An act of generosity

by David Safier

I'm going to start at the end of this story, then I'll begin again at the beginning.

Matt de la Peña, author of "Mexican White Boy" and other books geared toward adolescents, spoke to groups of students at TUSD over the past few days. He used his entire speaking fee to buy copies of "Mexican White Boy" and give them to the students.

I guarantee de la Peña is not a wealthy man. He could have found plenty of ways to put the speaking fee to good personal use. Here's the story behind his generosity, which I learned tonight when he was the featured guest at the Save Ethnic Studies fundraiser.

Mexican White Boy is one of the books which had been taught in some Mexican American Studies courses but can no longer be used. I read it last week. It's a gripping, complex novel set in a San Diego-area barrio where all the characters, young and old, are flawed, often deeply, and the environment they inhabit is flawed as well. Yet most of them have wonderful qualities, as does the world they inhabit. Until the end — and even after the last page — there's no way of telling where the young people who are at the center of the story will end up. The characters and their stories resonated with this old retired Anglo English teacher. I'm sure they resonate far more with students who can relate directly to the experiences of the characters.

The book became part of the MAS curriculum when a student, a reluctant reader, brought a copy to one of the teachers to read. The teacher saw its value, especially viewing it through the eyes of the student who gave it to her, and decided it would be a valuable addition to her class.

When de la Peña heard his book was banned at TUSD . . .

When de la Peña heard his book was banned at TUSD, he said his first reaction was a kind of author's elation. If your book is banned, man, you've made it! But then he remembered how he was one of those students who wasn't supposed to go beyond high school, yet he ended up getting an MFA in creative writing, publishing a number of successful novels (he has another due out next year) and teaching creative writing at NYU. What if some students could have been inspired like he was, he thought, but the demolition of the MAS program and the banning of books like his meant the spark might never be ignited?

He was already scheduled to speak at TUSD, and he felt that gave him the opportunity to do something to help the students and maybe help preserve the MAS program. That's why he decided to convert his speaker's fee into copies of Mexican White Boy and give them away to students. Maybe the experience of seeing and hearing him would combine with the words on the pages of his novel and give a few of these students that boost they need to work a little harder and strive to make the most of themselves.

As I write this, by the way, I'm scooping the NY Times. (Headline: BfA Scoops New York Times.) The paper sent its education writer out to Tucson to follow de la Peña while he was at TUSD, as well as talk to him, some of the teachers and students. The article is scheduled to appear in Monday's NY Times. I'll definitely link to it when I see it. But remember, you read it here first.