I'd like to thank the Poetry Center for inviting
me to introduce Rigoberto.
It's such an honor to introduce such a fabulous writer.
Like many writers I admire, Rigoberto González is a fierce
activist, advocate, unafraid to challenge the status quo
of the literary landscape.
He was one of the first Chicano writers
to call for a literary boycott of Arizona
after the state's passage of the infamous Senate Bill 1070.
As a result, his poetry and prose
resounds with humanity, bravery, humor--
my favorite mix.
I first encountered Rigoberto's work when I read his short
story, "Día de las Madres" in "Latinos in Lotusland,"
an anthology of contemporary Southern California literature.
His story resonates with me not only
because I am also a Chicanx Angelina,
but also because two of the protagonists--
Heriberto and Catarino are openly and joyously gay.
The story is narrated by Helio, who
along with his brother Heriberto and Heriberto's ex-lover,
Catarino, drive to Griffith Park to scatter the ashes of Helio
and Heriberto's mother into the LA River.
They have to do this by sunset, their mother's favorite time
of day when stars pinprick through the city smog.
The playful and humorous exchanges
between Heriberto and Catarino reminded me
of my late brother's very real and loving relationship
with his then-boyfriend.
Two years after reading this story,
my family and I interred my brother's ashes
on a hill overlooking a smog-covered downtown LA.
These strong complex Latino gay heroes
were, unfortunately, an uncommon literary experience for me
and probably for other heteronormative writers
and readers.
However, thanks to writers like Rigoberto,
these nuanced stories and poems about gay Latinx communities
are becoming more ubiquitous.
Rigoberto's poetry and prose exudes love, frustration,
and pride for a community that has been under siege
since this country began, but that has fiercely lovingly
remained connected in a diaspora, whether in East LA,
New York City, or South Tucson.
That's what Rigoberto does.
Like any compassionate yet uncompromising writer,
he connects his readers to his characters, to his poems,
and to themselves.
Through his writing, Rigoberto reminds me
that there are always pinpricks of indistinguishable love
that reaches beyond the smog of hate and loneliness.
Ladies and gentlemen, Rigoberto González.
[APPLAUSE]