For things to have value in man's world, they are given the role of commodities. Among man's oldest and most constant commodity is woman.
Ana CastilloPeople like to think of themselves as purists, but there is no such thing as purity, when there exists so much contact.
Ana CastilloI've spent my whole life in Chicago being asked where am I from, so that I have a sense of displacement that also is very psychologically disorienting.
Ana CastilloThe language in New Mexico is very different. At first when you hear the speech here, you don't really know what to do with it, but then I just went with it, because as a writer as well as a translator I do believe that translated words are not different names for the same thing. They're different names for different things. I tried to stay as true as I could, so I used Ruben Cobos' dictionary of Southwestern Spanish, and when I went into Spanish I never assumed the word I would use would be the word a nuevomexicano would use.
Ana CastilloThereโs something insupportable about being pissed with the one person on this planet that sends your adrenaline flowing to remind you that youโre alive. Itโs almost like weโre mad because weโve been shocked out of our usual comatose state of being by feeling something for someone, for ourselves, for just a moment.
Ana Castillo