Remembrance by Alicia Gaspar De Alba

Rest in Power, querido amigo, maestro, y padrino of so many of us whose testimonios here show not only how many lives he touched but also how many Chicana/o writers he fostered, supported, inspired. I met him through Ultima in my first and only Chicano literature class offered at UTEP in the late 1970’s. His book showed me that I was, indeed, a Chicana. In the 1980s while living in Boston I met him again through his amazing A Chicano in China,” the parallels between our two c ultures blew me Away. And I summoned the gumption to submit a few poems to Blue Mesa Review. They published one of them and he sent me a handwritten note, which I returned by telling him how much his travel memoir in China had meant to me in Boston. A few years later when I got accepted in the American Studies PhD program at UNM, he invited me to his house almost as soon as I arrived in Albuquerque, and I knew as soon as I walked into his and Patricia’s home that I was in the home and presence of a true writing master. I remember having lunch with him a at a restaurant in Barelas. And when my Mystery of Survival book of stories won the first Premio Aztlan in 1994, I knew that he was indeed my literary padrino. Gracias y más gracias, queridísimo Rudy, for your patronage and your friendship, for sharing your time and wisdom with me. May your spirit continue blessing our paths and your name inspiring future generations of Chicanx writers.

—Alicia Gaspar De Alba author, scholar, professor