Helena Maria Viramontes
Responding to our discussion of It Calls You Back and the Los Angeles Latino Writer's Association referenced in Chapter 8*
Quote by Christina Montes / CJYO 2013 Student
"Helena’s speech was awesome. After having heard her speak I would really
love to read some of her writings. She is so much like Rodriguez in
many ways. As I was listening to her speak I remembered the interview
that I had read that was done with Rodriguez where he was asked why he
began writing and he talks about how he wrote Always Running for his
son, because he wanted him to hear the truth about that path he was
headed towards. He never realized the impact his stories would have on
the life of so many others as well as in his own life. That’s exactly
what Helena was saying when she thought “what can I offer im only a
writer” But then she realized she had an obligation to give these women a
voice, these women who just did what they did out of pure love. She too
went back to where she came from to be able to write these stories and
truths that no one seemed to acknowledge or recognize and that was what
Rodriguez did. They both went back to a time that was familiar to them
and told those stories, those truths and in the process they gave voices
to those people who otherwise may never have been heard."
