Puff Pieces by Adrian: Back from the Sadness

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Back from the Sadness

Back from the sadness. I’m back from a hiatus of sorts. Life happens to us all, and this past year, life, and death, has been in full force. My best friend, Phoebe, left us and passed into the next realm. She was my dog. Our dog. I have a lot to say about her, so I will be writing about her soon.

On top of that, my baby daughter was born. She’s my first child. Our first child. I’ve written about her a lot already. Through it all, I have found myself both lost and found; both depleted and filled; both dragged through the bottom of the deepest of the dark sea floor, and at times, finding myself floating blissfully high in the clouds closest to heaven. I am both full of love, and full of emptiness.

I find myself here though. I have finally published my fiction novel, L.A. Ninja. This work was actually done almost two years ago, but because of the publishing process (self-publishing) and how real life actually works, it has taken me this long to get it out. This marks a significant milestone for me, as this piece of work got more of my soul than any other at that time. Not to discredit or downplay One-Eighty, which was an important piece to me for certain reasons, but L.A. Ninja has like a hundred times the passion from me. My subsequent work, currently untitled, has also gotten a lot more passion from me, and it has taken me in a wildly new direction. More to come about that one too.

Anyhow, the few initial reviews for L.A. Ninja have been awesome so far, so I hope it continues. It's available on Amazon.com (link here: LA Ninja ) and on Smashwords.com. The approval for Apple devices, Sony E-readers, and Barnes and Noble should be coming any day. It’s feels good to be back to writing here on the blog too. More to come soon.

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Revolution of the Soul. A Mission Statement.

I am by default, and through no fault of my own, different. I’m not out cruising the boulevard on the weekends, blasting oldies-but-goodies with the homies. I am also not listening to rock en Espanol, speaking in Spanish-only with my friends. I could fit into either stereotype perfectly though, and to an outsider, I probably appear to be from either or both worlds. I have brown skin, which is pretty much all it takes. It’s not that simple though, as others like me surely understand. I speak some Spanish but I also speak perfect English. I went to college. I love hamburgers and fries, and hip-hop, and alternative music. I have simply integrated into American culture from the start, because I was born here, and because I wanted to.

I’m glad that I’m not still stuck in Mexico somewhere, growing up a third world existence, which statistically would have been the case, had my familia never come here. But I am glad to have come from a country and peoples with such a rich and vibrant history. There are many reasons having such a heritage is a good thing, and I am proud to be a part of it. I am glad to have been born here in America, and happy to be part of this system. I’m happier yet that I didn’t grow up as a cholo gang-banging, tagger, too-cool-for school type of guy, even though I’ve had plenty of chances, given my surroundings. That subculture is not all bad either, depending on the level of involvement and the choices one makes. In other words, you can look the part without being a thug, or a social, or immigrant, or anything else, que no? This is true of all life.

So even though I am different, I am by no means alone, and I know this. The problem for me is that I’m not seeing enough representation out there in the media. I’m not seeing a lot of works written, or filmed, for people like me. It annoys me, too, for a lot of political reasons, because our image is grossly misrepresented. Sure the gangbanger cholos are fun to include in film, because violence sells. However, that only perpetuates a false image. These days, it seems as though everyone in this country sees us either as cholos or as immigrants that refuse to assimilate, legal or not. This angers me because we are so many different things including a multitude of diversity within our own subculture. It’s pretty frickin’ beautiful, if everyone only knew…

Either way, I decided to make the changes I wanted to see, on my own. I’m writing stories for me, for you, and for everyone else, and my main characters are all Latino, and not just Mexican-Latino either. My stories are not about quinceaneras or growing up as a pocho in high school. They are not about crossing the border, or starting any revolutions. The only revolution I write about is the Revolution of the Soul. My stories are meant to entertain and inspire people, and hopefully many of you will relate to them in one way or another, and see yourselves there in them, wherever that may be.