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Deborah Paredez is the author of the poetry volume, This Side of Skin, and the critical study, Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory. She is co-founder and co-director of CantoMundo, a national organization for Latina/o poets. She lives in New York City where she teaches creative writing and ethnic studies at Columbia University.
Before the war, my father slid shoehorns between the lips of discount loafers and socked heels.
If the shoe fits, so the story goes, the true identity of the cinder-shrouded girl is known.
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