EP 115; Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa

SuperLit Podcast

This week we kick off pride month with Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa! We talk about the importance of sticking up for yourself in college conversations, about Ander being a working artist at a young age and so much more like the 'artist bio' piece by Anna Daliza that Sophie mentions! (their instagram handle is @anna_daliza ) Theme Song by Man With Roses Ander & Santi book info below! "Finding home. Falling in love. Fighting to belong. The Santos Vista neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas, is all Ander Martínez has ever known. The smell of pan dulce. The mixture of Spanish and English filling the streets. And, especially their job at their family's taquería. It's the place that has inspired Ander as a muralist, and, as they get ready to leave for art school, it's all of these things that give them hesitancy. That give them the thought, are they ready to leave it all behind? To keep Ander from becoming complacent during their gap year, their family "fires" them so they can transition from restaurant life to focusing on their murals and prepare for college. That is, until they meet Santiago López Alvarado, the hot new waiter. Falling for each other becomes as natural as breathing. Through Santi's eyes, Ander starts to understand who they are and want to be as an artist, and Ander becomes Santi's first steps toward making Santos Vista and the United States feel like home. Until ICE agents come for Santi, and Ander realizes how fragile that sense of home is. How love can only hold on so long when the whole world is against them. And when, eventually, the world starts to win."