78S30059 MMS-D

By:  Castro                                                       H.R. No. 81 



R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, Sandra Cisneros, one of the most popular and 
critically acclaimed Latino authors in the United States, helped 
the San Antonio Public Library celebrate its 100th anniversary with 
a reading from her work at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre on 
September 4, 2003; and
	WHEREAS, Born in Chicago in 1954, Ms. Cisneros was the only 
daughter among seven children in her family; to cope with the 
frequent moves, bleak neighborhoods, and loneliness that she 
experienced as a young girl, she became an avid reader and began to 
write poems and stories; and
	WHEREAS, Ms. Cisneros earned a bachelor's degree in English 
from Loyola University of Chicago in 1976 and an M.F.A. from the 
University of Iowa Writers' Workshop two years later; while 
studying in Iowa she found her voice as a Chicana author, dealing 
with such issues as self-identity, power, love, and divided 
cultural loyalties; and
	WHEREAS, In addition to various essays, Ms. Cisneros has 
published a bilingual children's book titled Hairs/Pelitos and 
three collections of poetry, Bad Boys, Loose Woman, and My Wicked 
Wicked Ways; and
	WHEREAS, Her first novel, The House on Mango Street, won the 
Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award in 1985 and has 
now sold more than two million copies; in 1991 a collection of her 
short stories, Woman Hollering Creek, became the first work written 
about Chicanas by a Chicana to be released by a major publishing 
house; Woman Hollering Creek received a number of awards and was 
chosen as a noteworthy book of the year by both the American Library 
Journal and the New York Times; and
	WHEREAS, In 2002 Ms. Cisneros published Caramelo, a sprawling 
saga that captures the history and popular culture of Mexico and the 
U.S. and the way in which those forces shaped three generations of 
the Reyes family--and thousands of other immigrant families--as 
they moved back and forth between the two countries in order to make 
a better life; hailed in the New York Times as "one of those novels 
that blithely leap across the border between literary and popular 
fiction," Caramelo became one of 20 books from around the world to 
be listed for the 2003 Orange Prize for Fiction; and
	WHEREAS, Sandra Cisneros has held a Dobie Paisano Fellowship 
and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts; in 
1995 she garnered a MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as the 
"genius award" and one of the most prestigious prizes conferred in 
the United States; and
	WHEREAS, A resident of San Antonio for more than a decade, she 
has been generous with the time she has given to that community 
through various endeavors; recently Ms. Cisneros worked with the 
San Antonio Public Library Foundation to establish the Born to Read 
initiative, a centennial project that furnishes every baby born in 
Bexar County with a library card, bilingual books, and a CD of 
bilingual lullabies; and
	WHEREAS, Keen to act as a bridge between Latino and 
mainstream Anglo culture, Sandra Cisneros is also making her mark 
abroad; imposing the most exacting of standards on her writing, she 
has reaped international respect, enormous commercial popularity, 
and a remarkably diverse readership, and it is no small matter of 
pride to be able to claim her as a citizen of the Lone Star State; 
now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 78th Texas 
Legislature, 3rd Called Session, hereby honor Sandra Cisneros for 
her immeasurable contributions to American culture and extend to 
her sincere best wishes as she continues to enrich both our 
literature and our lives; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be 
prepared for Ms. Cisneros as an expression of high regard by the 
Texas House of Representatives.