ALOUD with Urrealism

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Yesterday it was my privilege to head over to the Los Angeles Central Public Library to listen to Luis Urrea speak about his new novel, Queen of America. I first met Luis several years ago when I went to interview him at a signing at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena. The signing went long; I never got my interview, but we had a wonderful chat and have remained steadfast acquaintances on Twitter. I’ve since tried to fit my schedule to one of his Los Angeles appearances, but it seemed we were always missing each other so I was thrilled to be able to attend the event last night.

I found out about the event via Luis on his Twitter account @Urrealism and hurriedly registered for the event. It was the first I’d heard about the programs and events put on by ALOUD-LA at the Central Library. I wish I had known about it sooner, but I’ll be at future events.

The event was great. First of all, the Los Angeles Central Library is absolutely gorgeous. I love the building and we’re old friends. I think I’ve walked those stacks thousands of times. I’ve read by the fountains, the roses, used the computer room, wandered up and down escalators more times than I can count. The architecture is just fabulous. One of these days I need to spend the day there just photographing all the different elements.

Luis Urrea was standing at the podium when I walked in a few minutes late. I grabbed a seat just in time to see him go from a seemingly unassuming, quiet author to the King of the Rancho. His reading from memory of Don Tomas Urrea was amazing. I could see the dancing horse, the lasso, and the party where Tomas rode into in his kingly style. What a performance!

Later, he sat in conversation with Carolyn Kellogg of the L.A. Times to discuss the book, his writing process and more. It was quite the entertaining hour and reminded me of just why I like this author so much. He’s not only a brilliant writer, he’s just a hell of a nice and very real guy. Approachable. Familiar. Most of all, fun. He’s damned entertaining and I can’t wait to dig into Queen of America.

Afterwards, I waited for a line of people to get their books signed and spent a little time chatting to Luis and his lovely wife Cindy. Beautiful venue, great reading, lovely people. All in all, a wonderful night in literary Los Angeles.

Baby, Baby, I’m Fallin’ in Love (With a Kindle)

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I always said I wouldn’t fall for an e-reader. They were the evil newcomers stomping all over my precious books.

I love hardcover books. There is something almost sensual about hearing that slight crack in the spine of a newly purchased treasure. The smell of ink and paper, the beauty of a dust cover, a signature from someone I admire, the weight and textures of the pages all are seductive things to a book lover like me. So I was resistant.

When it looked like e-books were here to stay and were dominating the landscape, I resisted. “No way,” I said. “Those things are an aberration.” The e-book readers became a threat to my beloved books and I shielded them protectively by ignoring the Nook and Kindle. I bought more hardcovers and happily lived in bliss surrounded by my books.

Then I got a smartphone with a Kindle app and my world tilted, shifted and changed on one train ride. I was in Salt Lake City riding the Trax to downtown and found myself swept away, lost in a book as usual only I wasn’t lugging some big book whose dustcover I was worried about damaging in my bag. It was freeing.

And so it began. Guilty downloads to the Kindle app and justifying it by saying it wasn’t an actual Kindle. Yeah, I know. Silly, right?

Then someone gave me a Kindle as a gift and I was lost. Seriously lost. I’ll never give up my hardcover books; never ever but now I can travel; hop on a plane without lugging that extra weight in my carry-on, ride trains and buses, go to meetings without having a book in my bag. I have a whole library at my fingertips in a slim little thing that slips right into my purse. I’m an addict.

The new Kindle Fire was released today and I can see the possibilities. All those cooking magazines that pile up in boxes in my kitchen now in an electronic format, easily accessible on my counter top as I try the recipes that I always mean to, but seldom do because I’d have to dig out the magazine.

I think publishers should make bundles. Buy the hardcover and for a few bucks more get the Kindle, Ipad or Nook edition. I know book lovers like me would gobble that up. I recently bought a hardcover of Sheri S. Tepper’s The Water’s Rising and bought the Kindle edition as well. I paid full price for both and often buy doubles. I WANT the hardcover for my shelves, for reading at home and that tactile thing that makes me happy but I want the electronic version for traveling, riding around town, the gym, or everywhere I don’t want to take my hardcover.

Thoughts?

Walk-n-Roll for Spina Bifida

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I’m participating in this blog carnival to support the tireless advocate for Spina Bifida, Laurita Tellado. October is Spina Bifida Awareness month, so read on and learn.

October is an eerie month, filled with monsters, mummies, and the macabre. But while the occasional witch or skeleton might freak you out, one must concede that there are indeed more frightening things– like finding out your child will be born with spina bifida.

And yet, each day in the U.S., an average of eight families welcome a child with spina bifida into the world. Annually, an estimated 1,500 infants are born with spina bifida each year in the U.S.

I was born with spina bifida nearly two and a half decades ago. The diagnosis came as a total shock to my family, along with an entire set of secondary complications. I was also born with hydrocephalus, or “water on the brain.” During the first ten years of my life, it seemed I was in the hospital every other week with a bladder infection or shunt malfunction. I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t really scary at times.

But then, at age ten, I discovered a fantastic way to defeat my worst fears– knowledge. I vowed I would educate myself and read up on the condition that, up until that point, seemed to be taking over my life. Much like a child who imagines a ghost is in his closet, grabs a flashlight and realizes it’s only an old coat, I had come to the realization that, when you take the time to learn about something, no matter how terrifying it may seem at first, everything is less scary in the light of knowledge.

According to the Spina Bifida Association of America, “spina bifida remains the most commonly occurring birth defect in this country.” Just how common is it overall? PubMed Health, the Web site of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, reported in March of this year: “Myelomeningocele [the most severe form of spina bifida] may affect as many as 1 out of every 800 infants.”

As a 21-year member of the Spina Bifida Association of Central Florida, I’m doing my part to shed light on this condition by raising money for the Walk-N-Roll for Spina Bifida. When my parents and I moved from Puerto Rico to Orlando, Florida in search of better educational and healthcare opportunities for me in 1990, we found a support system away from our family and homeland in joining the SBACFL. My personal search for a public spokesperson for the spina bifida cause, as well as my work as a current member of the SBACFL board of directors, have helped me find my true purpose– galvanizing as many people as possible to support the spina bifida community.

So, in the spirit of shedding light on a little-known condition, and in honor of October, which is Spina Bifida Awareness Month, here are some statistics about spina bifida that might spook you a bit:

• Spina bifida is more common than muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, and cystic fibrosis combined.

• Latinos have the highest incidence of spina bifida out of all the ethnic groups.

• Ireland is the country with the highest incidence of spina bifida in the world.

• About 50 percent of babies with spina bifida areselectively aborted after being diagnosed with spina bifida.

• Doctors recommend that every woman of childbearing age consume 400 micrograms of folic acid daily to help prevent neural tube defects like spina bifida up to 70 percent of the time. In spite of this, there are currently an estimated 166,000people in the U.S. living with spina bifida– up from just 76,000 just last year.

• About 90 percent of people with spina bifida are also born with hydrocephalus. Many need a shunt inserted near the brain to drain the excess cerebrospinal fluid– and many requiremultiple shunt replacements during their lives.

• Other very common secondary conditions include bladder and bowel incontinence, as well as frequent urinary tract infections.

• After the onset of puberty, young people with spina bifida are more prone to clinical depression than most people. Researchers think this may be due in part to social isolation.

Being able to share this information with all of you today is without a doubt the most empowering and inspiring aspect of my life. I’d love nothing more than to give you that very sense of empowerment. Please publish this post on your own Web site(s), and feel free to add your own personal intro that will make it relevant to your blog followers. As many people as I’ve managed to rally in support of this cause, you have an advantage that I don’t–your audience. So, please share this information with everyone you come into contact with.

Below is a video that explains just why the Spina Bifida Association of Central Florida means so much to me, and why I’m participating in the Walk-N-Roll.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIpzk_1ICX4]

I will be raising money online for Team Holdin’ Out for a Hero until October 29th, when we have our Walk-N-Roll event. Donations can be as small as $5 or as large as $50,000. (Yes, I do like the $50,000 better!) Every cent counts! Every cent of every dollar will go towards supporting families affected by spina bifida in 22 counties in and around the Central Florida region and supporting educational and awareness efforts.

Yes, to the new parent, or even to the already-grown individual, spina bifida can seem like a scary thing to deal with. But there’s a power in numbers and a strength in awareness– a strength that gives us the courage to open the closet, shine the light in the ghost’s face, and reduce it to nothing but an old coat.

Thank you for helping me conquer my biggest fear– ignorance of spina bifida.

~ Laurita Tellado, HoldinOutforaHero.org

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Social Good & Your Phone (Sponsored post)

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The economy is horrid, jobs few and far between, and yet every day I see that people just aren’t out for themselves, they are doing social good in some way.  Whether it be a greener planet, helping someone out with a resume or lead, or Tweeting for donations to a cause, people care and are working hard for good causes.

Our phones are helping. Mobile has become an increasingly strong way to solve the world’s problems.  According to CITA, as of June 2011, there were 327.6 million mobile subscriptions in the United States alone.  That’s a lot of phones! I’m not sure how many are smart phones, but I’d say an awful lot.

Everywhere I go, I see people on their smartphones.  Buses, trains, in the park and at the grocery store mobile apps are in play.  For social good, there are a ton of apps.  There are even books about doing social good via your mobile phone.  In fact, an upcoming book tour hopes to raise $30,000 for non-profits.

Want to do a little good in the world?  Check your app store.  There are more and more apps each day for doing socially responsible and good things.  Here’s a quick list of ten handy social good apps.

Social influencers should absolutely being doing good.  For one thing, people are watching, listening on Twitter and Facebook as well as blogs and around the web.  By influencers doing good, others follow.  Nothing like paying it forward…

For me here at AmoXcalli, my passion is books, literacy, and libraries.  Currently, RIF (Reading is Fundamental) is one of my favorite charities.  As far as I know, they don’t have a mobile app yet for donations that I know of, but I hope they get one soon.

*This is a LATISM sponsored campaign.  Thoughts and opinions are my own.

La Casa Azul Bookstore

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About seven years ago at Book Expo America in New York, I met a tiny dynamo named Aurora Anaya-Cerda.  I remember that meeting vividly because we talked about our mutual love of books and Latino literature, the Latino Book Awards ceremony we’d just come from and her determination to build a bookstore serving an underserved community.  She stayed in my head long after my plane had touched ground at LAX.

We’ve kept in touch.  Not like friends do, but occasionally, I’d get newsletters, news of her activities.  When she couldn’t open the brick and mortar store she’d wanted, she found another way.  She started selling books online and literally handselling them via her newsletters.  I kept hearing about her.  She found ways to be relevant, connected and always, she championed her bookstore.  I admired that.

I found her on Twitter and follow her.  I’ve been watching her stream.  She’s as determined as ever to open that store in East Harlem and this time, she’s got a darned good chance of doing it.  She’s managed to raise a little over $33,000 of the $40,000 needed to open her store and I want to help.  I can’t help with the extra money she needs, but I can ask everyone that reads this blog to donate a few dollars and pass on to everyone they know.  This community of book lovers can do it.  We NEED our bookstores.  We need them.  Our kids need them.

So donate a dollar or five or ten.  If you have a hundred to spare, donate that.  Let’s help Aurora get her store.  She is the most fiesty champion of the written word, you’ll ever meet and if you love books, support Aurora and her dream of a bookstore. There are only five days left to raise the money and you can donate here.

About Aurora:

Aurora Anaya-Cerda is the owner of La Casa Azul Bookstore, an online bookstore that promotes Latino literature. Since the launch of the virtual bookstore, Aurora has established the Barrio Book Club, in collaboration with El Museo del Barrio in New York City. August 2011 marked the 3^rd anniversary of the Barrio Book Club, a gathering place for lovers of Latino literature. La Casa Azul Bookstore also travels with local writers and hosts reading and book talks at cultural venues in New York.