A Little Bit of Latin America, Our Trip to LeaLA!
This past weekend, Luis and I took two of our students to LeaLA, the third annual Spanish language book fair at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and I must say, we all had a great time! Our biggest problem: not enough cash and not all booths took debit or credit.
When I was a kid, the only book I read was the World Book Encyclopedia, the back of cereal boxes and shampoo bottles, my dad’s comic section of LA Opinion newspaper and of course Avon catalogues. There were no bookstores nearby, no one around us that read or even liked reading, and of course, no book fairs! So to see Latino’s gathered around books, hunched over their child’s stroller reading to their kid, kids crying because their mom didn’t buy them that third picture book they really wanted, and adolescent couples indecisive on which book to buy only reminds me of the need for exposure in many of our communities. How great it would have been to have gone to this event in 1989! But the closest we got in the 80’s was the bookmobile and the Troll book order form which had no books in Spanish. And of course, immigrant parents in the inner city had nothing to read but the Jehovah’s Witness pamphlet under the door, a bible, and their occasional visit to the library with their kids.
Ana and Brian were glued to the first booth they saw. Ana, fell in love with many children’s books and their illustrations. She told me she was inspired to continue painting and drawing. From one moment to another, in just a few minutes, Ana was carrying many books, including a beautiful photography book by Mexican photographer Nacho Lopez, which she bought. 🙂
Luis and Ana inspired by a glow-in-the-dark children’s book
Brian, our poet, who is not comfortable reading and writing in Spanish, was inspired to improve his skills. He looked for poetry books and zines. He discovered a Colombian literature booth and started bargaining with the vendor. He wanted everything! “If I buy two books, may I have a discount?” The vendor smiled and said sorry. But he left satisfied with a zine and a small photo book at the end of the day.
Brian enjoying some Mexican poetry
As for Luis and I… We love this event because we believe it is an opportunity for our communities. It is one weekend a year where literature is actually accessible to many working class Latinos in L.A. And although not all booths were affordable, it was still an opportunity for people to get together, flip through pages, share stories and become inspired. It is an opportunity to get to know many Latin American voices, cultures and worlds that are normally not available in the Spanish section of any Barnes and Noble. It is an opportunity to celebrate literacy together, to sow a love for reading in babies, busy parents, the too-cool teenager, and grandparents. It is the ticket for families in our communities to travel to different worlds who can’t afford it other wise. It’s an open door for the many communities where bookstores are non-existant, where liquor stores are all too common and schools don’t care to promote a Spanish language book fair because test scores are the priority.
And why not inspire youth in our communities to read and live stories in their native language, so that they learn or remember their tradition and culture? It is easy to forget it all and common now for first-generation youth to struggle with their native tongue. I read in Spanish as much as I read in English because it is important to me, because it is my way to stay connected and proud. With each story I read in Spanish, I am reminded of the complexity of a language that varies greatly from country to country and of the beauty of different Latin American countries and their people. This, unfortunately is not learned in Los Angeles public schools and many times, limited at home. Luis and I decided to spend our mentoring day with Ana and Brian at LeaLA so that they could travel other lands, meet characters they wouldn’t normally meet, and to remind them what happens when one’s true essence guides our vision as artists-pure magic. 🙂
Ana and Brian deciding where to begin at LeaLA event.
Luis and I left with our own stash–Luis, with his gigantic photography books and me with my novel and collection of short stories. Although, I must admit, I did feel like the kid who cried in the middle of a crowd wanting his third book. I could never have enough to read.
Jennifer C. Fuentes
THE TRANSIT CENTER 