I recalled this when COVID-19 first started making the rounds and we heard about shortages of toilet paper and water, about social distancing and self-isolation. When I did decide to gather things in preparation for the “Big One” we were assured would strike Los Angeles, though, I panicked, setting aside things that made no logical sense in an emergency-conditioner, several sticks of peppermint gum, prepackaged frosted donuts.
I read about the essential items every first aid kit should have: bandages, iodine, antibiotic ointment. I started keeping a pair of shoes under my bed and tried convincing my mother to store cans of refried beans, tuna, and saltine crackers in a box. Being raised in California, we lived with the ever-present threat of a real tremor of epic proportions-one that would level buildings, destroy cities, and alter our geography in profound ways.
I recall vividly one afternoon, splayed on my stomach in front of the television, watching the movie Earthquake, starring Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner. I developed a fixation with disaster films at an early age.
2023 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony. “With its colorful narrative and historic sweep, The Five Acts of Diego León has both a story line and characters that a wide readership will surely enjoy. –Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Hummingbird’s Daughter There is nowhere this gifted writer can’t go.” –Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street “A story that begins in revolutionary Mexico and travels to Hollywood during the film industry’s transition from silent films to talkies, The Five Acts of Diego León breaks greater silences-taboos of race and sexuality, of reinvention and assimilation-in a fantasy called Hollywoodland.” Available now for the first time in paperback, The Five Acts of Diego León is a classic Hollywood tale of romance, glamour, and betrayal, with an underdog hero that you won’t soon forget. The closer Diego comes to stardom, the more he is reminded of his painful past and his war-torn homeland. He arrives in 1927, when Prohibition-era speakeasies are in full swing, silent films are giving way to talkies, and “Latin lover” types thrive in the cinemas but face persecution on the streets. Feeling trapped by familial obligations and haunted by the violence that continues to rage all around him, Diego flees Mexico for Hollywood. But soon young Diego is sent to the city to live with his white, aristocratic grandparents, who insist he forget his roots and groom him to take over the family business. Growing up in a Mexican village at the height of the Revolution, Diego León finds his passion for singing and dancing, and forges a deep connection to his ancestors, the P’urhépecha.
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