Melissa Hart @ Books Inc. Castro October 29, 2009

Author Melissa Hart will be joining us to read from her latest book “Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood Seal Press.”

Torn between the high socioeconomic status of her father and the bohemian lifestyle of her mother, Melissa Hart tells a compelling story of contradiction in this coming-of-age memoir. Set in 1970s Southern California, "Gringa" is the story of a young girl conflicted by two extremes. On the one hand there's life with her mother, who leaves her father to begin a lesbian relationship, taking Hart and her two siblings along. Hart tells of her mom's new life in a Hispanic neighborhood of Oxnard, California, and how these new surroundings begin to positively shape Hart herself. At the opposite extreme is her father's white-bread well-to-do security, which is predictable and stable and boring. Hart is made all the more fraught with frustration when a judge rules that being raised by two women is "unnatural" and grants her father primary custody. Hart weaves a powerful story of fleeting moments with her mother, of her unfolding adoration of Oxnard's Latino culture, and of the ways in which she's molded by the polarity of her parents' worldviews. Hart is faced with opposing ideals, caught between what she is "supposed" to want and what she actually desires. "Gringa" offers a touching, reflective look at one girl's struggle with the dichotomies of class, culture, and sexuality.

About the Author:
Melissa Hart grew up in Southern California. She teaches Journalism at the University of Oregon, and Introduction to Memoir for U.C. Berkeley's online extension program. She's the author of The Assault of Laughter, a memoir. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Advocate, High Country News, Horizon Air Magazine, Hemispheres, Orion, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. She lives in Eugene with her husband, photographer Jonathan B. Smith, and their daughter Maia.

Official Website: http://booksinc.net/SFCastro