New book to be released , by High Tec Productions

IMMIGRANT by Carol L. Schwarz to be released in November 2013
 
MERCEDES, Texas - Sept. 21, 2013 - PRLog -- Our story begins in Carmen's kitchen as she and her children eat dinner.  Daddy's place is empty, because he is on his way to Houston to look for work.  For the past several days, Carmen has expected a call from him, but her cell phone has been quiet, except for calls from her sister Ana or other member of her extended family, some of whom are legal residents, and some of whom are undocumented.

The story shares challenges and joys of present-day Hispanic families in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  Some folks are tied to family in Mexico, others are becoming accustomed to life in the U.S., while still others have become assimilated to the extent that they no longer crave Mexican food, music, or traditions.  Language is one indication of the assimilation process.  On one end of the spectrum are folks who have been here for years but are satisfied to stay in their mother tongue.  Their children have learned English in school; if they stay in their communities after high school, they may be Spanish-dominant.  But if they attend college, and especially if they stay in a dormitory, they will not only hear Spanish, but will also be exposed to English-dominant Hispanic students and to students who know no Spanish.  The children of those young adults will likely be English dominant, so with Hispanics, as with other immigrant groups, loss of the mother tongue may take three or four generations, and a whole segment of the population has arrived at the opposite end of the spectrum.  The Rio Grande Valley is a sociologist's and linguist's wonderland, full of the stuff that could provide a fascinating doctoral dissertation.  To paraphrase a quotation attributed to anthropologist Margaret Mead (If you want to study a people group untouched by civilization, get on a plane today,) If you want to study a people group predicted to become the ethnic majority in the U.S., get on a plane to Brownsville, Texas, or any of several other cities north of the Rio Grande.

The purpose of IMMIGRANT is to capture and portray the reality of Hispanic life along the border in 2013.  The area  is lush, because irrigation has transformed former brush country into groves of oranges, grapefruit, and lemons, into fluffy fields of cotton, into acres of sugar cane, corn, broccoli and other vegetables, and into amber waves of sorghum, ripening in the long days of sunshine.  The area is rich in tradition, in music, and in opportunities for new businesses.  One of the fastest-growing areas of the country, the Rio Grande Valley has shed its wild-west image and is now a destination for "winter Texans" looking for palm trees and a golf course they can enjoy in December.

But this story is not about folks who fly or drive here and stay for five months a year.  This story is about folks who have driven, walked, or swum here and plan to stay for the rest of their lives.  They want their children to be born and educated here.  Most of them want to work.

While the reader should recognize and be suspicious of an overgeneralization, he also knows that some generalizations are inevitable.

Dear Reader, please let any generalization in this book propel you to ask questions and to investigate further, because as I learned growing up, "Always look for the truth of the matter."

The truth is that if you can identify with someone in the book, then that character's experience is more typical than I knew.  Any character's resemblance to a real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.  The book is fiction.  My purpose is to steer clear of bias and stereotype, and thus present a representative snapshot, a vivid panorama of characters currently dwelling in this growing, evolving, vibrant blend of cultures known as the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
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