Thug Life Army

Aquí estamos. Ya nos vamos ("Here we are... here we go") is a collection of bilingual poetry and short fiction by Francisco J. Bustos and Michael Cheno Wickert which focuses on the United States - Mexico border. 

The work of Francisco Bustos centers around the often extraordinary treasures of life in Tijuana. His work has a thoughtful, relaxed rhythm that slows the reader down and offers a mellow journey, from bartering his American tennis shoes in Mexico City's Valley of Teotihuacán for cosmic passage and a rain stick, to questioning whether diamonds are really more valuable than stones, showing readers that the bread of life can sometimes be a simple kilo of tortillas or the appreciation of history and culture around us.

Cheno's work speaks of hope and tragedy in San Diego. He writes of the immigrant trudging up Market Street to the sound of church bells from Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles, the clang and hiss of shipyard steel, and the whisper of ghosts. His work ranges from a hang-over slow pace to a staccato hammering of images that leaves the lingering idea that although the American Dream is sometimes deferred, it is still worthwhile. 

In the end Aqui estamos. Ya nos vamos is the un/common journey we each make physically, emotionally, and spiritually as we define ourselves and our role in a society where traditional borders are constantly being blurred.

esta ouvre de francisco b y cheno es un kaleidos cope fronterizo... and wit estrait up and a cross with out cruz y fiction cuentos homage 2 those that live and struggle on y al otro lado de lada witness palabras que valen sin pecado la tinta no sobra... falta!  simon que yes! ahora somos los mosquiteros... una mosc parada en la pader?

    - alurista, author of as our barrio turns.. who the yoke b on?, floricanto en aztlan, and et tu raza?

Francisco Bustos

Francisco Bustos lives in Playas de Tijuana, Baja California, and in Chula Vista, California where he teaches English Composition at Southwestern College. He mostly writes about border culture, music, foods and people. On his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife Nirvana and daughter Quetzalli, playing guitar with his suegro, and visiting his parents, brother, and sisters. He grew up on both sides of the Tijuana/San Ysidro Border, moving every couple of years depending on family budget and situations.

Michael Cheno Wickert

 Cheno earned both his B.A. in English in 1999 and his M.F.A. in Creative Writing in 2004 from San Diego State University. Out of high school he worked as a painter, carpenter, and pipefitter throughout the shipyards of Southern California. He currently teaches kindergarten at Feaster-Edison Charter School and is an adjunct professor of English at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, where he lives with his wife Denise and his son Julian. Creatively he explores how the personal and political collide in everyday life.

La meta verdadera de nuestra lucha es cambio social positivo donde se reconoce los derechos humanos básicos de respeto y dignidad para todos y que cada persona toma responsabilidad individual y colectiva para la educación, salud, justicia, y bienestar del pueblo entero.

‘The true goal of our struggle is positive social change where the basic human rights of respect and dignity are recognized for all and that each person takes individual and collective responsibility for the education, health, justice, and well-being of all people.’

        Cheno

Aqui estamos... Ya nos vamos,( "Here we are... here we go") a bilingual collection of border poetry and short stories by Francisco J. Bustos and Michael Cheno Wickert, published by RedCalacaArts.

Aqui estamos... Ya nos vamos is currently available through the publisher at www.calacapress.com or for internet credit card orders through the www.dyseone.com online store at http://store.dyseone.com/aqesyanosvaa.html

For readings or other information please contact the authors at:

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