The Kids love “Dos Gringos”

I visited the Hartsbrook School in Hadley, Massachusetts where my grandson, Forest, attends. I was surprised to have some of his friends come up and tell me how much they enjoyed my book “Dos Gringos.” I am hearing that from grownups all around, but I was so pleased to hear this from 7^th graders.

What do they like about this story of my Norwegian immigrant father’s escapades in The Mexican Revolution? They said it was funny. Some giggled it was “racey.” For sure a Hollywood version would be more visual, but 7^th graders have an imagination, too.

The Hartsbrook School is a Waldorf School and the education is broad, deep, and energizing to the students. Forest’s brother and sister have both graduated from there and are truly world citizens. i am impressed. I was visiting when Forest’s 7th grade performed “Mary Poppins” and it was excellent. What was so obvious was the children’s enjoyment in doing this.

Anyway I am glad they read real books as well as dance and sign.

Buy YOUR copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

Getting the Microstory of the Mexican Revolution

 I have been asked to join a panel discussion on October 30 at The El Paso Central Library, part of their celebration of the Mexican Revolution centenary. The host of the discussion will be David Dorado Romo and that is what this post is about. He is a very interesting man, author of “Ringside Seat to a Revolution: An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juarez, 1893-1923.”

The fascinating thing to me is Romo’s approach to uncover the underside of the Revolution, the characters who made a difference, but seldom make it into the history books. That is what I like to do and what my book, “Dos Gringos” does in its own way. And Rome focuses on El Paso, my hometown, and its critical role in the happenings in Mexico. I very much look forward to the meeting and the panel discussion.

 For more on the book and the author see http://www.sergiotroncoso.com/essays/eptimes/05-1113/index.htm and a youtube NPR interview  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGm61qvnAI0

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

Mexican Revolution Centenary

The story of “Dos Gringos” takes place in August, 1916 in the midst of The Mexican Revolution. The Revolution began on November 20, 1910 and El Paso and Ciudad Juarez were strategic locations in that civil war which lasted a decade into the 1920s.  November 20, 2010 is the official centennial date.  Many affairs will take place in El Paso about then.  The El Paso Public Library will sponsor a weeklong event the last month of October and I have been invited to attend, to discuss “Dos Gringos” and sign books, etc. Other events are scheduled about that time and I am working on a schedule.

I remember my Norwegian grandmother telling me of a cannonball landing in her El Paso front yard, presumably from one of Pancho Villa’s attacks on Juarez—or even El Paso. Many of the places in El Paso now in the history books were common to me as a teen, but now I know why. It has been quite an education writing this book supporting my father’s tale and I am happy to meet old friends and make new ones. I am looking forward to the October visits to my old home town.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

El Paso~Change and No Change.

Writing “Dos Gringos” was a satisfying experience. Although most of story came from my father’s tale of his escapades in The Mexican Revolution, being there in that border city, El Paso, my home town, after fifty-two years of world travel, was a rebirth in a way for me. In many ways, nothing had changed in that town, except now it seems English is a second language.. It is still a city far away from others. It occupies the pass which the Rio Grande River carves its way south from its mountain source in northern New Mexico, then south separating Texas and Mexico all the way to The Gulf of Mexico.  Growing up there, I sort of thought myself as a mixture, by parents Norwegian and German and half my friends Mexicans.

I am rediscovering its history: from the Indians, the Spanish beginning in 1598, the following  conquistadors, then Texas in 1836 and the wild life of the frontier, its roll in the Mexican Revolution. I grew up on the desert during World War Two and the occupation with the huge military presence and the rockets at White Sands Proving Grounds on the horizon north of my house. Today the drug related crime in Juarez worries the Americans.

Is there anything for me after “Dos Gringos?” I don’t know, but the place is filled with stories.

“Dos Gringos” coming soon!