Hector G. Balcazar
This book is a memoir. Throughout this storytelling narrative, the reader will be taken on a journey that is full of adventures and rich in serendipity. The author takes the reader on a journey through his academic experience in five US states and six universities. The book has three sections. Part 1 begins with the immigrant experience of the author’s family. Part 1 covers the author’s early years, growing-up in Mexico City, including his college experience, and later his International Nutrition studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In Part 1, the author shares his entry into his academic career where he discovers his passion for public health. He writes about his road to public health to seek a philosophy of scholarship bridging science with human justice. Part 2 focuses on the author’s work with community health workers. In Part 2, the author sets the stage and explains ways to transform communities and to bring health justice. Finally, in Part 3, the author presents a new vision with a new actor: the community spiritual worker. The book is a vibrant and colorful tapestry, full of inspirational real-life stories, cultural foods, poems, songs, and many accounts of the author’s rich life experience, living in two cultures, Mexico and the US, and working in various universities. The author sheds light on the people who have been in the shadows and who have been invisible within communities. The book emphasizes that working with communities is an art.
