WEBVTT

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I'd like to thank the
Poetry Center for inviting

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me to introduce Rigoberto.

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It's such an honor to introduce
such a fabulous writer.

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Like many writers I admire,
Rigoberto González is a fierce

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activist, advocate, unafraid
to challenge the status quo

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of the literary landscape.

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He was one of the
first Chicano writers

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to call for a literary
boycott of Arizona

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after the state's passage of
the infamous Senate Bill 1070.

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As a result, his
poetry and prose

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resounds with humanity,
bravery, humor--

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my favorite mix.

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I first encountered Rigoberto's
work when I read his short

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story, "Día de las Madres"
in "Latinos in Lotusland,"

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an anthology of contemporary
Southern California literature.

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His story resonates
with me not only

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because I am also
a Chicanx Angelina,

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but also because two
of the protagonists--

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Heriberto and Catarino are
openly and joyously gay.

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The story is narrated
by Helio, who

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along with his brother Heriberto
and Heriberto's ex-lover,

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Catarino, drive to Griffith Park
to scatter the ashes of Helio

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and Heriberto's mother
into the LA River.

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They have to do this by sunset,
their mother's favorite time

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of day when stars pinprick
through the city smog.

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The playful and
humorous exchanges

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between Heriberto and
Catarino reminded me

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of my late brother's very
real and loving relationship

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with his then-boyfriend.

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Two years after
reading this story,

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my family and I interred
my brother's ashes

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on a hill overlooking a
smog-covered downtown LA.

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These strong complex
Latino gay heroes

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were, unfortunately, an uncommon
literary experience for me

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and probably for other
heteronormative writers

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and readers.

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However, thanks to
writers like Rigoberto,

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these nuanced stories and poems
about gay Latinx communities

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are becoming more ubiquitous.

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Rigoberto's poetry and prose
exudes love, frustration,

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and pride for a community
that has been under siege

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since this country began, but
that has fiercely lovingly

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remained connected in a
diaspora, whether in East LA,

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New York City, or South Tucson.

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That's what Rigoberto does.

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Like any compassionate
yet uncompromising writer,

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he connects his readers to
his characters, to his poems,

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and to themselves.

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Through his writing,
Rigoberto reminds me

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that there are always pinpricks
of indistinguishable love

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that reaches beyond the
smog of hate and loneliness.

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Ladies and gentlemen,
Rigoberto González.

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[APPLAUSE]

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