Rene Saldana, Jr., an assistant professor at Texas Tech University, is a writer of short stories, poetry, and novels. In order to get his storytelling right, he has relied on his memory when writing memoirs and consulted popular culture and family when writing fiction. In order to get his university teaching right, he reads seminal texts on teaching and literacy then recounts stories to put a face on the abstract ideas and theories. His commitment to Mexican American literature began when he discovered it only after completing a master's degree in English