Day of the dead
November 1st, 2022
Last month I went to a gala. There’s a first time for everything and, boy, am I now a fan of galas.
Spread the gala gospel folks. The people must know. Not only do you eat delicious food, but you also support a cause. This gala, for instance, supported childhood literacy. You’d have to be a monster to not care about childhood literacy. Are you a monster? I didn’t think so. Then again, yesterday was Halloween, so maybe you are a monster.
Jokes aside, the gala was hosted by Preface (link), a not-for-profit organization that tutors (monolingual and multilingual) early readers and English language learners. Over the course of the evening, the Preface team crushed their fundraising goal by several hundred percentage points, and I got to observe it all, sitting in the corner, as an absolute nobody.
In a room full of people like congresswoman Carolyn Bordeaux it’s easy to feel like a nobody. But I loved being there all the same. It reminded me that there are good people in this country doing the best they can to make it a better place. And as a writer who is trying to increase latinx literacy and reading in general across the country (hey, Oliver García isn’t latino by accident), I am proud to be inolved with Preface and hope to attend all future galas.
Here’s a photo of me absolutely cheesing at the event. Who knows what I was doing with the bag. Enjoy, and be sure to laugh at me, not with me.
Onto some more serious stuff.
Yesterday my grandfather passed away. You didn’t know him, of course, so I won’t waste your time with my favorite memories about him or anything like that, but one thought I keep having in my head is the serendipity of the timing.
Today is Día de los Muertos, or, Day of the Dead— a one-of-a-kind holiday. It’s a day where we honor our past relatives through rememberance. The day is meant to be neither dreary or sorrowful, but celebratory and joyful, and it’s times like these where I proudly wear a culturally Mexican badge on my sleeve. My Western European ethnic heritage would have me mourn my grandfather’s passing, but my Mexican childhood would have me celebrate his life. I’m choosing to do the latter.
That’s all for today. I’m about 40% done with NOVA 02’s manuscript, which is exciting in it’s own right. Next week I’ll be on Chris’ Small Business Safari Podcast (link). The hosts on the show, Chris and Alan, are two hilarious entrepeneurs and I couldn’t be more excited to be joining them for a chat about the small business side of self-publishing.
The end always arrives.
C. T.