v a l l e j o n o c t u r n o

Tatica 95

Vallejo Nocturno 2018 -Celebrations for Tatica's 95th 

The Morgan as We Left It 2017

Vallejo Nocturno 2018- The room at The Morgan last April (2017)

 

Las Dos Hermanas en Mexico

Rafael Miranda 1957 (?) - En Mexico

Elis

Vallejo Nocturno 2018- After Dinner in Viejo San Juan 2007

5 Fiction Books to Recommend to a 16 Year Old

Yesterday my niece, who is 16, asked me for summer reading fiction recommendations. She is thoughtful and mature for her young age so I thought about books that would provide mental excursions.  I also thought about books that really inspired me when I read them around that age. I've come to revise my judgement about some of these books but then they were great. I also thought of solid narratives that tell hypnotic stories that ring true to all ages. Here are my 5 picks:

A Separate Reality - Carlos Castaneda-Technically not a fiction book but we know better today. This book and its subsequent follow ups was our mystical Netflix series back in the 70's. It also is a good discussion book on what is real or not.

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess- A book that illustrates the political perils of our future in a format that highlights the power of language.

Strangers on a Train - Patricia Highsmith - The Ripley novels are pure ecstasy but this one showcases how suspense really works.

At Swim-Two-Birds - Flann O'Brien - A comic masterpiece that displays how laughter can carry a book page after page.

If on a Winter's Night -Italo Calvino - Metafiction done in an entertaining way.

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao -Junot Diaz- The only book I haven't read but so many friends have recommended it that I put it as my bonus pick.

 

 

May 2010

Vallejo Nocturno 2018- Rafael's Funeral

It took me a long time to process these photographs. Perhaps not so long-time is strange filter. This was 2010, things were just starting with Obama and none of us could perceive that this hell hole of a present would one day be our reality. Perhaps some, those who thought life was unbearable back then. Well this was a bad time for us as we began to lose the elders of our family one after the other. Today i think they would be shocked at where we find ourselves to be in. A reality that at times is a joke but obviously not for many-at least there was hope then. I hope I read this in two years and laugh at my desperation if I'm still alive.

The Time We Spent in Ocean Park

Vallejo Nocturno 2018- Ocean Park 2010 self portrait

 

So what I remember is that we were staying at a small hotel on the beach in Ocean Park for just one night. A vacation within a vacation. It was just 9 months within the new job that I had so things had not yet broken up as they eventually did so life was still coherent except this was the last time that we were going to be with Rafael who would pass away in three months. A surprise to some and an obvious conclusion to others. I did not see it and now when I see the fotos from those days its more obvious but then within life it wasn't. Anyway the time we spent at this place which we liked to visit was spent with lots of rain and we spent our first day there playing with our cameras which is always a lot of fun because there was a lot of cloud cover and perfect lighting for portraits and so we took these fotos which today look good but when I see them i think of how blind we were on one hand and yet we took the fotos to mark the time and notice these details afterwards.

At El Suizo in 2009

Vallejo Nocturno 2018 - Meche at El Suizo in La Herradura in 2009

I had arrange with a taxi driver to do a tour of the beaches in Lima and to have a drink at El Suizo, a lenegendary bar restaurant at La Herradura beach. We arrived as planned-this was the last time I would ever take my mother out as she became bedbound for the last two years of her life and I saw her in hospitals and and at her apartment in San Isidro. I kind of realized this was unique situation as we drove through the event and we enjoyed our banter. She was a remarkable woman who I will attempt to maintain her memory through the many photos we took during the last 20 years of her life.

Barranco to Miraflores

Vallejo Nocturno 2018- During a walk back in 2009 along the coast of Lima

Families Belong Together Protest

Vallejo Nocturno 2018 - Some Families Belong Together. . .