I first encountered Ursula Villarreal-Moura’s work when I read her story “Mucci” in the Bennington Review. This piece exemplifies what Villarreal-Moura does so well in her new story collection: painting the nuanced and sometimes ambivalent relationships between loved ones. The way there are secret languages and rituals among them.
In Texas, We Are The Rescue Team
When Katie Gutierrez and her family lost power and water during the Texas freeze, she confronted the deep vulnerabilities in her state and herself as a parent. DESIGN BY INGRID FRAHMGetty Images
It’s nearly midnight in San Antonio, Texas, on Sunday, February 14. The temperature has plunged to 10 degrees, but my husband, Adrian, and I are not yet worrying about how we’ll keep our toddler and baby warm if the electrical grid fails, which it will within hours. We’re not thinking of the hill outside our neighborhood, which will become so dangerously ice-slicked it will effectively trap us in our home. We’re not taking stock of our meager food and water supply, calculating how long it will last us.