oh, snap! second to last nyc reading!
As many of you know, I have, eh-hem, published a book. I have been begging you fine people to buy it (that’s me groveling at your little ankles) and seriously would love to see your mug at any one of my readings. Anyway, I’ve got one of my last NYC readings of the season, tomorrow, at Bar on A. All the details are here. I invite you to come, share the love, buy a book, etc. Or, buy a book (and buying it from some rotten whore on Amazon reselling it doesn’t count, my fabulous friends). I just randomly checked my stats and if half of you bought my book, I’d be out of credit card debt. Seriously.
Anyway, if you live in San Francisco or Los Angeles, or know of sane people (well, I’ll take insane people too) who want to hear me read (I might be rolling up with baked goods, so feel that incentive!), please pass on next week’s rock star agenda.
April 30th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
oooh! i just may be able to see you next week in SF, especially if there are baked goods…
April 30th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Shell,
Trust me, my friend. Baked goods aplenty!
xo, f.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:39 am
Now you’re making me feel bad about lending your book to a friend, rather than forcing her to buy it! Btw, she loved it.
Sorry I didn’t go to your reading last night, but having gone to one already (and immensely enjoyed it), I didn’t want to seem like a stalker. (I was the black guy who introduced himself to you at KGB Bar several weeks ago after your reading.)
But if you ever do a reading with Q&A, there is one question about your book that I would ask, because it has been haunting me ever since I finished reading it. I hope I don’t sound like a reader who feels entitled to invade aspects of your story that you didn’t cover, but it seems related to many of the ideas and speculations in your memoire.
So here it is:
One of the mysteries of the story is your background and identity. Your mother cut you off from most of your extended family. But you knew two aunts — named Carmen and Marisol.
At times, people — like your first step father’s ex-wife — hint darkly (excuse the pun) that you are not “white.” In your book and other writings, you sometimes muse about your very thick, curly hair. Neighborhood kids mistook you for being “Boriqua” when you were growing up in Brooklyn.
Have you ever wondered whether the “identity” that your mother cut you off from was Latina?
“Carmen” and “Marisol” are almost stereotypical Latina names, and in particular, Puerto Rican names.
Have you ever considered whether that was the identity that your mother was keeping you from?
Sorry if this sounds like prying.
On a different note, your book has at least one bad thing to say about George W. Bush, so you might be entertained by this latest of my political rants at DemocraticUnderground (sort of like DailyKos, only somewhat to the left of it), and I’m curious what your reaction is:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3226757&mesg_id=3226757
Regards!
May 1st, 2008 at 10:02 am
Hamden,
Thanks for the note & you are indeed not prying. It’s no secret (I’ve written about this for the HuffPo & on this blog) that I do question my heritage and wonder if I am Latina. I don’t think my mother hid my background because of that specifically (an aversion towards a particular race), rather it was her way of controlling all aspects of our lives, and punishing those who had wronged her (namely, my aunt and my biological father). But then again, I’m not privy to her thinking, so I’ll never really be sure, and I’m sort of done trying to unravel her.
Re: my heritage and identity and making steps to figure this out - that’s something I’d rather keep private
Note, all the names have been changed in the book for legal reasons, so “Carmen” and “Marison” aren’t the characters’ real names.
Hope this clarifies, and thank you kindly for your support! And thank you for the article link - I’ll definitely check it out, but I do keep my political views off the web, and probably won’t comment on anything politically in a public forum. I just prefer it that way.
Cheers, Felicia
May 1st, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I’ve been looking forward to the SF reading — and now you say there’ll be baked goods, too?! how happy I am!