Lady Q: The Making of a Latin Queen (paperback)
(Chicago Review Press)
By Reymundo Sanchez and Sonia Rodriguez
ISBN: 1556527225
ISBN13: 9781556527225
288 pages

Offering a rarely seen female perspective on gang life, this raw and powerful memoir tells not only of one woman’s struggle to survive the streets but also of her ascent to the top ranks of the new mafia, where the only people more dangerous than rival gangs were members of her own. At age 5, Sonia Rodriguez’s stepfather began to abuse her; at 10, she was molested by her uncle and beaten by her mother when she told on him; and by 13, her home had become a hangout for the Latin Kings and Queens who were friends with her older sister. Threatened by rival gang members at school, Sonia turned away from her education and extracurricular activities in favor of a world of drugs and violence. The Latin Kings, one of the largest and most notorious street gangs in America, became her refuge, but its violence cost her friends, freedom, self-respect, and nearly her life. As a Latin Queen, she experienced the exhilarating highs and unbelievable lows of gang life. From being shot at by her own gang and kicked out at age 18 with an infant daughter to rejoining the gang and distinguishing herself as a leader, her legacy as Lady Q was cemented both for her willingness to commit violence and for her role as a drug mule.

"To this day I wonder what my life would be like if my mother told me she loved me, held me, took my side once or twice in an argument. She made me think the whole world was against me so I had to fight for everything. I've learned that's not the  way things have to be."

While Lady Q presents a solid, engaging narrative, it is not a story to be read for literary value. Instead this is a tale of epic sociological proportions that should be used as a tool to save lives. There are implications of gender, class, and race/ethnicity. Sonia's story is one that is not told enough as girls are just as susceptible to the lure of a false family and false love that gangs pervade. This is the kind of story that should be required reading for every parent, educator, child care provider, social worker, etc. Anyone who cares for or works with children on a daily basis should take this tale to heart and use it to either remedy this generational family dysfunction or take proactive measures to prevent its inception. At the onset of the story, there is that all too familiar glimmer of the hope of education as Sonia's salvation but, in typical fashion, a lack of nurturing quickly diffuses that hope. Looking at the quote I shared above, the love and concern for her well being she sought did not have to come from her mother. Often anyone showing a genuine interest in a young person's success will suffice.

"On more than one occasion during my work with Sonia, I became upset with her over her refusal to           understand the damage she was doing to her son. I tried to get through to her head that she needed to think   about leaving the 'hood and try to give her son, who is an honor roll student, a better life. I reminded her that she herself had been an honor roll student whose  mother's carelessness allowed her to get lost."

Reymundo's criticism is a bit harsh considering Sonia has not good parenting examples. However, I do understand the place from which he comes. He knows Sonia wants better for her children and he just wants her to fight harder. What I take from his criticism, though, is that he's saying "Give a damn!" It's hard when you not only don't know any other way but when the means are not available for you to even attempt a different lifestyle. On a personal note: I grew up in a working class, single parent home. I could have been subjected to the same world from which Sonia came but, my mother sacrificed for us to live in a decent neighborhood with a decent school and just to be surrounded by those with ambition. In essence, she gave a damn and this story gives me an infinite amount of gratitude that she did.

Thanks to Condor Book Tours and the publisher for providing this book.

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion
Gregory Boyle
Author: Gregory Boyle
Free Press, March 2010
Hardcover, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1439153027
ISBN-13: 9781439153024

About the Book
How do you fight despair and learn to meet the world with a loving heart? How do you overcome shame? Stay faithful in spite of failure? No matter where people live or what their circumstances may be, everyone needs boundless, restorative love. Gorgeous and uplifting, Tattoos on the Heart amply demonstrates the impact unconditional love can have on your life.As a pastor working in a neighborhood with the highest concentration of murderous gang activity in Los Angeles, Gregory Boyle created an organization to provide jobs, job training, and encouragement so that young people could work together and learn the mutual respect that comes from collaboration. Tattoos on the Heart is a breathtaking series of parables distilled from his twenty years in the barrio. Arranged by theme and filled with sparkling humor and glowing generosity, these essays offer a stirring look at how full our lives could be if we could find the joy in loving others and in being loved unconditionally. Tattoos on the Heart reminds us that no life is less valuable than another.

Review
Jesuit priest, Gregory Boyle initially began patrolling what he called "the gang capitol of L.A." via bike instigating peace treaties and truces among rival gangs. He decided to go in another direction as he felt his treaties and truces still perpetuated gang activity. Boyle's initiative of getting gang members employment, counseling, and tattoo removal services became Homeboy Industries.

Boyle seems to have found an easy rapport with many of the gang members who come to him when they are ready to change their lifestyles. His faith has allowed him to be giving of his time and resources and receptive to these young people who often have dangerous criminal backgrounds. Each essay reveals the humanity of various men and women involved in gang activity. Their stories are insightful, encouraging, and often heartbreaking. Boyle not only tells of triumphs like former rival gang members coming together and building a child care center, but those of tragedy like a young mother gunned down after sharing with Boyle an inexplicable dream of a dove flying from a coffin that was either an epiphany or an omen. This is the beauty of his story that is obviously meant to uplift and inspire, for success cannot be achieved without disappointments. You cannot package such a tale in a neat bow and disregard the fact that changed behavior may not eliminate consequences for past erratic behavior. What Tattoos on the Heart does right is show that change is always possible and that, with the right people and tools facilitating change, a lost person can find themselves and discover that "nothing of [their] humanity is to be discarded."

About the author
Father Gregory Boyle was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1982. He received his Master of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology; and a Sacred Theology Masters degree from the Jesuit School of Theology. In 1988, Father Boyle began what would become Homeboy Industries, now located in downtown Los Angeles. Fr. Greg received the California Peace Prize, the “Humanitarian of the Year” Award from Bon Appétit; the Caring Institute’s 2007 Most Caring People Award; and received the 2008 Civic Medal of Honor from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

Since 1986, Father Gregory has been the pastor of Dolores Mission in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The church sits between two large public housing projects, Pico Gardens and Aliso Village, known for decades as the gang capital of the world. There are 1,100 gangs encompassing 86,000 members in Los Angeles, and Boyle Heights has the highest concentration of murderous gang activity in the city. Since Father Greg—also known affectionately as G-dog, started Homeboy Industries nearly twenty years ago, it has served members of more than half of the gangs in Los Angeles. In Homeboy Industries’ various businesses—baking, silkscreening, landscaping—gang affiliations are left outside as young people work together, side by side, learning the mutual respect that comes from building something together.

About Homeboy Industries
Homeboy Industries traces its roots to “Jobs For A Future” (JFF), a program created in 1988 by Father Gregory Boyle while he was serving as pastor of Dolores Mission parish in Boyle Heights. Begun as a jobs program in 1988, offering alternatives to gang violence in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the city, the program soon grew beyond the parish.

With the addition of a small bakery in a run-down warehouse across the street from Dolores Mission, JFF had its own business, one where it could hire the most challenging, difficult to place young people in a safe environment. The hope was that they could learn both concrete and soft job skills, to make them stronger, better prepared candidates for permanent employment. A tortilla stand in Grand Central Market downtown solidified the evolution of JFF into Homeboy Industries.

In only a few years, Homeboy Industries has had an important impact on the Los Angeles gang problem, with young people from over half of the region’s 1,100 known gangs seeking a way out through Homeboy. Thousands of young people have walked through the doors of Homeboy Industries looking for a second chance, and finding community. Gang affiliations are left outside as these young people work together, side by side, learning the mutual respect that comes from shared tasks and challenges.

Homeboy became an independent nonprofit in August of 2001, and has since grown into a national model. This year, we will celebrate our 20th anniversary as an organization in our new headquarters located in downtown Los Angeles, just two blocks from Union Station. Homeboy serves as a beacon of hope and opportunity for those seeking to leave gang life, for whom the barriers and challenges are great, and for whom there is virtually no other avenue to enter the mainstream.

In addition to providing job training and placement assistance and other free programs, a distinctive feature of Homeboy Industries continues to be its small businesses, where the most difficult to place individuals are hired in transitional jobs, thus giving them a safe, supportive environment in which to learn both concrete and soft job skills, while simultaneously building their resume and work experience. Former rivals find themselves working side by side, finding true community and friendship in place of the limited community of gang life. Homeboy’s businesses now include the Homeboy Bakery, newly re-opened in our new Headquarters downtown, Homeboy Silkscreen, which prints logos on apparel and provides embroidery services; Homeboy Maintenance, which provides landscaping and maintenance services; Homeboy Merchandise, which sells t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, and mouse pads with the Homeboy logo, now with a retail storefront in the new Headquarters, as well as online ordering; Homegirl Café, newly expanded in the new building with 86 seats, plus a dedicated Catering kitchen provides a training ground dedicated to female clients in all aspects of the restaurant and service industry.  Homeboy Press has been publishing a literary magazine since 2008.

100% profits from book sales of Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion go directly to Homeboy Industries.  In this difficult economy, Homeboy Industries has had to lay off some of their staff.  Your purchase of this book helps support a much needed organization in our country today.

100% commissions generated through book sales through Condor Books, at our Products page, will be donated to the Homeboy Industries Review, a yearly publication of poetry and essays written and published by the young men and women involved in Homeboy Industries' writing and publishing skills program.  Please support by purchasing a book.

Disclosure: This book was provided by Condor Book Tours.

The title to this work of nonfiction is from the famous words spoken by Sojourner Truth at the 1851 Women's Rights Convention in Akron, OH. Those words, "And arn't I a woman?", were a direct attack on the very ideas that men used to support their discrimination of women. She challenges the mere notion of fragility by stating that even though she bore thirteen children and cried a mother's grief when most of them were sold into slavery, that no one cared that she was woman. Why not? It mattered just as much that she was also Black.

"Black in a white society, slave in a free society, woman in a society ruled by men, female slaves had the least formal power and were perhaps the most vulnerable group of antebellum America."

White's book explores the state of the female slave in the American south. Again, slave women disproved the reasons-weakness, vulnerability, aptitude- to marginalize women as there was no chance for survival possessing any of those characteristics. This short work is broken down into six chapters that include topics like the female slave network and their life cycle. What I found to be the most prolific chapter is the first on the "Jezebel" and "Mammy" images. I came into this book already quite familiar with those stereotypes, but not well versed on their exact origins. White's research felt thorough and left me feeling more knowledgeable.

Besides those into nonfiction and scholarly works, it seems that it would also work well as a companion piece for those reading historical fiction from the same period and wanting to gain more insight into how black female slaves are depicted. Even though the focus is on southern slave women, many of the negative images and problems discussed have followed black women to all parts of the country and well into the twenty-first century.

Challenges:
POC Reading
African Diaspora