Bread and Roses on 12/07/12

Bread and Roses welcomes Sandra Cisneros, internationally acclaimed author of The House on Mango Street.  Her new illustrated novel, Have You Seen Marie? was written in the wake of her mother's death and explores the netherworld between loss and healing, and the spiritual awareness that can only enter a heart that has been broken open. 

We discuss her work, writer's life, and experiences as a self-described "chingona" (a strong, independent woman) despite societal, cultural and familial pressure to conform to traditional gender roles.

Leigh Anne Kranz hosts.

"How to Be a Chingona in Ten Easy Steps" by Sandra Cisneros

1. Live for your own approval. Center yourself. Be alone. Create your own space.
2. Discover your own powers. What floods you with joy?
3. Find true humility and practice it.
4. Keep your palabra, your word.
5. What are you using to cover or mask your pain? Address it.
6. Your only true possessions are your actions.
7. Seek forgiveness.
8. Live in the present moment.
9. Depression has a purpose if you use it before it uses you. Transform it to light. Compost it through art. If you can’t do it by yourself, see a professional curandera (healer, therapist).
10. Listen to your body.