Amá, Your Story Is Mine : : Walking Out of the Shadows of Abuse / / Ercenia "Alice" Cedeño; ed. by Susan Dixon.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Cedeño, Ercenia "Alice",
• HerausgeberIn: Dixon, Susan,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©2007
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (192 p.)

In the preface to her memoir, Ercenia "Alice" Cedeño recalls the secrecy and turmoil that marked her youth: "I spent most of my growing years mad at my mother and wanting her to change to fit in with the rest of the world," she writes. "When my sisters and I wanted her to visit our friends' mothers, she would say, 'Why do people need to know other peoples' lives?' Looking back, I wonder if she was really saying, 'I don't want them to know our business.' There was so much to hide." Now bringing those hidden memories to light, Amá, Your Story Is Mine traces the hardship, violence, deceit, and defiance that shaped the identity of two generations of women in Alice's family. Born in the mountains of northern Mexico, Alice's mother married at age 14 into a family rife with passion that often turned to anger. After losing several infant children to disease, the young couple crossed into the United States seeking a better life. Unfolding in a series of powerful vignettes, Amá, Your Story Is Mine describes in captivating detail a daring matriarch who found herself having to protect her children from their own father while facing the challenges of cultural discrimination. By turns wry and tender, Alice's recollections offer a rare memoir that fully encompasses the Latina experience in the United States.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Part One -- Amá -- Escape to a New Life -- La Migra -- Joe Recalls -- Mexicali -- Queena -- Joe and the Pool Hall -- The Cellar -- Vultures -- Apá -- Wailing Cry -- Domingo -- Mujeres -- Part Two -- Bleach -- Abuelita -- Ragtag Band -- Crossing the Threshold -- A Neighbor’s Scheme -- School -- Fresno -- Grapes -- Hombres -- Summer Ends -- Part Three -- The Clean Start -- Monster Machines -- Menstrual Wars -- Graduations -- The Curse -- My Knight in Shining Armor -- The Reunion -- Marriage and Children -- The Last Frontier -- Beauty School -- Fly Free -- The Cycle