Short-listed for the 2019 Alpine Fellowship Prize
I was shortlisted for the 2019 Alpine Fellowship Prize, chosen as top 25 out of over 3,000 entries for a short story written in response to the theme of identity. The story, titled "Drinking Water", explored the theme of identity in relation to geographic displacement and multicultural backgrounds.
Excerpt from "Drinking Water"
"I have always had a fascination with drinkable tap water. Growing up in Mexico, I was accustomed to the idea that there were different waters. There was rain water, which came down in torrents that flooded the long street between my house and my elementary school, making it nearly (and, to my young disappointment, only nearly) impossible to drive to school the morning after a storm. There was the sprinkler and hose water of my house, which turned the circle of dirt around our limón tree into a circle of mud I liked to dip my toes in, and there was the sprinkler water of my school, of parks and public grass, which used repurposed water and stank of it. There was the water that ran from the taps and the shower head, the water that could be used to wash, to brush your teeth, to mix with iodine to create a cleaning soak for fruits and vegetables. And then there was the water that came in garrafones, blue plastic jugs that were tipped onto a dispenser, collected and refilled weekly by “the water guys”, which was the only kind you could drink. Sure, sometimes in the dead of night I would go to my bathroom and find that the pitcher of drinkable water I kept there was empty. Not wanting to make the dark trek to the kitchen, I would willingly hold my hand under the tap and gulp a couple of handfuls. But that was nowhere near the same as the reckless abandon with which I watched my family and friends drink the tap water in the United States and Europe."
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