by Claudia W

Back in California for the holidays, the questions came up everywhere: What will happen? What do we (every different ‘we’) do? Round-ups, detentions, deportations…who, how? Then what?

De vuelta en California para las vacaciones, las preguntas surgían por todos lados: ¿Qué pasará? ¿Que hacemos (cada ‘nosotros’ diferente)? Redadas, detenciones, deportaciones… ¿quién, cómo? ¿Y después? (leer en espanol)

Then what? What does this mean for…everything? followed by every variation of «I don’t know.» «We don’t know. Inform. Educate.» «Do the best we can.»»Prepare. Help prepare others.«

I’m reminded of Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli’s Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions. Luiselli translated for undocumented Spanish-speaking children coming into the US, recording their responses on the intake interview form, listening to their stories, and reflecting on the circumstances and systems they’re caught in. “But how does it end?” her daughter asks, when she hears of a particular child’s tortured journey. “I don’t know,” is all Luiselli can answer. «Listen. Learn.»

Worried and concerned, conversations go on. «What do they go through to get to the US? Then what?» «Where do they come from, where are they going, why, how?» «What happens along the way?«

As 2025 opens, with your help, the Albergue is prepared — and preparing.

Prepared and preparing to be a rest stop along the way – whatever direction people may be heading. Preparing to offer food, shelter, and safety to the most vulnerable among us, during a time of crisis and insecurity in their lives. Preparing to play with the kids and practice English with parents eager to try.
Preparing to meet our fellow travelers with compassion, dignity, and respect.

And if you are interested in learning more about the journey – about the who and how and why, even without knowing how it ends – below you’ll find some inspiring books in English (some also available in Spanish) by Latino/a writers based on their experiences, to add to your reading list for 2025.

Please consider donating to the Shelter in 2025 either in dollars at gofundme or in pesos.
All the best for a New Year of justice, peace, compassion and understanding.

¿Y ahora qué? Prepárese.

por Claudia W

De vuelta en California para las vacaciones, las preguntas surgían por todos lados: ¿Qué pasará? Que hacemos (cada ‘nosotros’ diferente)? Redadas, detenciones, deportaciones… ¿Quién, cómo? ¿Y después?

¿Y despues? ¿Qué? ¿Qué significa esto para… todo? seguido de todas las variantes de «No lo sé». «No lo sabemos». Informen. Educar». «Hacer lo mejor que podamos.» »Prepararse. Ayudar a preparar a otros».

Me recuerda a la obra de la escritora mexicana Valeria Luiselli Dime cómo acaba: un ensayo en 40 preguntas. Luiselli trabajó como traductora para los niños indocumentados que llegaban a Estados Unidos, registrando sus respuestas en el formulario de entrevista de admisión, escuchando sus historias y reflexionando sobre las circunstancias y los sistemas en los que estaban atrapados. «Pero, ¿cómo termina?», pregunta su hija cuando se entera del tortuoso viaje de un niño en particular. “No lo sé», es lo único que puede responder Luiselli. «Escucha. Aprenda.»

Inquietos y preocupados, las conversaciones continúan. ¿Qué tienen que hacer para llegar a Estados Unidos? ¿Y después? ¿Por qué lo hacen? ¿De dónde vienen, a dónde van, por qué, cómo? ¿Qué ocurre por el camino?

Mientras se abre el 2025, con tu ayuda, el Albergue ya está preparado — y se esta preparando.

Preparándonos para ser un alto en el camino, sea cual sea la dirección que tomen las personas. Preparándonos para ofrecer comida, refugio y seguridad a los más vulnerables de entre nosotros, en un momento de crisis e inseguridad en sus vidas. Prepararnos para jugar con los niños y practicar inglés con padres deseosos de intentarlo. Prepararnos para recibir a nuestros compañeros de viaje con compasión, dignidad y respeto.

Y si te interesa saber más sobre el viaje – sobre el quién y el cómo y el por qué, incluso sin saber cómo acaba – a continuación encontrarás algunos libros inspiradores en inglés (algunos también disponibles en español) de escritores latinos basados en sus experiencias, para añadir a tu lista de lecturas para 2025.

Por favor considere donar al Albergue en 2025.
Todo lo mejo para un Año Nuevo de justicia, paz y comprensión.

Notable books in English by Latino/a writers giving voice to the migrant experience ///Libros destacados en ingles de escritores latinos que dan voz a la experiencia de la emigración. (Algunos disponibles en español.)

Solito (edición en español). Javier Zamora. 2023.

A young poet tells the inspiring story of his migration from El Salvador to the United States at the age of nine. A memoir as gripping as it is moving, Solito provides an immediate and intimate account not only of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also of the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. Solito is Javier Zamora’s story, but it’s also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home.
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Vulture, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews

The Undocumented Americans. Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. 2021

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation.NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOOK RIOT, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AND TIME

Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America. Una vez fui tu (edición en español) Maria Hinojosa. 2020.

The Emmy Award–winning journalist and anchor of NPR’s Latino USA tells the story of immigration in America through her family’s experiences and decades of reporting, in this memoir that is “quite simply beautiful, written in Maria Hinojosa’s honest, passionate voice” In Once I Was You, Maria shares her intimate experience growing up Mexican American on the South Side of Chicago.

The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border. La línea se convierte en río. Una crónica de la frontera (edición en español) Fracisco Cantú. 2018.

NAMED A TOP 10 BOOK OF 2018 BY NPR and THE WASHINGTON POST; FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE NONFICTION AWARD. The son of a park ranger, Francisco Cantú grew up in the southwest. When he joined the Border Patrol, he became witness to the stark realities of the desert, where the obligations of his job weighed heavy against his sense of humanity.  

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. Querida América: Notas de un ciudadano indocumentado (edición en español). Jose Antonio Vargas. 2019.

Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, called “the most famous undocumented immigrant in America,” tackles one of the defining issues of our time.“This is not a book about the politics of immigration. This book––at its core––is not about immigration at all. This book is about homelessness, not in a traditional sense, but in the unsettled, unmoored psychological state that undocumented immigrants like myself find ourselves in. This book is about lying and being forced to lie to get by; about passing as an American and as a contributing citizen; about families, keeping them together, and having to make new ones when you can’t. This book is about constantly hiding from the government and, in the process, hiding from ourselves. This book is about what it means to not have a home. After 25 years of living illegally in a country that does not consider me one of its own, this book is the closest thing I have to freedom.”—Jose Antonio Vargas, from Dear America

Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions. Valeria Luiselli. April 2017

Structured around the forty questions Luiselli translates and asks undocumented Latin American children facing deportation, Tell Me How It Ends highlights the contradiction between the idea of America as a fiction for immigrants and the reality of racism and fear—both here and back home.
Finalist for the Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction, Winner of an American Book Award, Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, Listed in The Guardian’s “100 Best Books of the 21st Century”, Awarded a 2019 MacArthur Fellowship

The Distance Between Us: A Memoir. La distancia entre nosotros (edición en español). Reyna Grande. 2013.

In this inspirational and unflinchingly honest memoir, acclaimed author Reyna Grande describes her childhood torn between the United States and Mexico, and shines a light on the experiences, fears, and hopes of those who choose to make the harrowing journey across the border. As her parents make the dangerous trek across the Mexican border to “El Otro Lado” (The Other Side) in pursuit of the American dream, Reyna and her siblings are forced into the already overburdened household of their stern grandmother. When their mother at last returns, Reyna prepares for her own journey to “El Otro Lado” to live with the man who has haunted her imagination for years, her long-absent father.

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