The Making of a Chicano Educator

Chicano educator Edmundo L pez invites his readers to go back in time with him yet again, to peer through the cracked window of his family's two-room tenement apartment in South El Paso's Segundo Barrio - the Second Ward - to feel his sadness as he says goodbye to his friends, his beloved Bowie High, and his adventurous youth. His journey leads him to a very different life in California, where the lessons and gifts of his barrio back home eventually lead him toward a career in education.

His colorful stories take us through his challenging, often hilarious teenage years, complete with awkward dates and devastating crushes, into Basic Training and then on to post-armistice Korea where he and his fellow prankster-soldiers forge friendships and find clever ways to combat boredom while fulfilling their commitments. L pez crafts his stories with care, infusing them with equal measures of love, loyalty, attitude, and humor. Even when his memories take a darker turn, recalling the deep-seated resentments and racism that he and his fellow Chicano soldiers encountered while serving their country, the author's unique style of barrio-bred, feisty defiance and determination both entertains and inspires.

The Making of a Chicano Educator: From My Segundo Barrio to Korea, picks up where the author's first book, My Romance with my Segundo Barrio, leaves off.