Looking for Esperanza
Looking for Esperanza is an essential window into the hidden world of undocumented female farmworkers struggling to maintain their health, their families, and their dignity in an unforgiving world. Paramo shines a necessary light on these defiant fearless women fighting for their own small morsel of the American Dream. The result is powerful and unforgettable. --Dinty W. Moore, author of The Mindful WriterMere words on paper quickly become a fireball, a careful and fierce hand that will grab your heart and pull, that will hurt even as it feeds you. Paramo boldly merges ethnography, memoir, research, quest, letter, and poetry, inventing the language and tongue to describe a sustained encounter with undocumented Mexican agricultural workers. This astonishing work sets a new standard in the form of creative nonfiction. --Sonya Huber, author of Cover Me: A Health Insurance MemoirA timely and stunning project, PÃ¡ramo s Looking for Esperanza is a heart-wrenching portrait of Mexican women whose lives and journeys illustrate the complexity and dignity of the undocumented immigrant. PÃ¡ramo writes with admirable honesty and sensitivity, making visible perspectives seldom explored in either literature or journalism: the Mexican laborer in the American Southeast, the woman as bordercrosser, and the stories of struggle that rise above tragedy and travesty to highlight perseverance and hope. --Rigoberto Gonzalez, author of Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano MariposaMere words on paper quickly become a fireball, a careful and fierce hand that will grab your heart and pull, that will hurt even as it feeds you. Páramo boldly merges ethnography, memoir, research, quest, letter, and poetry, inventing the language and tongue to describe a sustained encounter with undocumented Mexican agricultural workers. This astonishing work sets a new standard in the form of creative nonfiction. --Sonya Huber, author of Cover Me: A Health Insurance MemoirA timely and stunning project, Páramo s Looking for Esperanza is a heart-wrenching portrait of Mexican women whose lives and journeys illustrate the complexity and dignity of the undocumented immigrant. Páramo writes with admirable honesty and sensitivity, making visible perspectives seldom explored in either literature or journalism: the Mexican laborer in the American Southeast, the woman as bordercrosser, and the stories of struggle that rise above tragedy and travesty to highlight perseverance and hope. --Rigoberto González, author of Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano MariposaMere words on paper quickly become a fireball, a careful and fierce hand that will grab your heart and pull, that will hurt even as it feeds you. Páramo boldly merges ethnography, memoir, research, quest, letter, and poetry, inventing the language and tongue to describe a sustained encounter with undocumented Mexican agricultural workers. This astonishing work sets a new standard in the form of creative nonfiction. --Sonya Huber, author of Cover Me: A Health Insurance MemoirA timely and stunning project, Páramo s Looking for Esperanza is a heart-wrenching portrait of Mexican women whose lives and journeys illustrate the complexity and dignity of the undocumented immigrant. Páramo writes with admirable honesty and sensitivity, making visible perspectives seldom explored in either literature or journalism: the Mexican laborer in the American Southeast, the woman as bordercrosser, and the stories of struggle that rise above tragedy and travesty to highlight perseverance and hope. --Rigoberto González, author of Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa