6/19/2010
And today: Nayeli's Cherished Postcard!If you've read Into the Beautiful North, you recognize this postcard as Nayeli's cherished talisman from her father. Kankakee? A turkey? Not hard to understand why this would seem incredibly exotic to a young girl in tropical Mexico!
If you come to one of my readings on this tour, I will give you one of these postcards (or one of the Tres Camarones cards) already stamped and waiting for you to address to someone you love. Can you send them on a life quest? Or inspire a curiousity about someplace (someone? some thing?) unknown? Or maybe you need to inspire yourself ...
And remember, if you can't make a reading, email me your address and I'll mail you a postcard when I get home.
When was the last time you got a postcard in the mail? When was the last time you mailed one?
6/18/2010
In the lovely town of Tres Camarones, the townspeople have a quaint tradition of saying "hello" by saying "goodbye!" In Tres Camarones, you don't say Hola, instead the townspeople greet each other with cries of "Adios!" This is a true tradition in my father's hometown of Rosario, Sinaloa that I've always loved. So I knew I had to use it in my novel, Into the Beautiful North. And as part of The Postcard Ministry, we decided to showcase this little oddity. This is the second postcard in the series. At my readings, we're passing out stamped postcards and hoping you'll send one to a loved one with your own message (odd or not). If you can't make a reading (check the schedule on my events page), email me your address and I'll mail you one when I get home. When was the last time you got a postcard in the mail?P.S. I took these photos when I was a kid visiting Rosario. This is the view out either side of my bedroom window when I stayed at my uncle's house there.
6/17/2010
We're out in Massachusetts, Day Three of Book Tour 2010 and I wanted to talk about The Postcard Ministry.
Those of you who've read Into the Beautiful North know about the tiny town of Tres Camarones (Three Shrimp) in Sinaloa. What you might not know is I based it on my dad's hometown of Rosario, Sinaloa. And I've got pictures!
Much of the motivation for Nayeli to take her epic journey is because of her sacred object: a postcard from her father. Thinking about that postcard, I realized that we don't get mail anymore. We get bills. And catalogues. And fliers. But when was the last time you got a postcard? Or mailed one?
So for those who come to see me on this tour, we're bringing postcards, already stamped and ready to mail. My hope is you will mail it to a loved one (yourself?) with your own words of wisdom, creating your own talisman. Or, you can address it to yourself and leave it with me and I'll mail it from someplace else on the road.
For those of you who can't come see me, send me an email and we'll send you one when we get home.
And for all to enjoy, I'm going to put up the postcards here, one a day, so you can see what they look like.
And then, I'm going to put up the pictures we're using in our little slide show so you can see the real people and places that inspired this story.
Cinderella and I are having a great time out here. Everyone has been very enthusiastic and supportive. Hope to see you out on the road!
X,
L
P.S. This is a picture I took of fishing boats in Rosario around 1980. Cindy made up the postcards
6/07/2010
I think I forgot to tell you this: Into the Beautiful North is now an iphone app!It's summertime and doesn't a road trip sound like the perfect plan? Into The Beautiful North releases in paperback next week. But you can ride along with Nayeli and Tacho now on your iphone.
Even better, you can practice your Spanish by trying Rumbo al Hermosa Norte, the Spanish version in an iphone app.
And for those of you who'd like to understand more about immigration and crossing the border, The Devil's Highway is also available for your iphone.
Luis Urrea: I'm nothing if not full service!
6/05/2010
As long as we're in the midst of graduation season, I thought you'd enjoy pictures of my high school graduation, recently unearthed in a desk purge.
This is me with Prudence, graduating from Clairemont High School, Class of '73.
Have no idea who the woman is in the background. She's my favorite part of this picture!
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]