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Tell Your True Tale

Volume 2

Tell Your True Tale volume 2 cover

2 | Introduction

2 | Introduction 683 1024 LA County Library

The story of an almost-blind Czech child and that of an East L.A. boy fascinated with Albert Einstein. A girl running off to Mexico at 16 to marry a man she can’t understand. A gang member painting a mural to his barrio. A bracero coming to save the crops during World War II and a young man helping a friend cross the U.S.-Mexico border. A woman dying alone with her memories and another haunted by spirits.

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A Spiritual Misfortune

A Spiritual Misfortune

A Spiritual Misfortune 1024 683 LA County Library

Street vendors, food stands, and nightly dances were what they were raised on back in Mexico. Ivette lived in Northeast Los Angeles, and visited her sister occasionally.

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Bending Branches

Bending Branches

Bending Branches 912 386 LA County Library

The wooden mess hall was filled with the warm smells of coffee, eggs and bacon. Over 300 workers from Mexico filled up on breakfast for the long day of harvest.

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Brushes Were Forbidden

Brushes Were Forbidden

Brushes Were Forbidden 1024 683 LA County Library

Russian soldiers made it first. They came to Czechoslovakia in August 1968. I came in August, too. I was born in Czechoslovakia in August, 1970.

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In The Company of Memories

In The Company of Memories

In The Company of Memories 1024 683 LA County Library

A long crackled road runs through a small collection of houses, a village far from any city. The sky above this village is light gray during winter and the fields of green crops are now dry and faded yellow.

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Leaving Tijuana

Leaving Tijuana

Leaving Tijuana 840 560 LA County Library

It was around 6:30 a.m. when I heard a knock on my window. It was Ernesto. “They took Ulises.” He had a look that woke me instantly.

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Stepping Foot On The Moon

Stepping Foot On The Moon

Stepping Foot On The Moon 798 472 LA County Library

It was a cold dark morning and somewhere out in the Sonoran desert the Tres Estrellas de Oro bus I had boarded hours earlier in Tijuana came to a halt, the motor switched off. It was 2:30 AM.

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The Garage

The Garage

The Garage 1024 683 LA County Library

When I was in elementary school in East L.A. I would climb atop our rickety garage at night and stare up at the moon, the stars, and space. The roof was flat with a shallow slope.

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The Mural

The Mural

The Mural 840 560 LA County Library

In the summer of 1973, I was one of the kids who painted the mural in the Estrada Courts housing project in honor of the gang I belonged to, Varrio Nueva Estrada.

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