The Book of Unknown Americans

★ ★ ★ 1/2
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader. And is part of a group blog project, The United States of Books

Arturo climbed out first, straightened his cowboy hat, and surveyed the building. Two stories, made of cinder blocks and cement, an outdoor walkway that ran the length of the second floor with metal staircases at either end, pieces of broken Styrofoam in the grass, a chain-link fence along the perimeter of the lot, cracks in the asphalt. I had expected it to be nicer.

EW

Wayne's World

Who comes to the United States and ends up in Delaware? l for one never thought I'd be here. But I've been surprised. It's popular with the Latinos. And all because of the mushroom farms over in Pennsylvania. Half the mushrooms in the country are grown there. Back in the seventies, they used to hire Puerto Ricans to harvest everything, but now it's the Mexicans. And they used to set up the workers with housing, too. Shitty housing with rats as big as rabbits, boarded-up windows, no hot water. After Reagan's amnesty deal, the workers started bringing their families up from México. They didn't put their wives and children up in that shitty housing, though. They found other places to live. Places like Delaware. It's cheaper than Pennsylvania. And no sales tax. We have all the Spanish supermarkets now, and the school district started those English programs.

The Book of Unknown Americans