3rd Victor Villasenor: Entries, Entries, Featured

The same old grind

Posted on by Thornton Sully
26
Dec

Literati!

Out with my old life; hand me a new one.

Sounds like a perfect New Year’s sediment–oops!–sentiment!.  And it comes from someone new to our site who found us by first visiting our friend and neighbor Victor Villasenor at http://victorvillasenor.com/.

Victor is the inspiration for The Third Annual Victor Villasenor First Sentence Contest.  He has just been nominated for a third time to be be awarded The Pulitzer Prize, this time for Lion Eyes, which you can preview on his website.

Christina Espinosa has a work in progress called Madre Bendita, and from this she offeres her first sentence as a contest submission.

 

Molcajete,
Muela mi vida vieja,
Hazme una nueva.
(rough translation: out with my old life, hand me a new one)
Madre Bendita,
by
Christina Espinosa
“Y así se hace el Chile de limón” said Mami Lucy, our passive aggressive matriarch, putting down the tejolote.
If it was one thing she knew, it was chilitos.  She could make a meal for our entire family with flour, chile, and garlic.  Of course she had experience making something from nothing. Her family had left Montemorelos during the Villa period, leaving behind their property and belongings to become poor Braceros in the  United States.  My Mami Lucy was born right on the  river bank, becoming the first United States citizen in her family, although, she would forever refer to white people as “Americanos”, meaning Americans, a group to which she would tell you she was proud never to include herself in.
Thornton Sully

Thornton Sully has Jack-Londoned his way across the globe sleeping with whatever country would have him, and picking up stray stories along the way. A litter of dog-eared passports that have taken up residence in his sock drawer are a constant temptation, but, as the founder in 2009 of A Word with You Press, dedicated to helping you tell your story persuasively and with passion, it’s not likely he will stray too far from the towers that are A Word with You Press, now located in the Bohemian village of Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Republic, except, perhaps, for an occasional swim in the Aegean. Authors who have sought his advice have won major awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Isabel Allende Miraposa Award for new fiction, and the Best Poetry Award from San Diego Writers' Awards. "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." Thornton Sully, plagiarizing E.B. White

5 thoughts on “The same old grind”

  1. Stars Fall On My Heart says:

    Hello there, Christina!!!

    The title alone sounds enticing! And the opening sentence and paragraph leaves a spicy tease on my eyes and tongue <3 Welcome to the site <3

    Reply
  3. Michael Stang says:

    Christina, what a welcomed first sentence.  I can smell the richness in the simplicity.  I can feel the torment as well.  Welcome to the site.  Please be at home here, we love new writers, especailly those who can talk.

    Reply

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