Always Running By Luis Rodriguez Published by Simon & Schuster A Different Life From "La Vida Loca"ÃÂ During the 1960s and 70s, it was as if a new power had began to emerge. These were the people who had been here just as long as everybody else but longed to get be treated equally as whites. Emerging from sometimes nothing, many Latinos and Blacks gave much to their communities that still stand today. Few survived "la vida loca"ÃÂ which is still an idea amongst youth today. Luis Rodriguez in his autobiography describes gang life, drug abuse, plight of Latinos as well as Blacks and their pursuit of power, through a limited, proud, unapologetic voice.
Since writing his autobiography, Always Running, in 1993, Rodriguez has received the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, a Chicago Sun-Times Book Award, and was designated a New York Times Notable Book. Luis has also written much more poetry and novels like, It Doesn't Have to Be This Way: A Barrio Story, America Is Her Name, LA Llaman America, The Concrete River, Hearts and Hands: Making Peace in a Violent Time and Trochemoche : Poems by Luis Rodriguez.
English: With Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rod...
English: Luis Rodriguez out at home 8
Luis Enrique MejiaRodriguez has also received a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award, a Lannan Fellowship for Poetry, a Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature, a National Association for Poetry Therapy Public Service Award, an Illinois Author of the Year Award, and several Illinois Arts Council fellowships.
Luis is also known for helping start a number of outstanding organizations such as Chicago's Guild Complex, one of the largest literary arts organizations in the Midwest, and its publishing wing, Tia Chucha Press. He is also one of the founders of Youth Struggling for Survival, a Chicago-based non-profit community group working with both gang and non-gang youth. On top of this, Rodriguez has spent...