
1986, she received an NEA fellowship in poetry. Her short stories
have been published in magazines such as Antioch Review, Phoebe,
and Third Woman, and in numerous anthologies, including
Discontents (Amethyst). She writes a weekly column for the
Chicago Tribune and is a regular contributor to High
Performance, The Chicago Reader and Windy City Times She
has been awarded an 1994 Literary Award from the Illinois Arts
Council.
Houston Texas Lesbian Conference Planning Meeting
Houston, Texas - A meeting for all lesbians interested in planning and organizing the 1997 Houston Texas Lesbian
Conference will be held on Monday, March 18,1996, at 7:00 p.m. The meeting will be at the offices of Suzanne Anderson
Properties, 239 Westheimer. For more information, please page Torrie Justus at 916-8110.
The theme for the 1996 conference is 'Telling and Tracing Our Past, Living and Loving Our Present, & Charting and
Challenging Our Future.w The 1996 conference is scheduled for May 3-5 in the Dallas Grand Hotel, Dallas, Texas. Write
T.L.C. Inc., P. O. Box 191069, Dallas, Texas 75219 to register. _________ |
