Junot Diaz’s This Is How You Lose Her (2012) is an eight story collection of machismo, misogynistic narratives centered around Yunior, a seemingly compulsive cheater who is forced to face the consequences of his actions. Never having read Diaz before, I had no idea what to expect, and after reading epigraph by Sandra Cisneros, I used my knowledge her structure and style from The House on Mango Street (1984) to guide me. What ensued was a rather confusing read. Unlike some who found Diaz’s use of Spanglish to be the […]
“Not Only Can I Act, I Can Also Write!”…But Not As Well
I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so to date, I have written two complete short stories which I first wrote many years ago. Since then, they’ve been in a constant state of revision because they lack a certain je ne sais quoi for publishing. I wish other writers were as self-aware: Amazon is currently filled with published novels that are truly the works of amateur writers. One such amateur work is Molly Ringwald’s When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories (2012). At $1.99 at the time of […]
Is This the Future of Romance Novels?
To say that I’ve been disappointed with the romance novels I’ve read of late would be an understatement. I don’t know if it’s a case of me struggling to evolve after having read the same authors for the past twenty years, but I’m seriously bummed out that I’ve not been able to binge on reading romances in the way that I used to. My latest attempt at falling in love with a romance came with reading Sophia Nash’s The Once and Future Duchess (2014). I’m sorry […]
Mission: College Access and Success
If you’ve ever wondered why the guidance department seems to be less than helpful in counseling during the college access process, there’s a reason. According to Mandy Savitz-Romer and Suzanne Bouffard in Ready, Willing, and Able: A Developmental Approach to College Access and Success (2014), that reason is the following: “…[S]chool counselors, who typically hold master’s degrees in counseling and licenses provided by state departments of education, rarely obtain training in college counseling…In fact, according to the National Association of College Admissions and Counseling, out of the […]