DR. TONY ZAVALETA
"It's done," said Tony Gray over the phone from State Representative Rene Oliveira's office. "I've spent five years writing the book and it's finally done. I want to have a signing at Cobbleheads in the near future with The Connectors playing."
Entitled "Z Ain't the Last Letter in the Alphabet," it's Gray's unauthorized biography of Brownsville's Dr. Tony Zavaleta.
"From educator to curandero, from star quarterback to Vietnam veteran, from author to politician, from slayer of animals to slayer of women, Tony has done everything," said Gray. "I wish Tony had sat down for at least one interview, but he said that he didn't want to have anything to do with the project when he discovered that Estanislao Contreras was the executive editor.
"He accused Contreras of being a communist who had previously portrayed him as a puppet of the powerful rather than a prophet of the people. I told Tony that he was jumping to conclusions, but he slammed the phone in my ear and accused me of betraying the sacred trust. What the fuck is the sacred trust? Is that some kind of curandero thing?"
Gray advanced The McHale Report a copy. It is 800 pages long and begins with the night he was conceived. Zavaleta emerged as a leader during his teenage years at St. Joseph Academy when he threatened to cut off the balls of one of the brothers if he dared sodomized another of Zavaleta's buddies.
"From throwing passes to making passes, Zavaleta led a charmed life. He completed his bachelor's at 19 and his doctorate at 23. In Vietnam he killed more than 200 gooks and saved the lives of at least 25 geeks who had no business serving as soldiers in Zavaleta's estimation.
"Gray covers in painstaking detail Zavaleta's many marriages and many children as well as his ascent in academia and politics.
"Brownsville might have realized its potential if Tony had defeated the previous mayor," lamented Gray. "Unfortunately, not everyone loves him like I do."
The book ends with Zavaleta's solo trip around the world in a kayak.
"It's hard to believe that it's been a decade since that incredible journey," remarked Gray. "I'm hard at work on the sequel."
Entitled "Z Ain't the Last Letter in the Alphabet," it's Gray's unauthorized biography of Brownsville's Dr. Tony Zavaleta.
"From educator to curandero, from star quarterback to Vietnam veteran, from author to politician, from slayer of animals to slayer of women, Tony has done everything," said Gray. "I wish Tony had sat down for at least one interview, but he said that he didn't want to have anything to do with the project when he discovered that Estanislao Contreras was the executive editor.
"He accused Contreras of being a communist who had previously portrayed him as a puppet of the powerful rather than a prophet of the people. I told Tony that he was jumping to conclusions, but he slammed the phone in my ear and accused me of betraying the sacred trust. What the fuck is the sacred trust? Is that some kind of curandero thing?"
Gray advanced The McHale Report a copy. It is 800 pages long and begins with the night he was conceived. Zavaleta emerged as a leader during his teenage years at St. Joseph Academy when he threatened to cut off the balls of one of the brothers if he dared sodomized another of Zavaleta's buddies.
"From throwing passes to making passes, Zavaleta led a charmed life. He completed his bachelor's at 19 and his doctorate at 23. In Vietnam he killed more than 200 gooks and saved the lives of at least 25 geeks who had no business serving as soldiers in Zavaleta's estimation.
"Gray covers in painstaking detail Zavaleta's many marriages and many children as well as his ascent in academia and politics.
"Brownsville might have realized its potential if Tony had defeated the previous mayor," lamented Gray. "Unfortunately, not everyone loves him like I do."
The book ends with Zavaleta's solo trip around the world in a kayak.
"It's hard to believe that it's been a decade since that incredible journey," remarked Gray. "I'm hard at work on the sequel."
posted by brownsville literary review @ 5:36 AM
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