Michael Cruz

Professor Encinias

CAS 115

13 November 2022

Event with Edgar Gomez

In my first community event, I had the opportunity to attend the zoom meeting with Edgar

Gomez, the author of High Risk Homosexual, and professor Encinias. This was an amazing

meeting because I was able to learn a lot about Edgar’s life after he published the novel. When I

first logged onto the meeting, Edgar mentioned how happy he was that several Latin x students

were attending the meeting. This made me very happy because I am a Salvadoran American,

therefore, I am a part of the Latin X community. In the beginning of the meeting, Edgar read a

passage of the book. He read the chapter “cool mom”. After he finished reading the chapter, he

was able to give us an insight about his present relationship with his mother. He said he was

nervous about her reading the book. Of course, as any mother would do, she read it. He

mentioned how even though after discovering all the secrets Edgar has endured throughout his

life, the only part of the memoir which made her mad was when he mentioned her stealing the

coffee machine. This made me laugh because it reminded me of my mother. He also said how

even right now, there are still people that don’t accept him being a homosexual. He said how he

walks with his boyfriend and people give them faces. Unfortunately, this is all a part of life. It

doesn’t matter who we are or what we do, there’ll be people who never accept us. What I valued

most about this community event was that Edgar still maintains a stable relationship with his

family. He says he is great friends with his mother. He even talks with her on the phone

constantly. I related to a lot of what he said because I am Central American such as he is. Toward
the end, he says to always be yourself no matter what others tell you. This really inspired me to

ignore all the haters. I just need to focus on myself. I certainly loved attending this community

event because I was able to hear Edgar Gomez through a zoom meeting. I will continue to work

hard at school, and ignore all the people who try to drag me down.