Sandra’s story

What does an award-winning, internationally acclaimed author look for when visiting Cortez?

“I’d like to find the best thrift store in town,” said Sandra Cisneros. “I love thrift stores. I especially love vintage clothes, and I heard there’s some good ones in Colorado.”

The author and poet is best known for her novels “Caramelo” (2005) and “The House on Mango Street” (1984) — which has sold more than 2 million copies and has become widely used in schools. She is scheduled to speak at 7 tonight at the Cortez Public Library, 202 N. Park St.

Besides thrift store hunting, Cisneros enjoys traveling to get a sense of places and people.

“They usually give me a story back,” she said.“They usually gives me a sense of history. I think everybody’s like a walking library, so I feel most moved by the things people tell me about themselves and about the land and where they’re from.”

Although her writings about overcoming poverty and oppression are popular with feminists and Latin Americans, she said she writes for all cultures around the world.

“I think that work should aspire to be universal,” she said.

Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 as the only girl in a family of seven children. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in English from Loyola University of Chicago in 1976 and master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Iowa in 1978. She has since taught writing and published books for a wide range of age groups.

Her writing began as an emotional survival mechanism during graduate school. She began her first book as a side project during school.

“I only survived it by getting very strong and angry and writing something that would buoy me through,” she said.“At first I was intimidated and after you get through being intimidated, you get mad. At least Sandra does. I used the “House on Mango Street” as a kind of life preserver to keep me going”

Despite a strong parallel between her books and her real life, Cisneros said she writes fiction because she borrows stories from others.

“When I began my first book, it did start out as a memoir, but it didn’t end up there,” she said.“I didn’t want to be scolded by someone like Oprah.”

Cisneros taught for a time in the poor areas of Chicago.

“I was teaching children of immigrants,” she said.“Their lives were so much more tragic than anything I could summon from my own life, so it kind of made me realize: ‘Well, you think you’ve got problems; look at these teenagers. They’ve got so many problems — you had it made.’ So I started incorporating those stories into my autobiographical neighborhood.”

Her writing became a tool to help her readers overcome their struggles.

“How can I write something that can be an escape prop for these young women to escape abuse, for these young men to escape violence?” she asked herself. “Is there another way to be than throwing yourself in front of the train or locking yourself in your father’s house? Is there another way out? Is there another way to exist? There has to be an alternative.”

But at the time, Cisneros didn’t have answers — only questions.

“So I wrote my way towards an answer,” she said.“I think that’s what we do as writers, as artists. We have questions, and we walk towards an answer.”

Despite this, Cisneros said she felt powerless as an English teacher to be able to save her students. She now believes that students should be taught a wide range of books in the hopes that they will find one they connect with.

“I think it’s so egotistical when people say: ‘Oh you must read these. These are the 50 great books,’” she said.“Well how do we know? I think of books as being medicine. And my prescription may not work for you. It may kill you. I think we should have a lot of latitude when we teach so we give our students wonderful writing.”

Cisneros has also published poetry collections, “Bad Boys (1980),” “My Wicked Ways” (1987) and “Loose Woman (1994)”; the short story collection “Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories” (1991); and the children’s book “Hairs/Pelitos” (1994). Some works are available at the Cortez library.

She is still busy working on a screenplay for “The House on Mango Street,” an illustrated picture book about experiencing loss, a collection of short stories, a collection of essays and is working to publish an elements of style guide based on her 35 years of writing.

She said she feels a spiritual connection to Colorado because her grandparents lived in Rocky Ford.

“Colorado just keeps calling me back and I’m just doing this reverse migration of my ancestors,” she said.



On the Net: www.sandracisneros.com.



Reach Reid Wright at reidw@cortezjournal.com.