overcame her mother's abduction and a stay in juvenile detention to become a champion high school hurdler in Laredo, Texas. But hurdling also brought her into contact with coaches who sexually harassed and abused her.Book excerpt: 'Hurdles in the Dark'For some middle schoolers who compete in track and field, ribbons and gold medals might be the main goal, but for a barrio girl like me, it’s a lot more than winning first place.
“¡Vamos, Marcela!” I yell hoarsely, but the sounds of my teammates singing Dame más gasolina muffle my words. “Ma’am…” A man wearing a striped collared shirt and white tennis shoes interrupts us. “… You must be this track star’s beautiful sister,” he says in an accent, not the staccato type like me and Ma picked up from the barrio. Our accent sounds like an accordion that rises and falls with the vowels. His sounds more like a mix between Tejano and a Texas twang.
He’s a coach at one of the top local public high schools in the north side of town, a thirty-minute drive from our barrio, in an area where rows of Spanish-style houses with smooth stucco exteriors, arched doorways, and tiled roofs stretch for miles. The only time our family has ever strayed there is to gawk at the big, fancy Christmas lights once a year, conjuring daydreams of what it would be like to grow up in one of those homes.Ma holds the card up, scrutinizing every inch. “Mira, look.
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