Collection of essays and poems that address the challenges of being a Chicana, a lesbian, and a feminist in the changing world of the twenty-first century.

Drawings by Celia Herrera Rodríguez xiiiPrólogo: A Living Codex xvAgradecimentos xixA Xicana Lexicon xxiOne. Existo YoA XicanaDyke Codex of Changing Consciousness 3From Inside the First World: On 9/11 and Women-of-Color Feminism 18An Irrevocable Promise: Staging the Story Xicana 34Two. The Warring InsideWhat Is Left of Us 49MeXicana Blues 51Weapons of the Weak: On Fear and Political Resistance 54California Dreaming 73Cuento Xicano 76Indígena as Scribe: The (W)rite to Remember 79The Altar of My Undoing 97Three. Salt of the EarthAguas Sagradas 105And It Is All These Things That Are Our Grief: Eulogy for Marsha Gómez 107Poetry of Heroism: A Tribute to Audre Lorde and Pat Parker 111The Salt That Cures: Remembering Gloria Anzaldúa 116Four. The Price of BeansSouth Central Farmers 133The Other Face of (Im)migration: In Conversation with West Asian Feminists 135Floricanto 146Modern-Day Malinches 148What's Race Gotta Do With It? On the Election of Barack Obama 151This Benighted Nation We Name Home: On the Fortieth Anniversary of Ethnic Studies 163Still Loving in the (Still) War Years: On Keeping Queer Queer 175Epílogo: Xicana Mind, Beginner Mind 193Appendix: Sola, Pero Bien Acompañada: The Art of Celia Herrera Rodríguez 201Notes 209Bibliography 229Index 237