Stories of Lotería

Some of the faces behind In the Cards ... Las Jaras & El Musico Emilia Macias, her daughter Pachita, and her son Salvador El Cantarito, El Cazo, La Muerte Elena Medina (formerly Elena Tapia) Las Jaras, El Musico, El Cantarito, El Cazo, La Muerte Salvador Medina La Botella (the instigating little brothers) Albert, Richard, David & Bill Medina  El Violoncello Salvador Medina Jr.               El Valiente George Medina El Melon (the 3 vengeful little cousins) Lorrie, Arlene, Christina In the Cards: A Collection of Memories Inspired by Lotería By  Christina Saballos

Friends & Family Book-Signing, hosted by my Mom September 30, 2017 Just a few snapshots from the day, and some nice sentiments..... "Now I have some history to share with my grandchildren. What a generational blessing..." -Lupe M. "IN THE CARDS by Christina Saballos has made the Chicano community and the Chicano family a part of the American national narrative." -Ralph G. "Makes you want more." -Ivan S.                            "It's a great book. Can't wait for the next one." -Linda E.                                                     

*Stories of Lotería is now a book titled In the Cards: A Collection   of Memories Inspired by Lotería. *Available NOW as an ebook at Xlibris.com. *Ebook and softcover copies soon to be available on Amazon.com   and BarnesandNoble.com.

Anyone who has spent at least 15 minutes with my oldest son, Benicio, has surely caught on to the fact that he adores flags. He's made us borrow I Witness: Flags from the library the maximum 4 times in a row (on 3 separate occasions). For 3 months straight we had to read this book to him before bed and could recite the introduction on command, completely by memory, and on occasion against our will. He draws flags, paints flags, comes home from school with flag illustrations all over his work, hangs flags of his own design up all over the house, and as an added bonus can sing the corresponding national anthem of about 7-10 different country flags (thanks YouTube). We've speculated that his adoration could lead to a career as a foreign diplomat, ambassador, UN representative, or heck -a flag designer. Countries, states, sports steams, special events, and even the rainbow flag - he loves them all. Here's a picture if you don't believe me:

40 page manuscript. 17 cards. 17 stories. Submitted. Now, we wait.

Meet Edith Alvarez. My amiga for over 10 years and talented photographer. Her photos, visual interpretations of my stories along with its corresponding Loteria card, will be featured in my upcoming book, In The Cards- A Collection of Memories Inspired by Loteria . I've had the most fun working on some of these photos with her. She's dodged trains, ransacked thrift stores, and loitered music shops to try to get the best shot. I can't wait to see the final pics!

Photo Credit: Edith Alvarez Stories of Lotería will be published as a book entitled,  In The Cards - A Collection of Memories Inspired by Lotería. Due to come out this year. Stay tuned!

The rain persisted. Winter had brought, it seemed, an endless stream of water no one was prepared for, leading eventually to busted dams, overflowing rivers, collapsed roads, and uprooted foundations. Weather conditions mirrored the political climate in so much as torrential opposition increased and all that hope and faith is built on was buckling beneath insurmountable pressure. Tiempo de Aguas , is what my grandma had referred to once when sharing her stories - a time of great rains that brought with it a sense of reckoning. I listened to the beat of the drops, waiting for sleep to come. A humming serenade hitting my roof. A tinny drip-drip-drip syncopation falling from the awning to the medal garden-turtle below. Fatter base-line plops landing carelessly in the water-filled planter closest to my bedroom window. I let the rain spill into my sleep. I awoke to quiet radiance. No more rain, but a sunlight stretched so far it was white, not yellow. My bed wavered beneath me, a gent

I tossed around a few possibilities for the writing of La Rosa. It could be the name of a relative I've never met, but heard stories of from my Grandma, like El Musico. Or similar to La Palma, it could be the point-of-view of an actual flower as it quietly witnesses events from its roots in the garden. Neither idea felt inspired, but then two unrelated events occurred within a week of each other and La Rosa began to take on a new meaning for me. My husband and I took our two boys for an outing last week.  We drove for about 12 minutes to the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond - a beautiful location at the northern tip of the Richmond Harbor. We had heard about this place, so close to our house, a few years ago but had never made the time to visit - a shame, in my opinion, because I adore the female empowering We Can Do It image of the strong woman in a mechanics suit with red & white scarf in her hair. Twice, I've dressed as Rosie for Ha