Unveiling Secrets: Claudia Castro Luna Reveals the Hidden Story Behind The Flowers Along the Way
SR: After you came to the U.S. were you talking about the war at all?
CCL: Not at all…nothing.
SR: That’s the impression I got. Would you categorize your grief as disenfranchised then?
CCL: Oh, I love that title: disenfranchised. There weren’t many Salvadorans in the U.S. when we came here in the early 80s and very few outlets to be in community with other people who shared the experience. We never processed the grief and trauma — it was all in my head. Tia Maura, who helped us get to the U.S., went back and forth, but her life was in the States. My father’s sister, who lived in California, had not lived through the war either. My parents never talked about it. They were trying to survive, working long hours. As for myself, I dedicated all my energy to studies and became very active in several high school clubs — math, French, sports — they saved me from my fear and memories. My close friends were immigrants too, these brainy girls of Filipino and Chinese heritage, who loved me and invited me into their big families. But we didn’t talk about war — it was not their experience. I did not understand then that there was a complete thing inside of me that I had not processed.
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