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== Education and Personal Life ==
== Education and Personal Life ==


Born in [[Oxnard, California|Oxnard, California]] Serros is the youngest daughter to George R. Serros, a municipal court interpreter and Beatrice Ruiz Serros, a former drafts person (deceased 1991). She has one sister, Yvonne, six years her senior. Growing up in the prominently Hispanic community of El Rio, a rural, unincorporated district outside of the Oxnard city limits, Serros was a “latchkey child” due to the extraneous work schedule endured by both parents. She spent her free time “often watching TV game shows, digging holes in the backyard, skateboarding, and prank calling neighbors who had the audacity to drive pass her lemonade stand without making a single purchase.”
Born in [[Oxnard, California|Oxnard, California]] Serros is the youngest daughter to George R. Serros, a municipal court interpreter and Beatrice Ruiz Serros, a former drafts person (deceased 1991). She has one sister, Yvonne, six years her senior. Growing up in the prominently Hispanic community of [[ElRio, California|El Rio]], a rural, unincorporated district outside of the Oxnard city limits, Serros was a “latchkey child” due to the extraneous work schedule endured by both parents. She spent her free time “often watching TV game shows, digging holes in the backyard, skateboarding, and prank calling neighbors who had the audacity to drive pass her lemonade stand without making a single purchase.”


When Serros was 11 years old, her parents separated. Feeling overwhelmed with fear and confusion she wrote to the only person she felt would understand her situation-young adult author, Judy Blume. Blume wrote back to Serros suggesting that she keep a diary as an outlet for her emotions, thus inspiring a foundation for Serros’ writing career.
When Serros was 11 years old, her parents separated. Feeling overwhelmed with fear and confusion she wrote to the only person she felt would understand her situation-young adult author, Judy Blume. Blume wrote back to Serros suggesting that she keep a diary as an outlet for her emotions, thus inspiring a foundation for Serros’ writing career.

Revision as of 21:10, 25 August 2009

Michele Serros
OccupationAuthor
NationalityAmerican
GenreFiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Poetry
Website
http://www.muchamichele.com/

Michele Marie Serros (born February 10, 1966) is an American author, poet and comedic social commentator. Hailed as “a Woman to Watch for in the New Century” by Newsweek [1], Serros has written several books and regularly contributes original commentaries to National Public Radio.

Education and Personal Life

Born in Oxnard, California Serros is the youngest daughter to George R. Serros, a municipal court interpreter and Beatrice Ruiz Serros, a former drafts person (deceased 1991). She has one sister, Yvonne, six years her senior. Growing up in the prominently Hispanic community of El Rio, a rural, unincorporated district outside of the Oxnard city limits, Serros was a “latchkey child” due to the extraneous work schedule endured by both parents. She spent her free time “often watching TV game shows, digging holes in the backyard, skateboarding, and prank calling neighbors who had the audacity to drive pass her lemonade stand without making a single purchase.”

When Serros was 11 years old, her parents separated. Feeling overwhelmed with fear and confusion she wrote to the only person she felt would understand her situation-young adult author, Judy Blume. Blume wrote back to Serros suggesting that she keep a diary as an outlet for her emotions, thus inspiring a foundation for Serros’ writing career. [2] [3]

Unlike the assertion of other authors, Serros feels she wasn’t a “nerdy, withdrawn teen” that “ate lunch alone in the school yard.” As a student at Rio Mesa High School, Serros had many friends and love interests and often ditched 5th period class in order to continue socializing during a second lunch hour. However, such social enthusiasm eventually led to her academic downfall and by the end of her sophomore year at Rio Mesa High School, Serros’ mother, realizing that Michele needed to concentrate on her studies, transferred her to Santa Clara High School, a private Catholic high school [4], in the city of Oxnard. Upon her 1984 graduation from Santa Clara High School, Serros attended Ventura College for two years before transferring to Santa Monica City College. After an additional six years of sporadic study, she graduated cum laude from UCLA with a degree in Chicana/o Studies in 1996 [5]. Exactly one week later Michele married musician Eugene Trautmann, a member of seminal rock bands Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal, and whom she had met nearly 11 years earlier backstage at the “Leave Your Mind at Home” music festival in Antwerp, Belgium. [6]

Upon their separation two years later, Michele moved to the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City [7]. As of 2002, she currently lives in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and Ventura, California. She loves to swim, bike and prank call book buyers who have the audacity to pass by one of her noted publications without making a single purchase.”

Professional Life

While still a student at Santa Monica City College, Michele’s first book of poetry and short stories, Chicana Falsa and other stories of Death, Identity and Oxnard, was published in 1994. [8]. After Lalo Press, the original publisher, ceased business, Michele continued to sell copies from her garage [9] while maintaining a devoted following of fans as well as a place in academia where Chicana Falsa became required reading in many high schools and universities in Southern California [10].

With the success of Chicana Falsa, Serros was selected in 1994 as one of twelve poets to travel nationally with the touring music festival, Lollapalooza. In addition to reading her poetry in the festival’s second stage arena, she inspired Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins to accompany her on bass guitar as she read, ‘Mr. Boom Boom Man,’ from Chicana Falsa ([11].

In 1997, after learning of an extensive Life and Styles feature of Serros in The Los Angeles Times, Julie Grau (then an editor at Riverhead Books) phoned Serros to inquire about the rights to Chicana Falsa. The following year, Riverhead Books (Penguin/Putnam) reissued Chicana Falsa as well as published a book of short stories, Los Angeles Times Best Seller, How to be a Chicana Role Model in 2000 [12].

In early 2001, Serros’ work caught the attention of Ann Lopez, wife of comedian George Lopez [13]. Following a brief interview with George Lopez and Warner Brother Studios producers, Serros, who had yet to write a script or screenplay, was hired in 2002 to write for the ABC television sitcom, The George Lopez Show [14]. "An opportunity," she has stated, "that hopefully with my contribution opened the door for a wider representation of Latinos in the mass media"[15]. However, in early 2003 during a Christmas visit to her home in New York, Michele realized that she missed writing for her own audience as well as for her own “therapeutic peace of mind” and did not renew her contract for a second season of The George Lopez Show. During the summer of that same year, Michele viewed the surfing documentary, Step in Liquid and was “floored” by the film’s tanker surfing segment shot in Galveston, Texas. Upon returning home from the movie theatre, she immediately researched and emailed one of the surfers featured in the film, award winning filmmaker, James Fulbright, and requested the opportunity to experience firsthand what she had seen in the movie theatre. Nearly a year later in 2004, Serros was invited to tanker surf with Fulbright and his crew in the Gulf of Mexico for a featured segment of The CBS Evening News. [16] [17]

In 2005, Serros was approached by Alloy Entertainment to create a “Latina version” of their hugely successful Gossip Girl Young Adult Book Series. In 2006, her first young adult novel, Honey Blonde Chica was published followed by its sequel, ¡Scandalosa! in 2007[18].

Published Works

In addition to her books, Serros has written for the Los Angeles Times, [19] Ms. Magazine, [20], CosmoGirl, [21] and The Washington Post [22] and contributes satirical commentaries for National Public Radio (Latino USA, Morning Edition, Weekend All Things Considered, Anthem, Along for the Ride, and The California Report) [23]. She recorded Selected Stories from Chicana Falsa for Mercury Records, [24] and was selected by The Getty Research Institute and Poetry Society of America to have her poetry placed on MTA buses throughout Los Angeles County [2].

Public Appearance and Lectures

Serros speaks on a national level to numerous schools, universities and organizations. In 2002, she served as the commencement speaker for Stanford University’s La Raza graduation [25]. The same year, Serros was chosen by PEN Center USA to write and perform an original piece honoring John Steinbeck to commemorate the Twentieth Century Masters Tribute where she shared the Lincoln Center’s stage with literary luminaries as Arthur Miller, William Kennedy, Dorothy Allison, Studs Terkel, Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton [26].

Famous Rock Fans

In an interview with the Ventura County Star, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, stated he picked up a copy of How to be a Chicana Role Model as reading material for a trip and “By the time I got to the end of the book, I was crying like a hypersensitive wimp. I love crying like a hypersentive wimp, so I looked (her up) on the Internet. We ended up becoming friends. I love California and Michele’s writing is uniquely Californian-like Raymond Chandler or John Fante” [27]. In addition, alternative rock band, Rage Against the Machine, features a photograph of Serros’ first book of poetry, Chicana Falsa, on the fold-out sleeve of their 1996 Grammy Award winning album, Evil Empire [28].

Partial Bibliography

Chicana Falsa and Other Stories of Death Identity and Oxnard Lalo Press 1994 Chicana Falsa and Other Stories of Death, Identity and Oxnard (reissue) 1998 Riverhead Books 1996 ISBN 1-57322685-8 How to be a Chicana Role Model (Riverhead Books, 2000 ISBN 781573228244 Honey Blonde Chica (SimonPulse/Simon and Schuster) 2005 ISBN 978-1-4169-1591-1 ¡Scandalosa! (SimonPulse) 2007 ISBN 978-1-4169-1593-5

  1. ^ (Newsweek, page 13, January 8, 2001)
  2. ^ a b (http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/serros_michele.html)
  3. ^ (http://www.muchamichele.com/press/LaTimes/LAtimes.htm)
  4. ^ (http://www.santaclarahighschool.com/ )
  5. ^ (http://www.muchamichele.com/press/LaTimes/LAtimes.htm)
  6. ^ (http://www.muchamichele.com/press/LaTimes/LAtimes.htm)
  7. ^ (http://www.shelflifemagazine.com/dang.html)
  8. ^ (Newsweek, January 8, 2001)
  9. ^ (Los Angeles Times June 1, 1997)
  10. ^ (A-Z of Latino Americans-Latino Writers and Journalists, Facts on File Publishing. ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-6422-9)
  11. ^ The Los Angeles Times, June 1, 1997)
  12. ^ (Newsweek, January 8, 2001)
  13. ^ (The Ventura County Star Ventura County Star May 28, 2006)
  14. ^ (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1102898/)
  15. ^ (http://www.muchamichele.com)
  16. ^ http://www.surfcitytexas.com/news.html
  17. ^ http://www.mediarights.org/news/Michele_Serros_Shortlist
  18. ^ (Ventura County Star May 28, 2006)
  19. ^ (http://articles.latimes.com/writers/michele-serros/4)
  20. ^ (http://www.msmagazine.com/Summer2008/BR_ButterfliesAreFree.asp)
  21. ^ (CosmoGirl April 2008)
  22. ^ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/19/AR2008091902158.html)
  23. ^ (http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podcasts/34244)
  24. ^ (Los Angeles Times, June 1, 1997)
  25. ^ (www.muchamichele.com)
  26. ^ (http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/1626/prmID/1493)
  27. ^ (Ventura County Star, May 28, 2006)
  28. ^ (http://www.musicfanclubs.org/rage/booklist.htm)
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