Three Places, One Heart 
Babylon Street Elementary short stories
Attempting to fit his square-ness into the round of everyday life as a teacher, Tony Villalobos can’t help but misplace his heart and lose his güey in something as polyglot and cosmically mestizo as a Los Angeles elementary school. Trying to sort out all the history, poetry, and pornography that convene in a Babylon Elementary classroom takes a toll but offers a few curious cuentos. 
Tenochtitlan poetry 
The Mexica “spelled” Tenochtitlan as a glyph of a nopal cactus coming up out of a stone, making the name look like Mesoamerican Ikebana. With the privilege of an alphabet and the two giant flower shops of English and Spanish, composing flower-song out of the languages allows for the wild arrangement of lily words and oraciones de orquídeas. 
Ysteléi Ese · East LA essay
An essay from an eastsider born on the eastside of El Éi.

I (Heart) Babylon, Tenochtitlan, and Ysteléi

Literature & Fiction

Villegas Jr., Richard

Short Stories & Anthologies

Villegas

Mr. Villalobos teaches first grade. When Starlight Garcia was his student she stole his markers, didn’t do her homework, couldn’t write very well, and loved Juan, Juan, Juan. Seven years later, on the day of the lockdown, the day there was a gas leak and the parents bum-rushed the school’s gates, Starlight and Mr. encounter each other on the playground. At that moment, Mr. Villalobos and Starlight each have to decide whether to remain en la misma ciudad con la misma gente or, finally, forsake that ecosystem of sad, sad songs consoling us all since the year 13-Rabbit—La Música Romántica.

La Música Romántica: A Long Short Story

Literary

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Villegas Jr., Richard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Villegas Jr., Richard

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Villegas Jr., Richard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

I (Heart) Babylon, Tenochtitlan, and Ysteléi

La Música Romántica: A Long Short Story