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Acclaimed Chicago author Sandra Cisneros, most recently known for "The House on Mango Street," was honored with her name etched in stone in Pritzger Park. Too bad they spelled her name incorrectly.
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her name etched in stone in Pritzger Park.
Nice, subtle. :)
Speaking of the last names of Hispanic authors you read in school, there's a laborer at my job with the last name of Cervantes. Always get a kick out of his name tag.
For those of you who might possibly be unfamiliar with Sandra Cisneros, her lyrical novella "The House on Mango Street" (1984) about a young girl coming of age in a Northwest Chicago barrio is pretty much assigned to every 9th grade English student across the USA --
When the literary canon went multicultural in the 90's, "The House on Mango Street" basically became the "To Kill a Mockingbird" for a whole new generation of kids who used Cliff Notes to write the paper anyway. Except they had to read "To Kill a Mockingbird" too. Helluva time for both Sega Genesis AND Super Nintendo to come out, I'm telling you.
And check out this google timeline I found completely by accident. It actually graphs the intensity of the multiculturalism debate over the last 20 years, showing a clear peak in 1994, which sounds about right to me.
So what books did you read in high school? Where you educated before, after, or during the point when western culture exploded?
I don't remember all that I read in high school, Having had to read tons in grad school, the high school readings are buried and quite forgotten except for a few notables. I was a nerdette though, and proud of it, and actually read Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky with a fellow couple of nerds and nerdettes. Most of what I recall in the multicultural genre was African American, since the educational system still didn't know what to do with Asian Americans or Latinos and had no clue there were Native American authors out there.
The 1994 year sounds about right to me, as well. I noticed a definite shift in the corporate world as well, and the beginning of a shift around that time in attitudes by more people regarding people of color.
Many Latin names have great resonance to them. Years ago my UPS guy's name was Jesus, and he could walk on water when it came to service.
Sandra Cisneros
There actually is a sign for the Pritzker Park, or Pritzger if you use the same signage firm that did Cisneros's name.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OvonoKii_ds/SkmGvK0AVsI/AAAAAAAAEE0/L6vB1MBrhH...