I remember when they started publishing Latino fiction years ago. You had to be really good to get published. Now you don't have to be that good.

I never know what something is going to be until it emerges from the womb and you see the crown of its head and then you see it pushing its way up. So in my life if another book wants to be born it's not for me to choose.

To me, the Virgen de Guadalupe is just a vessel for me to recognize my own God within myself.

If you live in poor neighborhoods - I know from living in several poor neighborhoods - the worst supermarkets in the city are in the poorest neighborhoods, where people don't have cars.

I realize that it's like spices in the kitchen. I need that turmeric. I'm sorry, but cinnamon isn't going to substitute . I feel that I can teach my listener about a new word they can use too. "Well, what words are part of my own community, even if I'm monolingual, that I'm not allowing myself to use in a public sphere?"

When you have a flourishing of the economy you have a flourishing of the arts.

The ego's blocking the light from coming.