Barrio Stories and Other Tales

Barrio

Introduction



All of us have stories to tell, mine are these - the stories of my barrio - spoken by folk who like ebay, are going going gone. Life, according to Apung Islo, is like an auction. Death is always, always, the bidder to beat. Most of the folk I talk about are gone now, the best place to visit them is the cemetery. "Do not forget me on All Saints' Day", my mother said.

You don't forget the ones whose voices you first heard, their loud talking, their painful insults, their boisterous laughters, their stories, who can forget stories you grew u with?

This is neither a nostalgic journey nor a sentimental remembrance. This is my life. You can take me out of the barrio, but you can never take the barrio out of me.

These stories are partly true, partly imaginative. What I avoided in writing these is organization and structure - this is the least of my barrio's concern. Life for us is spontaneous. You don't plan it, it just comes. You don't outline it, you just say it. Like Picasso's painting, it's abstract.

Alex Maskara

Barrio Tales