Junot Diaz
An awesome thing happened today when Junot Diaz, author of the meritorious and raw
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and more recently
This Is How You Lose Her,
won the MacArthur Award / Grant. As a fellow Dominican, my initial thought was, “Watch how many new cousins, aunts, and former lovers he suddenly has after the news breaks out.” My second, and more important, thought was, “Wow, he did it.” From my informal research, a sizeable collective of Latinos have also won the MacArthur Award, including Sandra Cisneros (author,
House on Mango Street) and Joaquin Avila (voting rights advocate). Yet, news like this ought to make it to the forefront of cultural news because it means we can recognize genius in every sphere.
Conversely, the mere mention of under-representation by National Hispanic Foundation’s president Felix Sanchez apparently warranted
a vulgar response from KC’s Michael Kaiser. That’s how fiercely the dominant
Junot Diaz
