Fish Out of Agua

A voice from the loudspeaker blared Will the family who brought the little redheaded white girl to the Puerto Rican Day parade please come to the bandstand to pick her up. I looked around. Wait a minute. I am at the bandstand. I am that lost girl!<P>Michele Carlo a redheaded freckle-faced Puerto Rican raised in the Polish section of the Bronx grew up as a permanent outsider. Too white for her proud Spanish-speaking relatives and a mystery to her schoolmates Michele braved a search for identity that was a long rough and tumble ride. . .<P>By turns heartbreaking and humorous she recalls the family calamities fumblings of first love and all the people and events that shaped her. From her playground battlefield in the not-so-wholesome summer of '69 to many adrenaline-fueled graffiti-filled afternoons and her emergence as an artist with a unique and alluring voice Michele's story is an homage to a New York City gone by. . .and an iconically American unforgettable portrait of growing up. <P>Warm and insightful. . .Michele's take on life as a Latina is the most original I have ever seen. --Linda Nieves Powell author of <I>Free Style</I><P>Michele's humor heart--and every sweet and razor-sharp note of her writing--reach far beyond the edges of this island.--Dan Kennedy author of <I>Rock On</I><P>Poignant funny and authentic. --Janice Erlbaum author of <I>Girlbomb</I><P><strong>Michele Carlo</strong> is a writer performer and comedic storyteller who has lived in four of the five boroughs of New York City and remembers when a slice of pizza cost fifty cents. Her stories have been published in <I>Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul Lost and Found: Stories from New York</I> and <I>Smith Magazine.</I> She has often appeared with The Moth and other NYC storytelling communities. Like almost every other writer in NYC Michele is a Brooklynite (since 1988) with no plans of leaving anytime soon.