From Our Land To Our Land: Essays, Journeys, and Imaginings from a Native Xicanx Writer

Description

Essays on race, culture, and identity, Native Americans, the Latinx community, and more from the prolific writer, activist, bookseller, and LA's poet laureate. A collection of powerful pieces on race, culture, identity and belonging and what these all mean and should mean (but often fail to) in the volatile climate of our nation. Rodriguez has a distinctly inspiring passion and wisdom in his approach as he writes about current political and cultural unrest, about his own compelling background, and about his vision for America's future. Ultimately, the book carries the message that we must come together if we are to move forward. He reminds us in the first essay, The End of Belonging, "I'm writing as a Native person. I'm writing as a poet. I'm writing as a revolutionary working class organizer and thinker who has traversed life journeys from which incredible experiences, missteps, plights, and victories have marked the way.... I belong anywhere." The pieces in The Story of Our Day capture that same, fantastic energy and wisdom and will spark conversation and inspiration.

From 2014-2016 Luis J. Rodriguez served as the official Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. He's the author of fifteen works of fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry, and children's literature. His most recent memoir, It Calls You Back, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award. He's been the recipient of many awards and fellowships, including the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers Award, Lannan Foundation Poetry Fellowship, Carl Sandburg Book Award, PEN Josephine Miles Literary Award, and more. A script consultant for the FX drama, Snowfall, he founded Barking Rooster Entertainment, a production company for film, TV, web, and other content. He founded the well-respected Tia Chucha Press close to 30 years ago, which publishes mostly poetry collections, and is co-founder of Tia Chucha's Cultural Center & Bookstore in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley. In addition to traveling extensively, he teaches every week at two maximum-security yards at Lancaster State Prison. www.luisjrodriguez.com.

"Luis Rodriguez is a poet prophet for our times." -Sandra Cisneros, author of A House of My Own: Stories From My Life "Powerful from start to finish, Rodriguez's book celebrates Xicanx culture and wisdom while calling for much-needed global healing. A thoughtful and radically provocative collection." -Kirkus Reviews "Former Los Angeles Poet Laureate, Luis J. Rodriguez reflects on a lifetime of experiences, wisdom and healing, illuminating the intersections of the personal, spiritual, and historical. His is the 'story of the 'other' Los Angeles,' a love song to the city, Xicanx culture, its influence around the world, and the spirit of revolution full of risk, but also one full of triumph. He says 'this is not about avoiding trouble, it's about getting into the right kind of trouble.' A poet at heart, Rodriguez rightly claims that 'as long as the world needs changing, we'll need poetry.' There is still much left to change and the captivating work contained here is a testament to the possibilities of our will to make a difference." -Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, author of Children of the Land "In a climate fraught with division and increased in-fighting amidst the tension, From Our Land to Our Land is a welcome and generous call to recognize the myriad gifts peoples across the world have contributed to our present and celebrate that which we share in order to imagine where we as a society go from here. Tracing connections between language, cultures, and how one chooses to identify, whether Native or non-Native, to current social, environmental, and political concerns, Luis J. Rodriguez reminds us there are healers still at work in this world, and yes, poets walk among them." -Abigail Chabitnoy, author of How to Dress a Fish