Twenty-four years ago during a writers' workshop at Iowa University, Mexican-American writer Sandra Cisneros listened to others talk about the huge houses of their childhoods and the stories and poems that came out of them.
None of her colleagues were writing about crowded apartment houses like the one she lived in as a child in Chicago, or the Spanish and English spoken in her family, or the Mexico her family left behind but that was still with them.
So she did.
What she wrote became "The House on Mango Street," a collection of short fiction published in 1984 that has sold more than a million copies -- many of them to school libraries and teens around the country. Cisneros has also written critically acclaimed poetry and writes editorials for major newspapers.
The writer is at UNLV this week as part of the first Writers-in-the-Schools Program, a five-week course developed by the International Institute of Modern Letters. The program began July 11 for 13 Clark County high school teachers and 14 students. Cisneros met with the teachers Wednesday and met Thursday with the students.
The program is primarily for students with financial needs or other obstacles who may not think they can get an education. The goal is to use writing to build self-confidence and interest in attending college.
"We chose students who were not in Advanced Placement classes and didn't have the 4.0 GPA, but who showed some interest in reading and writing, while not having had all the opportunities," said Eric Olsen, executive director of the institute.
The program cost $90,000. Like the institute itself, it is funded by Glenn Schaeffer, president of Mandalay Resort Group.
About half of the students in the program are Hispanic, said facilitator David Winkler. Hispanics currently make up 25.5 percent of the county's secondary school population, and show the second highest dropout rate -- after Native Americans -- at 9.5 percent.
Cisneros spoke about the issues she has seen facing young Hispanics around the nation in her three decades of writing. She spoke from her experience as the child of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother -- and as a teacher of Hispanic youth.
"Hispanic immigrants, and immigrants in general, are people with a lot of pain," she said in an interview before speaking to the teachers.
"Hispanic children of immigrants struggle with a blurred sense of identity and are sort of soulless, since they come here and often lose their own history. In fact, where I live in San Antonio, kids say, 'I'm not Mexican' -- as if it was a bad word!"
Writing, said Cisneros, can help Hispanic young people recover a sense of identity and confidence in themselves.
She attributes the popularity of her 1984 book among Hispanic youths to what she calls validation, or the sense that their lives are worth writing and reading about -- even down to the Spanish and so-called Spanglish she peppers through the text.
"No one has told them that the English they speak is OK," she said.
"Young Hispanics don't see themselves in movies or popular culture. They're excluded from these stories, and have a hunger for their own story."
Cisneros has taught Hispanics and other populations in high schools around the country and has her students make lists of ways they are different from others in the classroom, in their families, in their neighborhood, and so on.
"This is who you really are," she tells them.
"It's a gift, and you can write from this place."
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy