Many have been inspired by the beauty the El Paso borderland, from its rich southwestern gorgeous shades of teal yellow and red, to the awe-inspiring desert filled with wildlife and cacti, to breathtaking sunsets. Miguel De La Cruz was one of many influenced by this magical place .A flash fiction writer, De La Cruz writes in Spanish about life on both sides of the border. While he expresses this region's beauty, he also details its unpleasantness.
De La Cruz is an El Paso, Texas short story author who has lived in and around the borderland all his life. Living along the border has shaped De La Cruz into a flash fiction author and greatly impacted what he writes and inspires him. He writes in Spanish about life on both sides of the border and shows there is not always a happy ending. De La Cruz draws on his own experiences, memories, and stories passed down to him. He writes as if saying, We are here [Chicanos] and these are our stories.
Who exactly is Miguel De La Cruz? He was born on January 24, 1984, and attended Irvin High School. He attended New Mexico State University (NMSU) in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he studied computer science, with a minor in mathematics, and received a Bachelor of Arts as a double major in Spanish and Chicano Studies. His masters, also from NMSU, he obtained in 2013 in Spanish (Hispanic American Literature) . After college, he established a career in computer science and currently works at White Sands Missile Range as a software engineer. That alone is impressive.
Image caption: Miguel De La Cruz. Courtesy of Ale Meter.
When asked why he didn't write directly out of college De La Cruz states "I was told not to pursue literature as a career, " a situation of counseling gone wrong. De La Cruz adds, "I have always loved literature, and I have always wanted to be a writer."
However, in 2013, De La Cruz authored his first book, Memorias de un Camaleon (Memories of Chameleon), flash fiction, a set of 33 micro-stories, centered on living in and around the border. One story, "Conitos de Nieve" leaves readers speechless with a heavy feeling in the pit of their stomachs. It is a story about a couple who has moved to Las Cruces and retired. Joseph, a husband and avid hunter, gets excited when he meets the president of a group of veterans who volunteer to protect the country 's Southern borders. Joseph realizes he and the president see eye to eye and that he must have him over for breakfast and a chat. He then shows off his trophy room containing exhibits of the animals he has hunted and gets quite excited when he shows the president what he considers his two best trophies, a male and a female human. Joseph exclaims that the female was his best hunt and that it was her fault for coming into this country illegally. Shocking, yes!!!
De La Cruz says he got the idea for the story because of what was happening with the minutemen on the border. Civilians patrolled the border and stopped illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States. De La Cruz alludes to the belief some hold that some Americans are superior to the people on the other side of the border.
Another story, "Fronteras,'' is a short paragraph about the writer wanting to be on the American side of the border. "Cuando lea las lineas de este cuento, estaré junto al lector, habré cruzado la frontera." (When you read the lines of the tale , I shall be with the writer. I will have crossed the border.) It makes one stop and think about the border's problems and how some people want a better life by coming to the United States. De La Cruz paints a picture of the struggle on both sides of the border .
De La Cruz authored his second book in 2019, titled El Vestido de la Reina Kitsch (The Kitsch Queen 's Dress), another collection of short stories about living in and around the border. The stories are divided into sides A and B, with side A containing stories from the Mexico side and Side B from the United States. The titular story "El Vestido de la Reina Kitsch" tells the story of a woman who hates the person she became. She traces her hatred back to when her mother lent her to a gentleman to compensate him for helping them fix their car. The idea, perhaps, suggests that when people are poor, they may do anything to survive. This set of short stories contains dark themes and expresses that sometimes the border is an imaginary line that can't be crossed from either side. De La Cruz uses his experiences and what he has seen on the border to tell stories of loneliness, hopelessness and helplessness.
De La Cruz labels himself a Chicano-Fronterizo on his website. In an interview, when asked what he means by "Chicano- Fronterizo," he says he was aware that the term "Chicano," when it first appeared, was a derogatory word for Mexican Americans. Slowly it became a word Mexican Americans use with pride. It reveals how De La Cruz feels about it, stating, "It's who I am. It's my experience, my culture, my life. Me."
De La Cruz also discusses how he feels about the Hispanic culture not receiving credit or the spotlight it deserves, especially with problems surrounding the border, such as poverty and the immigrant crisis. The August 3, 2019 tragedy at the El Paso Walmart brought issues surrounding the Hispanic culture to the forefront . De La Cruz wants people to hear his stories and relate to them, shedding light on things that happened in the Hispanic and Chicano cultures.
In "Homes on Borders in Chicano literature " Gabriela Tucan writes about the Chicano's fluid spatial identity .She references Pat Mora 's House of Houses, Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street and Gloria Anzaldua 's "Borderlands/ La Frontera. Tucan argues that having a home is impossible in the Chicano culture, which relates closely to the characters in De La Cruz's stories. These characters feel they don't have a home until they cross the border . They never really feel at home because of the constant moving tp make a better life on the borderland.
Growing up, De La Cruz witnessed his parents struggling like many Hispanic families did and still do. Mario T. Garcia, in The Chicano Generation : Testimonios of the Movement, speaks of growing up during the Chicano Movement, families living in the United States struggling to learn English in school, and the difficulty in finding work within an environment that isn't racist. Garcia writes that English was not taught to them, so for Mexican Americans in school, it is sink or swim to learn the language. Though the cultures on both sides of the border have come a long way, there is still much to learn.
Sylvia Delgado writes in her review of De La Cruz 's second book, " 28 stories that denounce that in terms of urban anthropology we still have much to know, because the human condition is wonderful, challenging and so often pitiful." In all the darkness and pessimism found in De La Cruz 's two books, some stories deserve a second, third or even fourth look. They change every time you read them, and maybe the mood you are in that day changes the story for the better. It gives the reader a good outlook on life, that it can improve moving forward. Chicanos are resilient, and they have their history to prove it.
In reading De La Cruz 's books and interviews with him, maybe we can all become chameleons and transform our personalities and habits into what is needed for the different stages of our lives, like in his titular story of "Memorias de un Camaleon: "Mi último sueño fue curioso: había hielo y un cameleón se volvió transparente queriéndose perder. Se percató de mi presencia y desapareció . En un vaso, tome un poco de hielo y de un sorbo lo trague. Todavia lo siento nadar por mi cuerpo haciendome cosquillas en los ojos y a veces actuo como él. (My final dream was curious; there was ice, and a chameleon became transparent , wanting to lose itself. It noticed my presence and disappeared. In a glass, I took a bit of ice and in one sip I swallowed it. I still feel it swim through my body, tickling me on the eyes and at times I act like him.)
Miguel De La Cruz's stories show us what it is like to live in the borderland on both sides of the fence . I encourage anyone reading this to enrich their understanding, indulge themselves, and be enlightened by the dark, controversial, yet educational and cultural stories of Miguel De La Cruz. I invite you to take a sip of the chameleon.
