Shawn LaTorre’s appreciation of the Spanish language began while picking blueberries with her siblings alongside migrant field workers each summer in Michigan. She enjoyed being immersed in their music, joy, and conversations. Her love of Mexico grew as she continued her studies at la Universidad Ibero Americana in Mexico City, where she lived with her “Mexican mother” and visited the pyramids of Teotihuacan, the coastal areas of Cozumel, and Acapulco. She felt a true affinity to the unnamed people who came to these areas long before she did. Shawn worked with many migrant students over the course of her twenty-five year career as an educator, always focused on teaching students rather than subjects. She took the lead in organizing a Transitional Bilingual Education Program, served as an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program Coordinator, and was the director for a law humanities magnet program. She also served as a teacher in the Migrant Attrition Prevention Program (MAPP) at St. Edward’s University. When not writing or reading, Shawn can be found reviewing books for Story Circle Network, researching, coaxing her patio plants along, stitching, or simply riding her bike around the neighborhood to ponder new ideas.She has been published in "Seeing Through Their Eyes" (2022) and "Kitchen Table Stories 2022: Sharing Our Lives in Food."Read more about this authorRead less about this author