Her favorite writers include Oliver Sacks, Amy Bloom, and Sharon Olds. She grew up in the San Fernando Valley: her family migrated there after a generation in the Jewish-Latino ghetto of Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, where taco stands were kosher and the Shul was right across the street from the Catholic Church. The Lingua Franca of her family was English, Spanish, and Yiddish. They celebrated religious holidays as Jews; but personal holidays such as birthdays, weddings, and funerals all had a Latin flavor.