author, author!

His father lifts him high on his shoulders, raising him into the night so he can see the colorful, flashing wonders of the festival parade. It seems a small gesture, a little thing to Enrique Gomez, the kind of thing a father does for a young son, even after spending a long, arduous day on the docks. A chance to see. Only that. What Enrique couldn’t see, wouldn’t even imagine is that his son Raul’s view from there -- the color, the sparkle, the beauty -- was somehow burned into his memory and changed his life. In 25 years, Raul Enrique Gomez will become the most celebrated, critically acclaimed and popular Mexican-American author in history. His stories and tales will entrance millions, touch millions, change millions of lives and he will trace everything back to the magic his four-year-old eyes saw that night when his father lifted him into the blackness. “It created in me a sense of wonder,” the author will say. And while others will try to analyze and decipher the how and why of Raul Enrique Gomez, disbelieving such a simple explanation, he knows. And he is thankful.