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| A book worth reading. |
The Book
The time
right after graduating college and before law school started I like to call my
“real education.” I was so thirsty for
knowledge having had a great college experience, and I found I suddenly had lots
of time to read whatever I wanted. And I
read a lot! I read about revolution, and
I worked on the Hill where I learned why it was so important. I read about history and culture. I learned the real history that they don’t
teach you in school.
During this
time, I picked up a piece of fiction that changed me. I read Alisa Valdes’ The Dirty Girl Social Club.
The Dirty Girl Social Club is
about a group of diverse Latina friends who met in college. For the first time in my life I read
characters I could truly relate to.
Alisa had created characters that were real Latinas and not
stereotypes. I saw my own friends and myself in the Dirty Girls' characters, only I
called them my Hermanas
(sisters).
I never realized the void
I had in me. As a life long reader, I, for the first time EVER and FINALLY, read characters that resembled me. It was amazing and
yes, truly life changing. I began to
wonder, what else I wasn’t represented in.
And when I became represented in things, like literature, it had strong
meaning to me. As I become a mother, I
am more aware of this. I hope my daughter
will be represented in literature, cartoons, toys, and so much more. I hope she will never wonder why her dolls
don’t have brown hair like her. I also hope my daughter will have friends like my hermanas and like the characters in this book.
The Dress
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| Photograph Courtesy of Kelly Burke Arce |
Flash
forward almost 10 years later. I was living with a man, and we wanted to get
married. We had previously set a date,
but because of financial reasons we had to postpone. I was heart broken, but it made sense. Then in 2011 tragedy struck and we lost
someone close to us. It was a loss we
could never fully recover from, but we knew we had to try. We decided late that summer to set a
date. We had suffered so much heartache
and loss, and we needed a reason to celebrate.
Our family needed something positive for once.
We settled on October 20, 2012 and later that day I was bored and
excited. I decided I would go look at
bridal magazines at Barnes and Noble to get some ideas. I was dreading planning a wedding without my
mother I had lost her a few years before that.
I was especially dreading shopping for a wedding dress without her. But I had a wedding to plan, and I needed
some ideas so off to Barnes and Noble I was going, but not before checking my
Facebook before I left. I was, of
course, a fan of Alisa Valdes and she posted that she had a wedding dress, my
size if anyone was interested. I saw a
picture, and thought it was pretty. I
messaged her and asked how much. She
quickly responded that she wanted to give it away. It was hers from a wedding that didn’t
happen and she wanted some good karma from it.
I was in shock, a beautiful, FREE wedding dress, from an author I so
much admired? It had to be too good to
be true.
I emailed
her my address, and offered to pay shipping.
Life got busy as it normally does.
We exchanged emails and I didn’t hear much from her until the week
before Christmas, when I came home to have a huge box waiting for me. Inside the box was a beautiful wedding
dress. It was simple and elegant, but
even more exciting, it was exactly the dress I would pick out for myself. It was gorgeous. Inside was a signed copy of her book The Husband Habit, where she wished my
husband-to-be and me happiness. I could
not have asked for a better dress or a better wedding dress story.
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| Photograph Courtesy of Kelly Burke Arce |
Alisa Valdes helped make me look like a queen on my special day. She took her negative experience and made it something wonderful for me. My husband loved the dress, and we had a perfect day.
The Movie
As if an
amazing book that changed my life and a dress that I would wear to begin my
life with my husband were not enough, Alisa Valdes has inspired me again. She was approached by Hollywood big wigs to
turn The Dirty Girl Social Club into a show or movie. Unfortunately, there was
a disconnect with the executives and the reality of the Latino community. They
did not want to remain true to the book or the educated diverse Latina
characters. Instead of giving in to the temptations of a big
paycheck, Alisa decided to make this moving on her own. She has started a Kickstarter campaign to
raise the funds for it.
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| Kickstarter Fund to Make the Movie |
I am
confident that she will not only raise the funds, but that she will make an
amazing movie. I imagine someday my
daughter and I will watch this movie together.
I hope you will help support her.
You can get more information here:
Lessons Learned
These are
the lessons I’ve learned from the book to the dress to the movie, that I hope
to teach my baby girl:
1. She is beautiful and as a Latina she should be represented in the everyday aspects of
life, from the books she reads to toys she plays with
2.
Hermanas are
important. She will need her friends to
share her best of times and her worst of times.
I know from experience and so do las
Sucias. This is why my daughter will be raised surrounded by many Aunties
that are family by choice.
3.
My mom
taught me there are angels on earth.
Alisa was an angel for me. I want
my daughter to know that there are real people who are angels and that she too
sometimes will be someone’s angel.
4.
She is
deserving of a beautiful wedding dress and a prince charming like her daddy.
5.
Sometimes
you have to create your own way with a project, especially when you believe in
it. That’s what Alisa Valdes is doing
with her movie project.
6.
When big
companies want to take from your art, take your art to the people. The people will support you.
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