Raza Unida Party

The inspiration for the book was definitely Marielena Martinez.

So meeting Marielena Martinez in the context of the Civil Rights Movement course, a Center for Mexican American Studies at UT Austin course, so it was an ethnic studies course, invited women from La Razo... women from La Raza Unida political parties who shared their oral histories.

And the interesting thing, their stories were fascinated, and it was really a history I'd never heard of before as I write in the book.

But the thing that really captured me and really spoke to something within me that I didn't really even know existed was when Marilena spoke about her leadership in La Raza Unida and juxtaposed it against her spiritual experiences life and biography and the ways in which she sort of reimagined her religious experience into something that resonated more closely with her own spiritual life and longings and beliefs and practices.

And so it was that moment of hearing that story that really piqued my interest.

And then I changed the topic of my research.

The inspiration for the book was definitely Maria Elena Martinez.

So meeting Maria Elena Martinez in the context of a civil rights movement course, a Center for Mexican American Studies at UT Austin course, so it was an ethnic studies course, uh, invited women from La, La Raza, women from La Raza Unida political parties to come share their oral histories.

And the interesting thing, their stories were fascinated, and it was really a history I'd never heard of before as I write in the book.

But the thing that really captured me and really spoke to something within me that I didn't really even know existed was when Maria Elena spoke about her leadership in La Raza Unida and juxtaposed it against her spiritual, uh, life and biography and the ways in which she sort of reimagined her religious experience into something that resonated more closely with her own spiritual life and longings and beliefs and practices.

And so it was that moment of hearing that story that really piqued my interest, and then I changed the topic of my research, and I've been looking at that ever since, just developing it further, learning more about myself and the women.

Thank you.

The inspiration for the book was definitely Maria Elena Martinez.

So meeting Maria Elena Martinez in the context of a civil rights movement course, a Center for Mexican-American Studies at UT Austin course, so it was an ethnic studies course, uh, invited women from La, La Raza, women from La Raza Unida political parties to come share their oral histories.

And the interesting thing, their stories were fascinated, and it was really a history I'd never heard of before as I write in the book.

But the thing that really captured me and really spoke to something within me that I didn't really even know existed was when Maria Elena spoke about her leadership in La Raza Unida and juxtaposed it against her spiritual, uh, life and biography and the ways in which she sort of reimagined her religious experience into something that resonated more closely with her own spiritual life and longings and beliefs and practices.

And so it was that moment of hearing that story that really piqued my interest, and then I changed the topic of my research, and I've been looking at that ever since, just developing it further, learning more about myself and the women.

Thank you.