Update on My Book: "Songs From the Barrio: A Coming of Age in Modesto, Ca." Y Mas

Amigos, it's been a while since I've posted. Been busy writing for "Joaquin" magazine http://joaquinmag.com/ published out of Stockton and doing what I can to peddle my book. In the past year, I've visited many schools, grade levels from 2nd grade to College, and enjoy sharing my story and book especially with students. It's quite amazing how the stories and poems connect with so many people, even with those from other cultural groups, not Chicano or Latino.It seems we have so many shared experiences.

Take a moment to read reviews of my book on Amazon.com and perhaps venture to buy a copy. It is also available in a Kindle edition. I would love to read comments on it, and feel free to post a review yourself on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Songs-From-Barrio-Modesto-Stories/product-reviews/1477618791/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

Also, you can go to my Facebook page "Songs From the Barrio", and read about my experiences at the many schools I've visited in 2013/14 and "Like" the page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Songs-From-The-Barrio/218823051582939

Tambien, I have a couple of videos on YouTube of selected readings from my book:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=richard%20rios%20songs&sm=1 

Visit another Blog I am writing for Stockton's newspaper "The Record" at 
http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/tulevato/

My New Book is Available!

My new book, "Songs From the Barrio" is now available at https://www.createspace.com/3902152.  It is the culmination and distillation of an idea that festered in me for many years. I started writing when I was a young soldier in Germany in 1963. I had no idea then where it would take me. But I knew I wanted to write!

And here it is at last! Here I am at 74 and publishing my first book, proving that you are never to old to realize your dreams! But it is well that it all worked out the way it did, but I almost missed the boat; I have finally aquired all the the tools to do it with: experience, writing skill, a good memory, and the inherited gift of story-telling passed to me by my ancestors.

The stories in my book tell of a people, a time and place of which only remnants remain. They began as a series of disjointed stories I wrote about my childhood, growing up in a Mexican barrio in Central California in the middle of 20th Century, stories and poems of escapades and the amazing people I grew up around, Mexican immigrants who had so much to teach, to give. After reading my stories to audiences for years, and hearing them react: laugh, cry and applaud in approval, I began to toy with the idea of putting them all into a book.

Above all, it is a story about the beauty of culture, language and tradition. Much of the book tells of my mother, who married at 15 and emigrated to the US with my dad in the early 1920s and her detemination to single-handedly raise a family of 7. It is a story of triumph, my own and of a people estranged from their language and culture, finding their rightful place in an alien world.

If you read and enjoy it, share it with friends and family, and take a precious moment to share comments on this blog. If you read and enjoy it, take a moment to post a short "review" by clicking on my book at Amazon.com.

It is NOW available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and Kindle. Teachers: please look at it for a possible reader in your class. I believe the reading level to be 7-college. I can be contacted at rrios39@sbcglobal.net. I have a discount code for orders of 20 or more copies.

Collection: A Wall of Christs

For years I have been collecting Mexican Christ figures. I have never forgotten the first time I saw the power and passion of Mexican Christ figures in the churches and museums, especially those from Mexico's Colonial Period. I was raised with the generally innoculous Europeanized Christs (with the exception of artists like Matthias Grunewald) I found in European and American churches, mostly muscular, idealized and white and was not ready for the brutal , bloody, and agonized portrayal of the Spanish, Indian, and Mexican artists. The great variety of mediums used also intrigued me, clay, wood, straw, so I began collecting.

The wall of Christs in our home is a conversation piece to all who visit and from time to time, friends bring me a piece for the collection. The pieces seem to have one objective: to show the pain and agony Christ suffered on the cross, and they succeed. I collect them both as a Christian and an artist. As a Christian, I am amazed at this supreme human sacrifice, and as an artist I am amazed at the innocence and sophistication of mostly folk artists who paint, carve, weave and mold these crucified Christs.

At the front of every Catholic Church in Mexico is a tortured Christ in a prominent place on the altar. I have spent hours meditating before them. I have trouble explaining to others what my fascination with these figures is. Am I morbid? Am I religious? Am I just an art collector?

Regardless, they have a place on my walls.