“if not for you”…
As
many of you know, aaduna has a
penchant for providing viable platforms for a diverse range of ethnicities,
cultures, racial, class, and gender groups.
(While the reader may not know just ’cause we don’t share, the political
landscape is also covered without pre- judgment one way or the other.) I
suspect any unbiased review of the thrice-yearly journal and this blog will
bear witness to a simple fact. Each year
since 2011, aaduna has presented a
broad and embracing range of voices, themes, ideas, and opinions. And while I remain tempted to share
unsolicited testimonials, I rather keep the emphasis on contributors and our
reading audience and not any independent or self-perceived standard of importance
or greatness from us.
Truth
be told, in quiet and unsolicited ways, external organizations see our value to
the literary tradition and our support for creative people. Unexpectedly, those
entities every so often present an opportunity for us to broaden our reach, or to
provide enhanced support to or for contributing artists and others who we embrace
and work with. We thank and appreciate those
organizations and especially folks who bring their expertise and skill sets to effectively
leading those organizations. Now, let’s get down to business.
On
this Sunday, we feature a timely chat with a renaissance person whose personal background
and experiences traverse an intriguing landscape of interests and
activities. A guest aaduna contributing editor and beyond aaduna, a captivating person and enlightening presence in the world,
I am pleased to chat with Linda Gonzalez.
***
bill berry, jr.:
Ms. Gonzalez, I appreciate your willingness
to have a brief chat with me and I suspect our readership will find relevance
in your words thoughts and activities in English and Spanish! So here we go!
You mention that the publication date of your memoir is approaching or has
approached its publication date. I
wonder what prompted you to tackle this contemplative task, how long did it
take to complete, and now that it is finished, what are your thoughts about
what you put in print for the public to read?
I went to a writing retreat and the
teacher asked us what was the story that haunted us that we had to tell. I
immediately thought: My father’s two families. I did not think of it as
contemplative, but of course it led to all kinds of contemplative moments when
I had to make decisions on content and structure. I had to contemplate the data
I unearthed in doing research and talking to many family members against the
stories I had heard all my life.
It was a labor of love for 14 years. I
wrote the equivalent of 2-3 books as I changed structures, the underlying
thread, and the importance of main characters, also known as family members.
Since my family life and discoveries continued, the original ending is now
about two-thirds into the book.
Some writers say they know when they are
done, and I can’t say that totally. I keep thinking of important details or
scenes that could have been part of book. It feels very fluid even though it is
officially done. The book, like a child, feels a part of me and yet completely
different. I am very curious about how people will respond. There are so many
different threads of stories and so many issues universal to families that people
will have a personal response based on which of the many situations that life
gives us they have experienced. Are they parents? Did their parents die? What
were their family secrets? Was español a part of their lives and how do they
feel when they don’t know what it means in the book? Are they estranged from
siblings? What borders did their people cross and how does that limit and
expand their lives? Are they the ones who watch or the ones who take decisive
action?
It is, for me, in many ways, a love story
on many levels, but that is hidden between the lines and that may be only how I
see it.
bb:
You have piqued my curiosity and you
mentioned your father’s two families.
Without giving away any of the poignant tales or themes in the memoir,
can you describe the two families and how they intersect or not, and how they
serve as the essential catalyst for the work?
I say in the book and it is true-
childhood memories – both those we remember and those only our bodies and
hearts remember have profound impact on us. Each set of my father’s 3 children,
one in México and the other in Los Angeles made decisions about our worth and
each other without having the chance to share stories or ask questions. We
intersected mostly through my Mexican brother who came to the US and lived here
for 35 years. He was the source of information across borders for many years
until I decided to stop the pattern of avoidance and dig into our father’s
secrets despite the multiple layers of disappointment I had to excavate to get
to what was possible between us all.
I had to live with understanding I would
not be alive if my father had not abandoned his first family. I also had to
understand both my parents’ journeys to the US and their choices without ever
really asking them directly. That is the creative part of creative non-fiction
– imagining and looking at the clues until they form a picture that you
describe on paper.
I am deeply sad that this brother, Miguel,
who joined me in the process of changing our family narrative, passed away in
December before he could read the memoir, but his spirit is at peace.
bb:
I am sure that you had rigorous and
pertinent path of self-discovery and self-reflection. Now that the memoir is finished and the book
available, where are you taking your creative writing skills and how are those
skills intersecting with the other professional interests and activities in
your life especially your work as a life coach?
LG:
I, in the spirit of Jane Austen, have had
many books cooking on the backburner over the years. On the creative writing
side I have a book of essays from those I have written over the years,
including 26 I wrote in 2017 as part of the #52essays 2017 challenge. I also
have a set of essays for another book entitled Mothering as Legacy where I explore what I have left my children as
an inheritance, gifts that endure beyond my lifetime to thrive in a world full
of inequities.
On the coaching side, I have two books in
progress, both drawing from my own life lessons and that of the many people of
color I have coached. One is called Breaking
your Own Glass Ceiling. It is the antithesis of most motivational, ‘one
size fits all’ books, a collection of multicultural wisdom from my path to
success that explicitly addresses the impact of societal inequities. My other
book is Acting your Age: It’s Never too
Late to Thrive, where I posit there are eight key elements to our full being
and that we can be at different ages in all. Knowing where our blocks are
allows us to ‘grow up’ by healing old wounds and living our fullest.
I also continue to translate my writing to
live performances. All the world may not love a stage, but I do!
bb:
You are prolific, determined, gracious,
and giving. Your gifts are welcome and through
your generosity of spirit, you inherently increase our overall knowledge while
enabling us to ponder our personal and unique characteristics.
Now, we have briefly talked about the role
of another language in writing, especially when the primary language used is
English. How do you see another language
(most notably Spanish) being incorporated in an English written piece either
sporadically or as major passages of dialogue or scene staging throughout a
work….Why, and what is the thematic significance of using a second language?
And has this usage of Spanish become a writer’s cliché that ultimately lacks authenticity
or am I missing the bigger picture?
LG:
Given
how very few writers in the grand scheme of writers overall integrate Spanish,
or other non-European languages, it is nowhere near being a cliché (an accepted
“other” language word!). I think of my use of Spanish the way any person who
grew up in a household where non-standard white English was spoken thinks of
their language patterns. It was my first language but was quickly colonized by
standard white English in schools, my neighborhoods, TV, and movies. In my
home, we spoke what is now called Spanglish. My parents mostly spoke Spanish to
their immigrant guests and family. We kids spoke mostly English and shunned
Spanish until older and wiser. Spanish is not thematic, it is authentic to my
lived life and how I think, speak, sing, and write daily.
Just
as you and I use critique, déjà vu, and genre without batting an eye, I flow
entre inglés y español. My writing expresses a reality that resonates with
folks who rarely see their lives and ‘dialect’ on the page. Most of the
pushback is from a discomfort of being excluded and not knowing. Should I
therefore exclude those, who like me, move fluidly between two languages? We
all read authors who use words, even if all in English, we don’t always
understand. We either deduce what they mean from context or we look them up or
we just accept we can’t know everything. Chinua Achebe said, "Language is
a weapon and we use it, and there's no point in fighting it." He, like
many African writers, incorporates Igbo words, rhythms, language, and concepts
to give us a deeper experience of his particular culture and to resist the
‘rightness’ of standard English. So too do I.
bb:
I appreciate your straightforward and
appropriately nuanced sense of language in literature. The simplicity of what you say is all too
often made complex by mono-lingual folks. But, that is another discussion and
is the province of the “base” to figure things out when reading diverse
literary works.
Well, our chat is nearing its end, and I
want to thank you for taking the time to share.
So, in closing, tell us what you do for fun and to relax. Also, feel free to impart any additional
wisdom or thoughts that you want us to ponder during 2018. Stay blessed and safe Ms. Gonzalez.
LG:
I live in a cottage surrounded by
magnificent trees and much natural beauty. This home is my refuge from the
vagaries of a world full of so much heartache. I don’t think of fun and
relaxation as goals, rather they arise when I am fulfilling my purpose, living
well and simply, and nurturing compassion and joy. This includes being an avid
tennis player, devoted yogi, and soto zen Buddhist practitioner. I am a big fan
of the Golden State Warriors for their unselfish play and concern for social
justice.
****
 |
| Linda González (photo provided) |
Linda González, a
writer and life coach who believes in the power of stories to inspire and heal,
is the author of The Cost of Our Lives,
a family memoir. She has published numerous essays in literary journals and anthologies
and is a storyteller in the San Francisco Bay Area. Linda received a MFA in
Creative Writing from Goddard College, a MSW from USC and a BA in English from
Stanford University. You can read more of her writing at www.lindagonzalez.net and learn about
her equity-based coaching, assisting writers and other
full-hearted people to discover and reach their precious goals. Ms. González
was born in Los Angeles, and has called the San Francisco Bay Area her home for
30+ years. Linda currently lives and
plays tennis in Marin County. And she is still raising and being raised by her
beloved millennial twins.
_____________________________
aaduna - an online adventure with words and images - a globally read, multi-cultural, and diverse online literary and visual arts journal established in 2010. Visit us at www.aaduna.org where we put measurable actions to our words.
Help us build community! Share with your friends, "like" our Aaduna-Inc facebook page and follow us on twitter @ aadunaspeaks !
aaduna-Inc Visit regularly for updates !
Comments
Post a Comment
Please share your comments, thoughts, feedback, or ask questions - thank you!