Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana

by Demetria Martínez

Overview

“We’re everywhere, and it’s time to come out of the closet: I speak of the tongue-tied generation, buyers of books with titles like Master Spanish in Ten Minutes a Day while You Nap. . . . We grew up listening to the language—usually in the kitchens of extended family—but we answered back mostly in English.”

Demetria Martínez wields her trademark blend of humor and irony to give voice to her own “tongue-tied generation” in this notable series of essays, revealing her deeply personal views of the world. Martínez breaks down the barriers between prayer and action, between the border denizen and the citizen of the world, and between patriarchal religion and the Divine Mother. She explores her identity as a woman who has within her the “blood of the conquered and the conqueror,” and who must daily contend with yet a third world—white America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806137223
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	11/28/2005
Series:	Chicana and Chicano Visions of the Americas Series , #4
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.47(d)

About the Author

Demetria Martínez is an author, activist, lecturer, and columnist. Her autobiographical essays, Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana (Univ. of Oklahoma Press), won the 2006 International Latino Book Award in the category of best biography.

Born in Albuquerque, NM, in 1960, where she now resides, Martínez earned her BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She teaches at the annual June writing workshop at the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston. Martínez writes a column for the independent progressive bi-weekly The National Catholic Reporter. She is involved with Enlace Comunitario, an immigrants' rights group that works with Spanish-speaking survivors of domestic violence.

Editorial Reviews

"Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana takes the reader on Martínez's journey to answer, or perhaps to ameliorate, the sense of anguish she encounters in the individuals she interviews. This collection of her hard-edged columns succeeds in its venture to illuminate what can only be described as the pervasive perplexity of everyday life."—Norman Mailer, author of Armies of the Night




"In the beginning was the word. But then the word was co-opted by the politicians. And it was not good. Here, then, is a poet who puts 'pen to paper . . . [to] call the world to order.' This is the Gospel according to Santa Demetria the peacemaker, and it is good."—Sandra Cisneros, author of Caramelo



“Truthtelling by firsthand witnesses to real life, not via fad or fatuousness, is what moves a culture to new levels of insight. Firsthand witness often reveals that life is a wonderland and darkland all rolled into one. There is a need for able guides who have dared to delve into the hinterlands and report back. Intrepid Demetria Martinez is just such a traveler, truthteller, and heartfelt guide.”—Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Jungian Psychoanalyst, author of Women Who Run with the Wolves

From the Publisher