The Cholo Tree
Daniel Chacón
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They say he has no future. He is a cholo up to no good, with no hopes for a life outside of the streets. Lucky to have survived a near-death experience he can't quite recall, even Victor's own mother refuses to be associated with "one of his kind". But what they don't understand is his passion. He's not just some guy society can give up on. He has talent and dreams. His paintbrush has stories to tell that displace all the anger and commotion on the exterior, ghosts only he can see and would like to share with the worlds outside of his own. Yet, his simple ambitions don't seem to be enough to get him out of what seems to be his birth rite. Baggy pants, brown skin, a Chicano identity, and an unclear past all catch up with their prejudices that box his identity just when he sets about following his ambitious dreams of applying to reputable art schools. Guided by his teacher, a mentor and the only one who still believes Victor has potential, he experiments with capturing images from the streets, the people behind the stereotypes, and his fears. |
The Cholo Tree by Daniel Chacon is a narrative that had been missing in American literature, depicting an authentic portrayal of a teenaged cholo's dramatic and traumatic experiences that lead him on a roadmap of artistic and poetic discoveries.
Daniel Chacón is author of five books of fiction and editor of A Jury of Trees, the posthumous poems of Andrés Montoya. He is co-editor with Mimi Gladstein of The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes: The Selected Works of José Antonio Burciaga. He is recipient of the Pen Oakland Fiction Award, a Chris Isherwood Foundation Grant, the Hudson Book Prize, and The American Book Award.
The Cholo Tree is a publication by Arte Público Press and can be purchase through Amazon. Click here to purchase.
The Cholo Tree is a publication by Arte Público Press and can be purchase through Amazon. Click here to purchase.
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