LETRAS LATINAS

As mentioned a few days ago in Letras Latinas Blog, Francisco Aragón and I met exactly a year ago at the inaugural CantoMundo gathering. At the time I had just graduated with a BA in Humanities and was set to attend the MFA program at Fresno State. But instead I spent the following year peeling vegetables at a restaurant and writing as much as the alphabet.

A year later I find myself a student at the University of Notre Dame’s MFA program and also a welcomed hand at Letras Latinas, the Institute for Latino Studies’ literary program. As I become a regular contributor to Letras Latinas Blog I’d like to start by confessing to its readers that I’m completely humbled by this opportunity. As I look back at my development as a writer—going from writing poems about my experience laboring in a kitchen to my newfound position—I am becoming cognizant of the incredible personal growth these two years will bring for me; while at the same time maintaining the humility that comes from knowing my limitations as a young writer.

As I spend the next two years growing as a writer and collaborating with the Letras Latinas community I hope to contribute in some small way to making this blog a place of booming conversation: The intention is to make Letras Latinas Blog a place of consistent and comprehensive content and in the process to add a pitch or two to the chorus of voices that is raising the volume and making Latino letters, particularly emerging voices, resound louder than ever.

---Lauro Vasquez