Latinos are “more than just tacos and salsa,” Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez told some 150 people in the Trabant University Center on Sept. 14, as the controversial author and journalist kicked off UD’s Latino Heritage celebration.

Valdes-Rodriguez echoed the theme of the celebration, “Crossing Boundaries,” which continued on campus through early November. “There are identity boundaries that we all negotiate, transgress, cross over—everyone who shares Latinidad,” she said.

She said she began crossing boundaries at birth as the daughter of a Cuban father and Irish-American mother. More boundaries were traversed when she became a reporter for the Boston Globe and later for the Los Angeles Times. In both cities, she said, she found that the newspaper reported on life in minority communities as if the communities’ problems were culture-based rather than as a result of economic and class distinctions.

When she wrote her first novel, The Dirty Girls Social Club, she said she knew she had found her calling. Since then, she has written three more books, Playing With Boys, Make Him Look Good and her latest, Haters, which was written for teens.

Other Latino Heritage events on campus included a one-man comedy show, Tortilla Heaven, by Jade Esteban Estrada; a discussion of Latinos and Islam; a Latin food festival in all campus dining halls; a panel discussion on U.S. Latina and Latino identity; and a showing of the film Palante Siempre Palante! The Young Lords.