Gordo


Book Description

This debut story collection “masterfully navigates adverse conditions of migrant life while . . . managing to find joy and amusement, love and triumph” (San Francisco Chronicle). Gordo brings readers inside a migrant workers camp near Watsonville, California in the 1970s. At the heart of these interrelated stories is a young, probably gay, boy named Gordo, who must find a way to contend with the notions of manhood imposed on him by his father. As he comes of age, Gordo learns about sex, watches his father’s drunken fights, and discovers even his own documented Mexican-American parents are wary of illegal migrants. We also meet Fat Cookie, high schooler and resident artist who runs away from home one day with her mother’s boyfriend, Manny. And then there are Los Tigres, the twins who show up every season and whose drunken brawl ends with one of them rushed to the emergency room in an upholstered chair tied to the back of a pick-up truck. These scenes from Steinbeck Country are full of humor, family drama, and a sweet frankness about serious questions: Who belongs to America and how are they treated? How does one learn decency when grown adults must fear for their lives and livelihoods? Gordo “announces a vibrant new voice on the literary scene, at once wise and authentic and supremely gifted” (Booklist, starred review). Finalist for the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction




Sea of Cortez


Book Description

The collaboration of two friends—one a novelist, one a marine biologist—produced a volume in which fascinating popular science is woven into a narrative of man’s dreams, his ideals, and his accomplishments through the centuries. Sea of Cortez is one of those rare books that are all things to all readers. Actually the record of a brief collecting expedition in the lonely Gulf of California, it will be science to the scientist, philosophy to the philosopher, and to the average man an adventure in living and thinking. The teeming and wildly competitive world of the sand flats is seen in terms of history, politics, ethics, and sociology; a starfish is important, not only because it is a new variety, but because it is essential to the delicate balance of the whole region in which it is found. Steinbeck and Ricketts are the opposite of “pure” scientists: it is not only their work that fascinates them, but the complicated and enormously exciting implications of that work. Sea of Cortez is a book to be read and remembered on two levels. It is a journey through a remote and beautiful corner of the world, a diary filled with the daily excitements and triumphs of skillful and energetic men. It is also an invitation to see the world anew from a fresh vantage point and perhaps with a broader and more understanding spirit.




AOC


Book Description

NAMED ONE OF AUGUST'S BEST NEW BOOKS BY CNN | ON Cosmo's LIST OF 12 BOOKS YOU'LL BE DESPERATE TO READ THIS SUMMER | ONE OF Autostraddle's 60 QUEER & FEMINIST BOOKS COMING YOUR WAY THIS SUMMER | A 2020 TITLE TO WATCH BY Library Journal | LISTED ON Marie Claire's POLITICAL BOOKS TO READ With a preface by Keegan-Michael Key In the vein of Notorious RBG, seventeen writers explore the multiple meanings of a young Latina politician who has already made history. From the moment Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat a ten-term incumbent in the primary election for New York’s 14th, her journey to the national, if not world, stage, was fast-tracked. Six months later, as the youngest Congresswoman ever elected, AOC became one of a handful of Latina politicians in Washington, D.C. Just thirty, she represents her generation, the millennials, in many groundbreaking ways: proudly working class, Democratic Socialist, of Puerto Rican descent, master of social media, not to mention of the Bronx, feminist—and a great dancer. AOC investigates her symbolic and personal significance for so many, from her willingness to use her imperfect bi-lingualism, to why men are so threatened by her power, to the long history of Puerto Rican activism that she joins. Contributors span a wide range of voices and ages, from media to the arts and politics: Keegan-Michael Key — Preface Lynda Lopez — Introduction: "The Meaning of AOC" Jennine Capó Crucet — "An Open Letter to Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez" Andrea González-Ramírez — "Women Like Me Aren’t Supposed to Run for Office" Patricia Reynoso — “'The First Latina to . . .'” Pedro Regalado — “'Pa’lante!': The Long History of Puerto Rican Activism in New York City" Rebecca Traister — "The Imagined Threat of a Woman Who Governs Like a Man" Natalia Sylvester — "In No Uncertain Terms" Erin Aubry Kaplan — "The Center Will Not Hold. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Counting on It" Tracey Ross — "A Just Society" Carmen Rita Wong — "Latinas Are So Money" Mariana Atencio — "AOC the Influencer" Wendy Carrillo — "What AOC and I Learned at Standing Rock" Nathan J. Robinson — "The Democratic Socialism of AOC" Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez — "On Being an Indignant Brown Girl" Elizabeth Yeampierre — "Making the Green New Deal the Real Deal" María Cristina “MC” González Noguera — "The Hustle"




Golden Ax


Book Description

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR POETRY “Outstanding . . . the poetry in these pages is intelligent, lyrical, as invested in the past as the present and future with witty nods to pop culture.” —Roxane Gay, author of Hunger “I’ve never read anything like it. Truly a sublime experience.” —Jason Reynolds, author of Ain’t Burned All the Bright A groundbreaking collection about Afropioneerism past and present from Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and New York Times bestselling author Rio Cortez From a visionary writer praised for her captivating work on Black history and experience comes a poetry collection exploring personal, political, and artistic frontiers, journeying from her family's history as "Afropioneers" in the American West to shimmering glimpses of transcendent, liberated futures. In poems that range from wry, tongue-in-cheek observations about contemporary life to more nuanced meditations on her ancestors—some of the earliest Black pioneers to settle in the western United States after Reconstruction—Golden Ax invites readers to re-imagine the West, Black womanhood, and the legacies that shape and sustain the pursuit of freedom.




Sharkman of Cortez


Book Description

Spanning four decades, Sharkman of Cortez takes the reader through the adventures and perils of Captain Bill, a man determined to make his living from the sea. His tale begins in 1967 when he runs away from the frigid North to a picnic table on the white sandy beach of Siesta Key, Florida. Through the lazy 1960s hippie haze, he gets his first job on a crab boat and begins what he believes will be a life of fulfilling all his dreams. He encounters colorful local characters along the way, while carving out a living and pioneering some of the most innovative ways to capture, view, document, photograph, and sell sharks, dead or alive.




The Desert Islands of Mexico's Sea of Cortez


Book Description

The desert islands in the Sea of Cortez are little known except to a few intrepid tourists, sailors, and fishermen. Though at first glance these stark islands may appear barren, they are a refuge for an astounding variety of plants and animals. While many of the species are typical of the greater Sonoran Desert region, some are endemic or unique to one or two islands. For example, Isla Santa Catalina is home to the worldÕs only rattlesnake that has lost its ability to grow a rattle. Other islands host nesting birds, such as Isla Rasa, a tiny, flat flow of basalt lava that attracts nearly half a million elegant and royal terns and HeermannÕs gulls each spring. The Desert Islands of MexicoÕs Sea of Cortez is one of the few books devoted to the biogeography of this remarkable part of the world. The book explores the geologic origin of the gulf and its islands, presents some of the basics of island biogeography, details insular lifeÑincluding residents of the intertidal zone Ñand provides a brief outlook for preserving this area. More than a simple guidebook, AitchisonÕs writing will take both actual and armchair travelers through a gripping tale of natural history. Like the rest of our fragile planet, the Sea of Cortez and its islands are threatened by humans. Overfishing has eliminated or greatly diminished many fish stocks, and dams on rivers that once flowed into the gulf prevent certain nutrients from reaching the sea. The tenuousness of this area makes the bookÕs extraordinary photographs and the firsthand descriptions by a well-known teacher, writer, and photographer all the more compelling.




Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez


Book Description

Since mid-2018, when she registered one of the biggest primary election upsets in the nation, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has emerged as one of the most influential voices of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Few politicians have experienced a rise as meteoric as the one that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (or AOC, as she is commonly known) has experienced since her June 2018 Democratic primary upset victory over a powerful, longtime incumbent and her subsequent triumph in the November 2018 midterms. This book examines how the telegenic lawmaker—a life-long New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent—engineered that startling victory, why her life story and ideas made her such a focus of national attention, how she has used Twitter and other social media to amplify her calls for economic justice and civil rights equality, and why, since she took office in January 2019, she has come to be regarded as one of the most consequential and influential lawmakers in Congress. It will also help readers understand AOC's most deeply held political convictions, policymaking priorities, and personal principles.




Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Her Mysterious Rise from Bartender to Congresswoman


Book Description

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or “AOC” as she has dubbed herself, has taken the political scene by storm. More celebrity than advocate for serious policies, Ocasio-Cortez nonetheless wields outsized influence over the news cycle due to her adept use of media, her brash attitude, and of course, her attractive appearance. But what lies underneath the shiny exterior? “AOC” is mostly a mystery, as Peter D’Abrosca found while chronicling her life and rise—from growing up in the suburbs of New York City, to her peculiar postgrad life as an entrepreneur, through her election to Congress and thereafter. This book offers never-before-published content and exclusive interviews, revealing new information on the life and times of America’s newest political phenomenon: a millennial socialist bent on imposing a radical and dangerous agenda.







Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez


Book Description

Accessible biography about a very notable subject