FISH OUT OF AGUA

A voice from the loudspeaker blared, Will the family who brought the little redheaded white girl to the Puerto Rican Day parade please come to the bandstand to pick her up. I looked around. Wait a minute. I am at the bandstand. I am that lost girl!Michele Carlo, a redheaded, freckle-faced Puerto Rican raised in the Polish section of the Bronx, grew up as a permanent outsider. Too white for her proud, Spanish-speaking relatives and a mystery to her schoolmates, Michele braved a search for identity that was a long, rough and tumble ride. . . By turns heartbreaking and humorous, she recalls the family calamities, fumblings of first love, and all the people and events that shaped her. From her playground battlefield in the not-so-wholesome summer of 69 to many adrenaline-fueled, graffiti-filled afternoons and her emergence as an artist with a unique and alluring voice, Micheles story is an homage to a New York City gone by. . .and an iconically American, unforgettable portrait of growing up. Warm and insightful. . .Micheles take on life as a Latina is the most original I have ever seen. --Linda Nieves Powell, author of Free StyleMicheles humor, heart--and every sweet and razor-sharp note of her writing--reach far beyond the edges of this island. --Dan Kennedy, author of Rock OnPoignant, funny, and authentic. --Janice Erlbaum, author of Girlbomb Michele Carlo is a writer, performer and comedic storyteller who has lived in four of the five boroughs of New York City and remembers when a slice of pizza cost fifty cents. Her stories have been published in Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul, Lost and Found