ALEX y ROBERT

ALEX y ROBERT http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html Alex y Robert is a new Wena Poon novel about an American teenage girl who trains to become a matador. Now on BBC Radio Four as a ten episode Book At Bedtime series! Text from the book. Photos shot by author in Spain. Buy the book here. Listen to the Unofficial “Movie” Soundtrack on iTunes! For best viewing: click Play Slideshow on a big screen. Use Safari browser. All text and images © Wena Poon 2010. Book cover © Salt Publishing 2010. Please do not reproduce without permission. See “Contact” for permissions. US edition cover http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#0 bce0ab99-5fb2-4b6b-8788-daa21eb4fdd1 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/29052_393430457180_695597180_4612409_545590_n.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/29052_393430457180_695597180_4612409_545590_n.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="paragraph_style_1">US edition cover</p></div></div> synopsis http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#1 7ffbdd58-88d3-4dbd-8cd2-5d68b09e4372 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/BookCoverPicture.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/BookCoverPicture.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="paragraph_style_2">synopsis</p></div></div> Do draft horses, their legs heavy like pillars, also yearn to run? She buried her face in the horse’s neck, absorbing its sorrow. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#2 3aee3ccd-0048-49b5-b986-881fc0e45e8f http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100355.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100355.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">Do draft horses, their legs heavy like pillars, also yearn to run? She buried her face in the horse’s neck, absorbing its sorrow. </p></div></div> At the train station, the young American woman headed to the ticket office and asked for a ticket to a small town. “San Martin?” asked Alex warily, half expecting the trains to be discontinued. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#3 46c3e79d-da47-495e-8baf-b79e458b69df http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2885.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2885.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">At the train station, the young American woman headed to the ticket office and asked for a ticket to a small town. “San Martin?” asked Alex warily, half expecting the trains to be discontinued.</p></div></div> Valencia’s bullring was right next to the ornate train station. The two iconic buildings had stood, side by side, for the better part of a decade, like a pair of salt and pepper shakers. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#4 54a59a0e-c59e-48d3-885e-f00e72b3fe84 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2823.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2823.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">Valencia’s bullring was right next to the ornate train station. The two iconic buildings had stood, side by side, for the better part of a decade, like a pair of salt and pepper shakers.</p></div></div> “Listen, Nicky. I’m not in Valencia. I’m in a small town called San Martin. Pretty soon the school’s gonna figure out that I skipped the summer program.” “Are you running away?” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#5 78d11134-3d4d-41f2-88ee-48a45751bc4a http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2800.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2800.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“Listen, Nicky. I’m not in Valencia. I’m in a small town called San Martin. Pretty soon the school’s gonna figure out that I skipped the summer program.” “Are you running away?”</p></div></div> “You are the first in our family to go to university. I won’t have it.” “It is precisely my education that caused me to want to do this.” “It is not possible for a woman to become a torero.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#6 5bad98b6-c8d9-4cad-87c9-68feeb0e6d4a http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2820.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2820.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“You are the first in our family to go to university. I won’t have it.”<br/></p><p class="Caption">“It is precisely my education that caused me to want to do this.”<br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="Caption">“It is not possible for a woman to become a <span class="style_1">torero</span>.”</p></div></div> “You’ve been to San Martin, haven’t you? There’s nothing there! Nothing! A fistful of townhouses and plazas squeezed around a cathedral on a hill. Do you know what it’s like growing up there?” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#7 b452a069-d4cd-49f7-b2d5-e2c96731a8ff http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100143.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100143.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“You’ve been to San Martin, haven’t you? There’s nothing there! Nothing! A fistful of townhouses and plazas squeezed around a cathedral on a hill. Do you know what it’s like growing up there?”</p></div></div> The cured hams hanging from the ceiling gently sweated the smell of oily, salty pig - a strange, moist perfume that rose above the bitter, dry smell of cigarette smoke. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#8 81799a44-da07-4551-8c49-33f39739fe14 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100474.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100474.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">The cured hams hanging from the ceiling gently sweated the smell of oily, salty pig - a strange, moist perfume that rose above the bitter, dry smell of cigarette smoke.</p></div></div> “You know what the problem is with bullfighting? You kept alive a nineteenth century custom. And you kept the social attitudes of that time along with it.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#9 3b533136-abe1-4dc4-bfd5-388f6ab46039 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110449_2_2.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110449_2_2.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“You know what the problem is with bullfighting? You kept alive a nineteenth century custom. And you kept the social attitudes of that time along with it.”</p></div></div> “Our grandfathers became famous because they died in the ring at the height of their fame. Don’t you know that? But somehow I didn’t inherit that death wish.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#10 cd32b129-20e7-40c0-934b-732625144b99 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110433_2.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110433_2.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“Our grandfathers became famous because they died in the ring at the height of their fame. Don’t you know that? <br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="Caption">But somehow I didn’t inherit that death wish.”</p></div></div> “God, when I think of the money we spent all those years. Travel, expenses, equipment, clothes. What was it for?” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#11 f980ea87-ffbd-4b01-b40c-b8074cdfa693 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100504.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100504.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“God, when I think of the money we spent all those years. <br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="Caption">Travel, expenses, equipment, clothes. What was it for?”</p></div></div> The construction site was full of rusty iron rods, bags of cement, heaps of torn down brick. On one end rose a ghostly eighteenth century facade partly covered with graffiti. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#12 325efc00-b04c-4fab-ad68-399d0a65ec32 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110274.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110274.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">The construction site was full of rusty iron rods, bags of cement, heaps of torn down brick. On one end rose a ghostly eighteenth century facade partly covered with graffiti.</p></div></div> “This is a profession in which you become a legend only if you flare like a firecracker and explode.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#13 9b25569b-98b7-4bdd-8030-46b9880ff7c2 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100353.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100353.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“This is a profession in which you become a legend <br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="Caption">only if you flare like a firecracker and explode.”</p></div></div> That night they were beneath the Puente del Mar in Valencia. It had started to rain. They pulled their bags out of the car, ran, and ducked under the stone bridge in the empty park. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#14 293370cc-6a07-49ec-a956-b90036535a8e http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2692.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2692.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="paragraph_style_3">That night they were beneath the Puente del Mar in Valencia. It had started to rain. They pulled their bags out of the car, ran, and ducked under the stone bridge in the empty park.</p></div></div> Slowly, after many hours of nonstop processions, the Virgin’s body would fill up like honey in a honeycomb. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#15 52e0d459-7af5-4406-a6e1-26429b20b323 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110139_2.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110139_2.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">Slowly, after many hours of nonstop processions, the Virgin’s body would fill up like honey in a honeycomb.</p></div></div> Tourists were shaking powdered sugar on fried pumpkin puffs. Matadors were risking their life and limb for aficionados. Something for everyone, he thought grimly. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#16 26ef4992-1b1f-47ed-8e9c-14b03bd5b117 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110355.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110355.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">Tourists were shaking powdered sugar on fried pumpkin puffs. Matadors were risking their life and limb for aficionados. Something for everyone, he thought grimly.</p></div></div> They were upset with the president of the plaza for withholding the trophy. It was an insult to their generation, they thought. Fuck Valencia! they texted each other on their cellphones. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#17 7d02bca4-2d19-4cef-add8-bb444f8ad8fa http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110395_2.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110395_2.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">They were upset with the president of the plaza for withholding the trophy. It was an insult to their generation, they thought. <span class="style_1">Fuck Valencia!</span> they texted each other on their cellphones. </p></div></div> Yey! Yey! roared the aficionados. Very good! The bullring that rose around him was a giant anemone, quivering with people and their tendrils of emotion. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#18 198e4214-d5b9-4f27-accd-cdc136ade0fd http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110216.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110216.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption"><span class="style_1">Yey! Yey!</span> roared the aficionados. <span class="style_1"> Very good! </span>The bullring that rose around him was a giant anemone, quivering with people <br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="Caption">and their tendrils of emotion.</p></div></div> It was a royal blue twilight and the cathedral was gnarled and old in the light of the orange streetlamps. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#19 677de6a7-4a68-4762-b0fb-96ec1eb6e16b http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2726.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2726.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="paragraph_style_3">It was a royal blue twilight and the cathedral was gnarled and old in the light of the orange streetlamps. </p></div></div> It was seven in the morning in Sevilla, a city he associated with an ancient, lemon-yellow plaza de toros on the shore of a broad, brown river. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#20 c4dd930d-1597-404b-986d-1c9b56133b4b http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1090660_2.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1090660_2.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">It was seven in the morning in Sevilla, a city he associated with an ancient, lemon-yellow <span class="style_1">plaza de toros</span> on the shore of a broad, brown river.</p></div></div> The guest house was an old farmhouse that Fuentes had a local architect renovate and retrofit. The roof tiles undulating beneath them were dreaming of the coming summer. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#21 70178d1a-3c50-4f07-95c2-e19d7b1763eb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100784.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100784.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">The guest house was an old farmhouse that Fuentes had a local architect renovate and retrofit. The roof tiles undulating beneath them were dreaming of the coming summer. </p></div></div> “How could you kill him in the ring, if you had reared him with your own hand? The calf must learn his role. You have to learn yours.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#22 4b2c955a-5b56-47e8-8947-3d78bd534577 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100433.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100433.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“How could you kill him in the ring, if you had reared him with your own hand? The calf must learn his role. <br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="Caption">You have to learn yours.”</p></div></div> “Et les animaux d’une ferme, ils vivent quelques annees, seulement pour etre tues, pour que vous les mangiez, n’est-ce pas?” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#23 1cdd0102-d7d9-4300-bfdd-ffe9ca5d730d http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100463.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100463.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="paragraph_style_4">“Et les animaux d’une ferme, ils vivent quelques annees, seulement pour etre tues, pour que vous les mangiez, <br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="paragraph_style_4">n’est-ce pas?”</p></div></div> Alex came out of a small toy and candy shop off the windswept town square in Cadiz. “You can get Hello Kitty,” she announced. “But not a realistic toy gun. This town sucks!” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#24 2cca7a6e-1f8a-4295-8b7f-cbbf154af5c0 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100166.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100166.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">Alex came out of a small toy and candy shop off the windswept town square in Cadiz. “You can get Hello Kitty,” she announced. “But not a realistic toy gun. This town sucks!”</p></div></div> The guest house was on a slope overlooking the training ring. She could hear occasional shouts and the telltale, rushing gallop of hooves. “He’s not retired. The fraud.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#25 f96f5899-59c0-4228-87cf-ddf2befa145e http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100495.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100495.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">The guest house was on a slope overlooking the training ring. She could hear occasional shouts and the telltale, rushing gallop of hooves. “He’s not <span class="style_1">retired</span>. The fraud.”<br/></p><p class="Caption"><br/></p></div></div> “You just need to be one thing. A good matador. Forget about the crowds. Don’t read what people say on VirtualPena...” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#26 e1dd40e1-c7ab-4aea-8d73-95476cbf74b3 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100387_2_2.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100387_2_2.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“You just need to be one thing. A good matador. Forget about the crowds. Don’t read what people say on VirtualPena...”</p></div></div> “...You’ve got to tune them all out and focus on your art. Find out your expectations of yourself, then live up to them.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#27 b51d6fd7-1bde-4384-b722-d01a05741383 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100385_2.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100385_2.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“...You’ve got to tune them all out and focus on your art. <br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="Caption">Find out your expectations of yourself, then live up to them.”</p></div></div> “Didn’t you say you have been training ever since you were ten? Didn’t you have a traje made? Come on! We need this!” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#28 66f67fac-d2e9-404e-97e3-c8e45a01c852 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100323.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100323.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“Didn’t you say you have been training ever since you were ten? Didn’t you have a traje made? Come on! We need this!”</p></div></div> “You’ve got to want it so badly...that even if you were starving, abandoned, a beggar in the streets, you would still be trying to fight a dog with a rag.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#29 cffbf3e1-672f-4a23-a008-49cdf8b10e0f http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100304.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100304.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“You’ve got to want it so badly...that even if you were starving, abandoned, a beggar in the streets, you would still be trying to fight a dog with a rag.”</p></div></div> Volunteers from VirtualPena, a social networking site, would report her bullfight live via Twitter. It is not clear who would read this amateur reportage. Is this the “future” of the corrida? http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#30 262445ab-4f22-49ad-8009-43affaae6e37 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110186.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1110186.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">Volunteers from VirtualPena, a social networking site, would report her bullfight live via Twitter. It is not clear who would read this amateur reportage. Is this the “future” of the corrida?</p></div></div> “What the hell was in that pipe?” “Beats me, but he did a lot of it. I don’t think he’s ever done a hookah. Man, I’ve never heard him talk so much shit.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#31 7d310536-ecba-4376-98ab-a9948d393187 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100186.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100186.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“What the <span class="style_1">hell</span> was in that pipe?” “Beats me, but he did a lot of it. I don’t think he’s ever done a hookah. <br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="Caption">Man, I’ve never heard him talk so much shit.”</p></div></div> “Sunlight in an old stairwell. Footsteps, laughter, Spanish words, thick in the air, like garlands...then I wake up in a cold, grey, empty country. And I cried to be back in the dream.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#32 90c9f2f3-54d1-4c6a-9d79-7183569486b5 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100616.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100616.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“Sunlight in an old stairwell. Footsteps, laughter, Spanish words, thick in the air, like garlands...then I wake up in a cold, grey, empty country. And I cried to be back in the dream.”</p></div></div> They were sitting in a tapas bar in a corner of a small, dusty alley. It had no name, bare walls, fluorescent lighting and a menu that consisted of only six items, scrawled on a chalkboard. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#33 cb77582e-f7b8-4a8e-b752-de692153c9dc http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2683.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2683.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; " class="paragraph_style_3">They were sitting in a tapas bar in a corner of a small, dusty alley. It had no name, bare walls, fluorescent lighting and a menu that consisted of only six items, scrawled on a chalkboard. </p></div></div> "If you don’t go to grad school, what can you see yourself doing then?” Alex looked out the window into the night. It was raining in San Martín. “I don’t know.” http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#34 c7fc7b9d-6dc7-497e-81c3-0dffc6fd00f5 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2727.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/IMG_2727.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="paragraph_style_3">"If you don’t go to grad school, what can you see yourself doing then?” Alex looked out the window into the night. <br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="paragraph_style_3">It was raining in San Martín. “I don’t know.”</p></div></div> “Dad wants to know if you can fight in Caceres next month.” He had a sudden vision of long shadows over orange brick and shuddered. http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert.html#35 75dfac2d-aa8f-49a9-b6a5-3d2f9a06f8e0 http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100560.jpg?derivative=thumb http://www.wenapoon.com/Wena_Poon_Author_Website/Alex_y_Robert_files/Media/L1100560.jpg?derivative=micro <div style="padding: 0px; " class="image_cluster_layout_style_default_External_407_64"><div class="image_cluster_layout_style_default"><p style="padding-top: 0pt; " class="Caption">“Dad wants to know if you can fight in Caceres next month.”<br/></p><p class="Caption">He had a sudden vision of long shadows over orange brick <br/></p><p style="padding-bottom: 0pt; " class="Caption">and shuddered.</p></div></div>